Painting rivet heads

Jay,

A good method is to first dab some solvent on a clean rag and wipe off
the rivet heads and the 1/2 inch around them to clean off oil and
grease. Get a fiberglass brush. These are used to clean up printed
circuit boards. I believe you can get them at Rat Shack. Expose only
about 1/16 of an inch. Then carefully "sand" the head in a circular
motion. Try not to scratch the surrounding area. Wipe again with the
solvent. You can mix up some etching primer and put it on, then sand it
down again with the brush and paint. I would just paint the things and
forget primer. If it peels off in time, you can repeat the process using
primer.

To apply primer and paint, I use a matchstick from a book of matches.
Works as well as anything else. Much more controllable than a touch up
brush. Cheap and disposable. In all the years I painted, I never found a
good substitute. Don't glob on a huge drop. Take a little from the
mixing can and wipe off the excess on the can lid. Mix only about 1
ounce. You won't even need that much.

The airbrush method is O.K., but catalyzed enamels are too thick to
shoot well from them. Masking is a hassle. If you do use an airbrush,
you might want to get a paper punch of the right size and punch the hole
in a piece of wide masking tape. Tape over all the holes so the punched
out circle is over the rivet and mask the remaining area. Be sure to
MASK 4 FEET around the rivets. I would personally go one better and
cover the rest of the wing and the top of the fuselage if you airbrush.
If you think it is overkill, it ain't. Cleaning over spray is one of the
worst jobs a painter can have and these paints do get EVERYWHERE, even
with an airbrush. Normally, an airbrush uses little pressure, however,
the pressure needed to shoot thick enamel from an airbrush will cause
the paint to carry a long way.

Again, I prefer the brush method for such a small defined area.

Good Luck,
Mike

Jay Honeck wrote:
We just installed the Skycraft landing lights, which meant drilling a
few dozen holes into my beautiful paint job.

Is there ANY way to touch those rivets up with paint that will yield
satisfactory results? I've tried using automotive touch-up paint in
the past, with limited success. I'd like to find something that
actually looks half-way decent.

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


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