{"id":4963,"date":"2012-07-15T11:04:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T15:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=4963"},"modified":"2018-11-08T11:47:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T16:47:16","slug":"lockheed-vega-heads-off-for-restoration-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/fantasy-of-flight\/lockheed-vega-heads-off-for-restoration-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Vega heads off for Restoration!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something recently told\u00a0me to get my Lockheed Vega flying! \u00a0I’m not sure where the\u00a0message\u00a0came from but it seems like a great idea!<\/p>\n

I purchased the Vega from Dave Jameson, several months after Hurricane Andrew ripped the Miami\u00a0Weeks Air Museum<\/em>\u00a0apart on August 24, 1992. \u00a0I must have been feeling sorry for myself? \u00a0:-)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We begin the disassembly process!<\/p><\/div>\n

While digging out from the destruction, it continued to be displayed at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI. \u00a0By the time it made it to Florida for Fantasy of Flight’s grand opening in 1995, it had not flown for over a decade. \u00a0At the time, we had other things to worry about and since it looked great we just assembled it for display.<\/p>\n

Wing coming off!<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the years, the original 500 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine was replaced by\u00a0a bigger and later 600 hp version from an AT-6 Texan with a constant speed propellor. \u00a0It’s my intent to restore it back to the original early-style engine and ground adjustable propellor. \u00a0Because of the engine conversion, the instrument panel began to reflect later-style instruments and the plan will be to put everything back to as original as possible.<\/p>\n

Nice shot of the disassembly from above.<\/p><\/div>\n

Also, the wheels and brakes were upgraded and fiberglass wheelpants installed. \u00a0We haven’t looked into whether or not the original wheels are available, or even if\u00a0it originally had brakes (It may have originally been built with a tailskid), but brakes will be needed for sure. \u00a0I acquired an original set of wheel pants from the Tallmantz Collection purchase in 1985 \u00a0that we will try and salvage or use as a pattern for new ones. \u00a0Dave Jameson may have actually purchased this Vega from Tallmantz, so we might be reuniting them after all these years!<\/p>\n

First load – the Wing!<\/p><\/div>\n

The Vega will be upgraded and made airworthy by Kevin Kimball and his shop about an hour away from Fantasy of Flight in Mt. Dora, FL. \u00a0They do great work and have produced several award winning vintage aircraft restorations from this period.<\/p>\n

Currently, it’s my intent to keep it in the colors of the\u00a0Winnie Mae<\/em>\u00a0and use it one day as a character\u00a0in my illustrated children’s book series starring many of the famous planes from the Golden Age of Aviation. \u00a0His name will be\u00a0Wiley <\/em>and, of course, just might find himself with a patch over one windscreen!<\/p>\n

Second load – Bye, Bye Vega!<\/p><\/div>\n

During the process of talking to Kevin about the restoration, I found out\u00a0he has always had the dream of making a mold to produce the fuselage which was used in the making of not only the Vega but the Orion, Sirius, Altair and Air Express!<\/p>\n

Never to have been one to be satisfied with just one model of a type, I couldn’t help but think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a set!” <\/em>\u00a0We’ll see.<\/p>\n

Kermit<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something recently told\u00a0me to get my Lockheed Vega flying! \u00a0I’m not sure where the\u00a0message\u00a0came from but it seems like a great idea! I purchased the Vega from Dave Jameson, several months after Hurricane Andrew ripped\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,87,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy-of-flight","category-kermit-weeks","category-lockheed-vega","category-books","lockheed-vega-heads-off-for-restoration-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4963"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6303,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4963\/revisions\/6303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}