StangStung wrote:
Just out of curiosity, where would Upopa Epops fit in?
I thought it was at or near the tops? What would disqualify it in the WIX trust's minds?
BTW, this is just curiosity. I have no dog in this hunt.
Just to add my thoughts again (and I have no involvement with any party either)...
"Upupa Epops" is right up there at the top too. For me, it has long been a pinnacle of Mustang restorations as well. "Upupa Epops" had been, I believe, the only Mustang restoration prior to "Sierra Sue II" and "Lope's Hope 3rd" that had also gone to the depth of having the rivets used in the restoration specially manufactured to WWII-spec (though of only one finish, unlike the multiple authentic finishes accurately incorporated on "Sierra Sue II", "Lope's Hope 3rd" and "Dottie Mae"). As I alluded to in my first post, the big part of what makes "Sierra Sue II" and "Lope's Hope 3rd" so special, besides accuracy down to the smallest detail, is the fact that while the craftsmanship/workmanship is first rate/of the highest quality, the look of the aircraft is authentic by not being overly neat or overly perfect. For instance, when NAA applied an acid wash to the skins where spot welding was performed, they did so with a good-sized brush, just free-hand, as you can see in period factory photos and on the surfaces of the skins on "SSII" and "Lope's Hope 3rd". The "Upupa Epops" restoration, which was completed way back in 2003, also has a few areas of acid etching on the skins where there is spot welding, but it is done in an extremely precise, neat, and limited fashion that doesn't match up with the way things were done during original NAA production/manufacturing. During original wartime NAA production, many ribs, frames and brackets were dipped in primer rather than sprayed - "SSII" and "Lope's Hope 3rd" are the only restorations I know of that had these parts treated the same way, creating the true authentic imperfect finish (and using the same period-authentic primers, no less, which have quite a different look and feel than the modern representations of zinc chromates in other restorations). When Mustangs rolled out of the factory during WWII, they already had some rash to them, with chips and scuff marks and scratches. In the restorations of "SSII" and "Lope's Hope 3rd", they have all of this, not intentionally, but when using the same factory processes and original wartime-era type primers and paints (no modern Imron/polyurethane paints), that's all going to happen just the same. "Sierra Sue II" and "Lope's Hope 3rd" also have pioneered the use of using stamps to apply the majority of the stencils across the exterior of the aircraft, as was done originally, which you don't see on previous Mustang restorations (though you can see a bit of this on Midwest Aero's "Frenesi" restoration as well, where some of the production block is stamped and some is stenciled, per original.) A huge (majority, from what I can tell) swath of wartime P-51 production had yellow zinc chromate rub plates on the landing gear clam shell doors, including Allison-engine variants, B's, C's, D's (both Dallas and Inglewood) and K's, and "SSII" and "Lope's Hope 3rd" are the only restorations to-date to have this detail.
To be nit-picky to the nth degree, in the "Upupa Epops" restoration, all of the interior-facing areas of skins that were originally left bare metal from the NAA factory, and would remain as such in a restoration today to the caliber of "SSII"/"Lope's Hope 3rd", were instead painted yellow zinc chromate in the restoration, and you won't find any of the Alcoa/Reynolds aluminum watermarks reproduced on any of the skins as there was originally and has been faithfully reproduced on several restorations in more recent years (pioneered by Midwest Aero on their "Happy Jack's Go Buggy" restoration, completed in 2008). There are some finer details that are also just a little off on "Upupa Epops" - like the flying instruments outline on the instrument panel from the restoration is white where it should be yellow (since the switch from white to yellow came well before the "Upupa Epops" airframe was manufactured), and the seat is painted black where in which during WWII it was only ever painted dark dull green or interior green. All of this is really not worth mentioning, but I do so just to highlight the very fine line between all of these superb restorations - you really have to dig deep, down to the finest details, if you're trying to separate them. Mustangs like "Upupa Epops", "Sierra Sue II", "Lope's Hope 3rd", "Baby Carmen", "Berlin Express", etc., all have very much the same type of, extremely limited (as limited as you can possibly get), modern avionics, which are attached in the cockpit, in each individual case, in ways that don't remove or prevent the inclusion of any of the original cockpit instrumentation, radio boxes, hardware, brackets, etc.
With so many fantastic restorations, you're dealing with quite a number of Mustangs that are very near and tied for placements on a list of most authentic/accurate. Midwest Aero's most recent restoration, "Frenesi", for instance, is really a clone of "Happy Jack's Go Buggy", with just different markings. Fagen Fighter's "Twilight Tear" also has just as much authenticity and original period-correct fittings, hardware, WWII equipment, etc., throughout, but has a very polished exterior (just about the only thing not authentic on it - it and "SSII" share some unique, correct, earlier-style D-model cockpit details, specific to their production block, that can't be seen in any other D-model restoration). Then you have "Little Rebel", which it too could be considered very much like "SSII" and "Lope's Hope 3rd", with accuracy down to the tiniest bit of hardware, primer finishes, aluminum finishes, etc., but it lacks the fuselage tank and aft cockpit fit-out as expected in a fully-WWII era authentic Mustang, since it has a jump seat installed in back and the front seat is modified to tilt forward. The P-51B "Berlin Express" restoration of course is also phenomenal. When you really look closely into the details of all of these restorations, you'll even find that the period-correct watermarks on the aluminum panels are different on the earlier Mustang variant restorations compared to the later Mustang variant restorations - accurate to the different time periods of manufacturing/watermark usage during the war years.