Rivet holes

Hi All

As I continue building on my 750 fuselage I got to thinking about all those holes in the rivets. Especially the ones looking up. Has anyone taken the time to fill those with anything other than the primer & paint. If so what? Should it be considered?

Jeff Roberts

750 builder in Tennessee.

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Permalink Reply by Victor Menkal on December 20, 2011 at 8:45pm

Hi Jeff.  We dipped all our rivets in zinc chromate primer up to the rivet face.   When the rivet is pulled the ZnCr makes its way inside the rivet and there is also provides a coating between mating surfaces.   Found that this was faster and provided better protection than trying to fill rivet holes aft ward with a fine paint brush (wouldn't that be a fun task).    Technique works well for us as most of the plane is polished.

Permalink Reply by Mark Maltais on December 21, 2011 at 8:11am

WOW! Although I can't see dipping the rivets as being necessary, that sounds like a bit of overkill!  The rivet will still have part of the stem in it when it's pulled through which will have the rivet itself pulled tight against it.  It is highly doubtful there would be any leaking through any of them, even without paint.

Permalink Reply by Victor Menkal on December 21, 2011 at 8:34am

Yup, I agree with it being a overkill along with hand converting all aluminum parts before applying zinc chromate, but the intent was not for protection against leaks but for corrosion protection as it is intended the aircraft will be operated as sea plane.    Although the steel stem left in the rivet is protected against corrosion by a phosphate coating, for sea plane use I don't think you can ever have enough corrosion protection.

I have seen some older ZAC aircraft in normal use (not seaplanes) which had the tell tale "smoking rivets" which indicate corrosion in the rivet areas.  These observations along with the intended use made us decide to dip all the rivets.

Actually not that much work once you get a nice rhythm going .... dip, place, pop, wipe,  .... dip, place, pop, wipe

Permalink Reply by Jeff Roberts on December 21, 2011 at 8:58am

I like the idea. Maybe I'll do it for the wings as my fuselage is almost done. Besides the dip - place - pop - & wipe has a nice beat. ;-)

Thanks for the advice!!

Jeff in Eagleville TN

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