Just Leave It Bare Metal And Keep It Polished Is Not As Easy As It Sounds!

Airplane watchers beware…Dark glasses may be required. The exterior is a bare metal finish across most of the airframe, with grey metal paint on the fuselage bottom and for the composite parts. The tail has a snappy matt black finish. Adding to the TBM 850 Elite’s very special look is its full black onyx cabin interior with carbon fiber fittings. 

To meet this customer personalization request involved extra work time and research. The consequences of a bare metal finish needed to be investigated by the Design Office of Daher-Socata and at the alclad supplier. Due to limited technical information on this kind of finish, engineers embarked on a test process to determine the viability of the in-service longevity of this finish. Once this process was complete the standard primer coat had to be removed from the already treated skins.  This was followed by the application of polishing compounds to bring about a high luster finish, that is subsequently completed by a final polish phase performed by a U.S. specialist in California.

A key element in the treatment was its polish paste, replacing the factory-standard anti-corrosion application that usually involves a primer coating and several layers of white paint. Daher-Socata has designed a tailored maintenance program for the ongoing care of these surfaces for the new owner. One of our ANN staffers said the special process for his bare metal Luscombe involved lots of “elbow grease.” 

After the process, this specially-treated TBM 850 is 100 lbs. lighter than a standard production airplane, so maybe the elbow grease is a good trade.

FMI: www.daher.com