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Simple Method For Filling Blind Rivet Heads

You may want to fill the heads of blind rivets on your airplane for aesthetic reasons.  It really does look much better to have the rivet head holes filled when you've painted your plane.

I've tried every method I've heard about and most of them are incredibly tedious and time-consuming requiring mixing toxic components (e.g. Bondo, Epoxy filler) and sanding very hard materials after setting.  After trying all those methods I hit upon the following method which I think is the simplest and fastest way to fill blind rivet heads.  It doesn't require any mixing and if you want you can get away with no sanding (though I think it looks a bit better if you do).

Recently Kitplanes Magazine had an article about using spackle on experimental airplanes and they surveyed all the available brands.  The one that came out on top was Sherwin Williams Shrink-Free Spackling, which you can only get at Sherwin Williams stores.  A quart will probably be enough for the whole airplane.


I would only recommend you use this for this particular purpose.  It is in no way a structural material.

This page will be short because the method is SO SIMPLE!

Steps (see pics below):
  1. Fill the rivet heads with the spackle by using either a syringe (I think this is quicker) or with a flexible applicator
  2. Wipe any that got on the surrounding skin with paper towel.  If you want to try it without sanding, you can wipe off the top with smooth cloth (paper towel I think pulls material out of the rivet head, so there will be a bit of a dip).
  3. Wait until it's dry before sanding (at least an hour) as shown below.
  4. Done!
I use this 30ml syringe for directly injecting the spackle.

A good push right on top of the rivet.  A little overfilled is good, so when you sand it, it's nice and flat.

After filling.  Dries quick!

Did all these rivets in less than 10 minutes...

I made a template with holes in it to put over the rivet head to quickly sand it.  I bought two of these 240 grit sandpaper disk packs (comes with the holder) and that works perfectly to quickly sand the tops.

Post-sanded results.  Nice!