Warbird Information Exchange

Did they ever roll off the assembly line looking that shiny?

Like a mirror.

No, but if you look at the appearance of the "Sierra Sue II", "Lope's Hope 3rd" and "Little Rebel" restorations after they were rolled out, their metal finishes were/are exactly as Mustangs came from the NAA factory, at least more so than any other Mustang restoration - with a mixture of both shiny finish on some panels (only as much as there is/was on fresh Alclad) and dull finish on other panels due to rollers (different thickness) and presses (forming the complex-curved parts into shape), with original skins polished only to the point of matching the level of shine as they would have had when new, plus all of the acid-etching wash wherever there are spot welds. For as shiny as fresh Alclad is, it is not the same as the "mirror finish" as you see on the highly polished Mustangs.

Hose it off and fly it...

Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.

John, so is the metal that (say AirCorps) uses/used on Sierra Sue II the same exact metal 'type' (that may be Alclad as you stated above) that was used in wartime? not knowing anything about types of metal, I always wondered this. Another follow up question, is painted on nose art generally painted with the same paint as wartime? I've read dozens if not hundreds of times that when a warbird is painted in this day in age the paint appears more glossy because it really isn't the same paint, for good reasons (ease of care, $$$ to maintain/re-paint), but I thought nose art might be 'allowed' to use the old school paint type as it's a small section.

"Alclad" is the term used by Alcoa for the anti-corrosive aspect of their aluminum, which originated in 1927. Reynolds had the "Pureclad" name. The Alclad today I don't believe is any different in composition/appearance - in its purest form, Alcad sheets are very shiny/reflective (no different now than during WWII - and there are no shortage of WWII era photos showing just how shiny and reflective factory-fresh P-51's, and other US military aircraft, were in 1944/45, without any polishing). At AirCorps Aviation, they have a Farnham roller, just as North American Aviation used, to run the aluminum sheets through in order to form the needed curvatures. The rollers leave behind marks in the metal that can be seen in the original wartime skins - by using the Farnham roller, AirCorps is able to form the new skins in the same manner that the originals were, using the same type tool, and providing the same exact appearance on the new skins as there was originally from NAA production in WWII. Sheets that don't require contouring are naturally going to remain very shiny/reflective, while the more times you have to run a sheet through the roller to form it into shape, the more dull it becomes as more marks/imperfections are left behind from the rollers, and the metal also becomes dull when press-forming/stamping the sheets into shape, again per original factory process, forming the most complex-curved skins. Of course on "Sierra Sue II", there are a number of original skins still on the airplane as well, including some of the cowl panels, around the tail, and below the silver paint on the wings - the exposed original skins were hand-polished/cleaned up (with rags and elbow grease), only to the point of matching the look of the new skins and how everything would have looked when new out of the factory. The finished aircraft, just as they were originally when new, is a patchwork of shiny and dull skins/panels - the finish on each panel on the completed aircraft being individually a level of shiny/dull based on the factory processes to achieve the end result in just the way they did it at NAA in WWII.

As you say, most restorations today use modern paints/urethanes that are colored/tinted to match (including in-place of zinc chromate for interior primer), but in the case of the AirCorps Aviation restorations ("Sierra Sue II" and "Lope's Hope 3rd"), its lacquers, enamels (including the nose art), and real zinc chromate. The FHC Corsair restoration, finished by Ezell Aviation, was also painted in original-type lacquer paint (though the interior finishes were done with modern urethane paints).

Great response, thank you! Going off of that a few more questions came to mind, do the “shiny” Mustangs use the same metal as Sierra Sue II, etc, but it’s just heavily shined up? Or it an entirely different metal?

I’ve also seen here that Upupa is an authentic restoration, assuming that means it’s retained some of the original skins like Sierra has...?

The aluminum used on Mustangs is all the same, though of slightly different thicknesses around the airframe, as it must conform to the necessary required standards. Fresh aluminum is very shiny/reflective, but not anywhere near as much as it gets when powertool-buffed/polished to the mirror finish you see on a number of Mustangs today. There are also of course various levels of "polished finish" depending on the amount/level of polishing, and the state of the surface of the metal/amount of blemishes. Aluminum will become dulled over time due to oxidation, blemishes, etc.

I don't have any real intimate knowledge on the restoration of "Upupa Epops" (what is all original to the airplane or not), other than knowing very well the finished results of the restoration inside and out. It is an exceptionally detailed, accurate/authentic restoration, especially so for the time it was restored (very early 2000's).

Gotcha, thanks again for the info!