MPM 1/72 Lockheed Vega By Jim Schubert

History

The story of the Vega was recounted in the review of the first Vega kit released by MPM in the October 2003 issue of this magazine. The subjects of this new release of the Vega, Wiley Post's "Winnie Mae" and Amelia Earhart's "Little Red Bus", are the two best known Vegas in the world and both are on permanent display in the US National Air And Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, D. C. Kermit Weeks has the only airworthy Vega in the world in his Fantasy Of Flight Museum collection in Polk City, Florida; it is restored to replicate the "Winnie Mae" in her early days as an executive transport.

The Kit

This new release is essentially the same as the Vega 5C/UC-101 kit issued by MPM in late 2003. It differs mainly in having new, incorrect, box art - of which more later - one different sprue tree of parts for the large wheel pants, high pressure tires, small fin/rudder, long range fuel tanks, a beautiful new decal sheet and revised instructions.

The parts and decals permit you the option of building any of three of the, at least, six configurations of "Winnie Mae" during her very active and record filled life. The instructions, however, err for the two "NC" configurations by having you install the long range fuel tanks which were only fitted to the "NR" (Restricted) configuration. The two "NC" configurations should have the seats, which are marked, "Parts Not For Use" in the instructions, installed.

The three configurations reflect:

1. "Winnie Mae", NC-105-W as delivered to F.C. Hall in June 1930 with a full set of five passenger cabin windows on each side and plush seating for six inside the passenger cabin plus the pilot up front. Wiley Post was, at this time, Hall's personal pilot; their relationship continued and Hall became Post's sponsor in his later record flights.

2. As NR-105-W at the time of Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty's June 1931 record round-the-world flight with the long range fuel tanks and a navigator's station in the passenger cabin. The kit does not provide details for the navigator's station.

3. Again as NC-105-W after the round-the-world flight with the plush six-place executive interior and windows refitted. The ailerons of all three versions of "WM" buildable from the kit, and the one version of "LRB" had mass-balance panels forward of their hinge lines. If you are not displacing the ailerons, you can represent these by scribing. See sketch herewith. The IPMS/USA Quarterlies 15Q1 - Fall 1979, 15Q2 - Winter 1979 and 15Q3 - Spring 1980. give you all the details you need to do all but the final, high-altitude, configurations of "Winnie Mae.

The parts and decals also give you the option of accurately building one configuration of Amelia Earhart's "Little Red Bus", which the instructions mislabel "Lady Lindy". This nickname was sometimes applied to the aviatrix herself but never to the plane, which she consistently called her "Little Red Bus". It should be noted that there were two "Little Red Buses" used by AE on her record flights; the other was registered NR-965-Y. The instructions, correctly, show four windows on each side of the passenger cabin blanked out. On the original, the glazing was removed and two stringers were installed as shown on the color scheme drawing in the instructions. The window holes were then covered with fabric doped in place. The stringers show faintly through the fabric and the outline edge of the window opening is slightly visible as a very small depression. The IPMS/USA Quarterlies 15Q2 - Winter 1979 and 15Q3 - Spring 1980 spell out in thorough detail all of the particulars of both planes.

Interestingly, the box art depicts none of the three configurations of "Winnie Mae" that can be built from the kit. In fact, it depicts a fiction. It has the "NR" markings currently displayed on the high-altitude configuration of the plane as presently displayed in the NASM but has them applied to a five window, six passenger executive physical configuration. Ignore the box art; it is useless as a reference; the high altitude modifications were extensive and are not covered by the kit parts.

All of the comments about the parts from the October 2003 review apply equally to this new release. The decal sheet is outstanding. I believe this kit is a first for the Czech manufacturers in providing no military markings at all! Kudos to MPM for this brave choice. Now that the ice is broken, May we have more?

Conclusion

It's as good as the first release in all respects and a lot better, in my opinion, in having four sets of civilian markings and no military markings. Congratulations and thank you to MPM. More, more, more!

I paid $27.98 plus sales tax for this Vega kit at Emil Minerich's Skyway Model Shop in Seattle; that's four dollars more than I paid for the first kit in September only six months ago.

Afterword

I neglected to point out in the October review that Jimmy Doolittle's Vega also had the mass balanced ailerons and that the instructions err in that the assembly illustrations show the door on the left side of the fuselage when it was actually on the right. You can either scribe the door outline on the right side and the escape hatch outline on the left or cut the door out of the right side of the fuselage along the internal lines provided by MPM and use the door provided in the kit but identified as "Parts Not For Use'.

References

The same as the October review and I want to again emphasize how very valuable they all are if you are interested in any, or all, of the Lockheed series of single-engined, pre-war airplanes; Vega, Speed Vega, Air Express, Explorer, Sirius, Altair, Orion and Orion/Explorer hybrid.