A couple of days ago, Wirejock started an excellent and most informative thread on the use of Alumiprep 33 and Alodine for treating assembled parts prior to painting. I have another preparation to paint problem on my RV-8: the windshield separated from the fiberglass fairing at the forward lower fairing (probably from flying in very cold weather) so I have removed the original fiberglass and filler fairing, and built a new fairing. This entailed sanding the aluminum to the bare metal before building up the new fairing. (Van?s aircraft has an excellent video on how to build up the fairing ? it is related to the RV-14 but totally applicable to the RV8). It is now time to paint. It seems to me that the bare metal surfaces on the forward panel should be Alodined prior to paint, but it will be very difficult to do a thorough job of rinsing with water to neutralize the Alumiprep and Alodine. Is there a way to neutralize without a flood of water? Would it be appropriate to not Alodine the bare metal surface, but re-sand them just prior to priming? Any experience that all y?all can offer would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
