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Oshkosh award winners pics

rvanstory

Well Known Member
I was very happy (and surprised) to get an award at OSH this year. There were so many beautiful newly minted RV's this year. I hope this doesn't come across as "self promoting", but I'd REALLY like to see the other winners post pics of their RV's here.

There were 12 RV award winners at Osh. And I got to see some, but not all of them. The only RV pic the EAA published was Darwin Barrie's Gold Lindy winner. Darwin Barrie's RV-7 is AMAZING, yet the one pic posted by EAA just doesn't do it justice.

They didn't even post a pic of Michael Foss's RV-8, which was a work of art! Thomas and Kristen McGuiness's RV-10 was stunning, and had the best interior I've ever seen!

Would the other award winners be willing to post some of their favorite pics here for others to see? Beautifully finished RV's are inspiring to us all.
 
I wasn't at OSH but I've seen pictures of the McGuiness RV-10 and agree that it's stunning. Wild paint job but they did an incredible job with it. The carbon fiber paint was probably one of the coolest things I've seen. Congrats on your award as well!
 
Congrats Randy. It has been over 20 years when I got a workmanship award for my RV4 at Arlington EAA Fly-in. That was a thrill.

Will they eventually post / publish photos of all the award winners? Anyone know. **

Common features of winners, besides having a gorgeous pristine plane, is the owner goes the extra effort in how they display the plane, signs, parking pads, mirrors, placard-sign, book-pictorial of build. They typically are always NEW minty fresh builds or refurbishments, no wear and tear. They typically have impeccable professional quality paint and upholstery. Fancy custom paint design and/or panel even better. You also have to be at show long enough for all judges to make their inspection.

** Edit: Using EAA list of Lindy Award Winners, I googled them and found most of the pictures on line. All the paint jobs are fancy... Nice. :)

List: https://www.eaa.org/airventure/eaa-...1-2021-2021-airventure-lindy-awards-announced
 
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My team of volunteer photographers took the picture on the EAA website.

The pictures we take are primarily for the homebuilt awards ceremony where each plane gets 30 seconds or so of fame as it is announced and the award is presented. We take pictures of every homebuilt with a judge me sticker and we work hard in hopes that we will have shot every award winner. I don't have a count, but I suspect we shot well over 100 homebuilts during the week.

Much as we'd like to take complete pictures of each plane, just getting the nominal three pictures of each award winner is a goodly challenge -- manpower, finding the planes, planes come and go, planes with canopy covers, planes without prop cards, planes that have moved, pedestrians in the way, background clutter, owners that aren't around to show us the planes and especially managing the photos afterwards and putting together the slide show. After all, there were about a thousand homebuilts on the field.

This year, we had pictures of all but two of the award winners, a result which I thought most commendable, especially since most of this year's photographers were new. (We found the other two planes on the web.)

Cosmetics, a nice finish or interior does not guarantee an award. Some years back, there was a beautifully finished Lancair that got lots of publicity but no award. If you looked closely, the plane was really only average, and the horizontal tail wasn't quite level. The judges were not fooled.

The best bet for getting detailed shots of all the winners is for the winners themselves to post the photos here on vaf. The rest of us, with average skills and average airplanes, will enjoy their workmanship and hopefully not accuse them of self-aggrandizement.

BTW, I started the awards photography at AirVenture 30+ years ago, back when slides were the only option.
 
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There was one award winner this year with 750 hours. Normal wear and tear is allowed.

One year, there was a grand champion that was on the field for only two hours.

Few, if any planes have signs, mirrors, etc. It's the plane itself that matters.

With all the demands that EAA has on their resources, I doubt that they will put all the award winners on the web.
 
There was one award winner this year with 750 hours. Normal wear and tear is allowed.

One year, there was a grand champion that was on the field for only two hours.

Few, if any planes have signs, mirrors, etc. It's the plane itself that matters.

With all the demands that EAA has on their resources, I doubt that they will put all the award winners on the web.
I guess you told me... :D However I stand by my comments, and did not say these tips are mandatory. Your comments are not the Norm in my experience. How the judges got to the plane on the field for only 2 hours, well hummm. That is an exception. EAA even published a guide to what judges look for, at least in the past.

If you want an award: 1) New builds or restorations/pristine have an advantage, 2) How you display it makes a difference and winners often have display features; 3) Make sure the plane is available for the judges (not just 2 hours one day and move your tent and gear away from plane). That is my story and sticking to it. Again if you really want an award, make sure it is detailed, displayed well (and yes it helps) and made available for judges. A 750 hr plane with normal wear and tear, on the field for 2 hours is going to lower it's chances of an award. :rolleyes:

2021-08-01-lindys-kitbuilt-rv-7-960.jpg
 
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Oshkosh Awards

I gotta chime in here and agree with Ed, fancy paint jobs and mirrors are not required to win. I won a bronze Lindy in 2019 with my -10. It had about 400hrs on it at the time, a G3X legacy panel (non-touch) and a conventional paint job from a local shop. I was there with 2 kids and father-in-law with a big tent pitched next to the plane, child seats in the back and all. We got soaked out earlier in the week in the big storm and bailed out home. Came back on Thurs morning which is when the plane was judged and left on Fri after the kids had enough.
 
My team of volunteer photographers took the picture on the EAA website.

Ed,
Thank you and your team for ALL you do at Osh! After re-reading my initial post, I realized I could have sounded critical of the pics taken. Please forgive me if that's how it came across. You guys did a great job and can't imagine how hard it is to even FIND all the planes.

I fully realize the limitations you guys have of posting pics and that's why I hope owners will post some of their own here.
 
Winning

A nice album with photos of the entire build history is pretty much mandatory for any of the top awards.
Having the upper cowl off is good if you have a near perfect engine installation.
Aircraft registration and airworthiness should be visibly displayed. Data plate should be properly located and professionally done.
Proper markings and placards on everything on the panel as well as controls.
Some nice plywood or similar for the wheels to rest on as well as custom chocks will probably not get you any points but attract attention.
If you had two otherwise identical airplanes and one builder can prove that they did more work themselves the one where the builder did more work will win.
If two otherwise identical airplanes, one painted, one polished are contenders the polished airplane with absolutely perfect rivets will probably win. The painted airplane MIGHT be hiding a few less than perfect rivets.
The list goes on and on and the process is quite complex and somewhat rigid.
 
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