Project Viking, lost puppy or lost cause?

If I let myself lose control, I would buy it for parts. I would have to do some figuring/research but I think you could make money at its current price. A good wing can bring 10K (the butt cracks need to be probed and such), the main gear 2K each etc etc
If flying cheap is the goal, you'd probably be better off to buy a completed one than such a project imo; they can be had in flying condition for 40K.
 
larrysb said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4546677902

I always liked the way the Vikings look and the performance is attractive. This one looks like it may be rebuildable, but the current bid at $8K would be worth it for the engine alone.

Wonder what it would cost to get the wings rebuilt and back in the air?
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Well, at that price you're still within salvage value, which IMO may be what the plane is good for considering the cost of flying versions.
 
I love the looks of the Vikings. How comfortable is the average A & P working on them? I've never seen one in person and I don't think they're too common in my area, I would be worried about being able to find someone local qualified/comfortable working on one.
 
HuskerMedic said:
I love the looks of the Vikings. How comfortable is the average A & P working on them? I've never seen one in person and I don't think they're too common in my area, I would be worried about being able to find someone local qualified/comfortable working on one.
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As far as mechanical systems go, they are no different from any other plane, as for the fabric, there is a fair amount of guys out there who can handle that. The wood laminate work, that's a bit trickier to find someone to do, but there are enough people out there doing it that it shouldn't put you in a bind, besides there isn't that much work on it you need done.
 
Henning said:
besides there isn't that much work on it you need done.
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it is very unlikely that you will ever need wood work done on a viking unless you whack something or hit a bird, we had a guy take some major hail in Victoria Tx recently and the wood was fine. I doubt all the metal planes on the field did as well. edit.... He did have some fabric work to do on the tail. (if hail took out the fabric, it was a pretty good hailstorm)
I forgot to mention that if the owner does not protect the wood from the elements by following the 4 easy steps then he might have to do woodwork. There are guys around that do it. One member watched and helped one of these guys recently and did a good write-up, he said it was scary but not all that difficult.
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
it is very unlikely that you will ever need wood work done on a viking unless you whack something or hit a bird, we had a guy take some major hail in Victoria Tx recently and the wood was fine. I doubt all the metal planes on the field did as well.
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Yep, I've worked on several Bellancas and other wood wings, I don't mind them a bit. Outside of physical damage, the only time I had to do some work on a Bellanca wing was due to extremely neglectful storage. For strength to weight, it was hard to beat a wood wing until the carbon/kevlar composites came around. As for longevity, I'll still bet on wood.
 
Henning said:
Yep,As for longevity, I'll still bet on wood.
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there are thousand year old trees out there. What is the oldest known piece of aluminum?
 
Went for $10,800 with a recently overhauled prop and a 1100 hour running IO470F engine, some not so hot but working avionics.

I think the buyer probably did pretty good on that deal.

Man, if I had a place to put it and time to work on it, I'd have bought it for that. At worst, it could be parted out for that much.
 
1. Thread-rejuvenator!
2. Why did Larry have himself deleted?
 
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