Travelair skins

sferguson524

sferguson524

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FormerSocalFlyer
Hey y'all,

Got a buddy looking at a NC based travel air. Overall the plane is in great shape, but looks like there's some corrosion on the Magnesium elevator skins. Owner was up front about it, and the mechanic who's working on the plane has signed off the annuals as airworthy. If at some point they need to be replaced, what's a ballpark cost of replacing with Magnesium skins, as well as replacing with the STC Aluminum ones
 
I did mine with the Aluminum,was years ago ,can’t remember price,but was very reasonable,at the time.
 
Not really ,just a little weight difference.
 
sferguson524 said:
Is the little spot of corrosion a big deal?
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This is why you have your mechanic look at it to make a determination. The short answer is, it may be fine now but it may not be fine in the future. Things like this should be addressed now not later, to minimize expense and maximize longevity.

At some point the controls will likely need replacing. My suggestion would be to call one of the rebuilders to get a ballpark estimate on pricing and factor that into your purchase. My ballpark guess is $5k per control surface, but I have not had to do any myself.
 
with basic paint and balancing 5 amu per surface is about right, based on my arrow aileron reskinning couple years ago (not for.corrosion, but for fbo lowest common denominator caused damage).
in the case of the travel air things can get spendy in a hurry as it is my understanding the vertical stabilizer is all magnesium too.

the opportunity cost is also weight. beechcraft landing gear assemblies are heavy af, which is part of why the singles have been useful load challenged compared to their c and p counters. Magnesium was used to curtail some of this, but in the arena of 60 year old airplanes, the choice becomes a poor one. of course nobody thought our industry would be so decayed we still would be trading in these Jurassic samples, but thats not her nor there.

its not a deal breaker but if the seller doesnt have any disposition to help with the reskinning or discount, that deal is never gonna happen. in a way buying a magnesium skinned airplane, you have to accept the fact the airfrane is gonna be expensive to maintain at some point. vintage beech fans are simply a captive audience in this regard. another reason i dabble in the relative mediocrity of a pa28r lol.
 
Dumb question, but why would the repair necessarily require replacement of the skins. Is there no treatment that would halt the corrosion and allow refinishing?
 
maj75 said:
Is there no treatment that would halt the corrosion and allow refinishing?
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Corrosion control and paint prep on magnesium is different than aluminum. There is no field level method to treat and prep that I know of. One method is to submerge the Mg item in a chrome pickle bath which in some cases requires the Mg skin to be removed then reinstalled. Any short cuts to the process either allows the corrosion to continue or the paint to fail.
 
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