Oddly enough, one of my jobs during my weird and varied career was being the "Corrosion Control Officer" in a squadron of 12 Navy aluminum airplanes that flew over the salt filled oceans down to about 200 feet. A dozen men worked "under my command" all day, every day fixing voids in the paint. My luck held, because I had a superlative Chief Petty Officer leading them and keeping me from screwing up. (I also had a few extraordinarily skilled enlisted flight engineers that kept me from screwing up the flying part too!)
The basic repair is to always remove all of the corrosion as gently as you can. Think of buffing pads in a Dremel. Don't think of grinding wheels. Maybe use the finest sandpaper you can find like 2000 or 3000 grit. Clean everything that might make new paint not stick with an aggressive solvent, but not so aggressive that it dissolves the Alcoa coating. And then seal it with a new coating. Clear finger nail polish might be a good choice. Wait a few months and see how it is doing and do it over if you have to.
Once the original coating has a void, no repair will be as good as a complete strip and re-coat. Our Navy airplanes would get that every several years and it cost a LOT of taxpayer money. Note that the airplanes in this case were mostly built in the 60's and are still flying. BAC Member Jay Todd has been influential in getting you taxpayers to replace them with a bunch of 737s!
Imagine an airliner with a big hole in it for a bomb bay, racks on the wings for the Navy's best missiles, a refueling probe for endless flight, a passenger door that can open and close at 35,000 feet, computers that make your's look like a throw away toy and more secret stuff that Jay can't tell you about unless he shoots you afterwards. I'm not sure, but I think the Boeing contract includes corrosion control in the maintenance program too!
I want to be a Navy pilot again!
