And how old is the fabric? Even the wing is fabric-covered, and it's glued down tight to the plywood sheeting. Not much fun getting that off without damage.
I did some work on a Viking. The maintenance manual has some very specific instructions on how the wing root fairings are to be sealed in order to keep moisture away from the wooden structure. I found that someone had sealed the leading edge fairings with construction adhesive instead of dumdum, making removal nearly impossible in order to do the annual AD wing structure rot inspection. You need to get at the spar ends to probe and inspect. Having owned and restored a wooden Jodel, I can tell you that you have to take all this stuff seriously. VERY seriously.
Fabric recover jobs are expensive. Labor-intensive. And once the old rag is off you find stuff that needs fixing, every time, adding to the cost. The cost can easily outweigh the airplane's net worth in the end.
Never make the mistake of thinking that because the airplane is priced low, that ownership and operating costs will also be low. The Viking (and Cruisair) is a complex airplane, with all the expensive bits that a complex has: big engine, CS prop and governor, sometimes a turbo, retractable gear driven by hydraulic pumps and more circuitry, and so on. A Viking's fuel system is awesomely complicated. This makes maintenance and insurance much more expensive. Parts for such an airplane can be scarce and cost plenty, and the shop rates for an old airplane are the same as for a brand-new airplane. Buying it is one thing; keeping it and flying it are another thing altogether.
The Cruisair has a small engine, but it was a Franklin (uh-oh) and had a fixed-pitch prop. Somewhat simpler.
There is no such thing as a cheap old airplane.
as a bachelor I was good with a place to Shlit shower and shave. Won’t lie tho feels nice making it nice. So anyway- we’re going to need to do some winter flying or meet in the spring n camp the UP or something!
