hi bigtime, and welcome! my p-51 in posts 112 & 113 I finally gave up on. it was being used to test rebuilt motors and I put a motor my son said would run just long enough to complete the upwind turn on takeoff. that's exactly what it did, I got it back to the runway and landed gear up. everything was fine till we walked up on it and saw the wings all laying on the runway (no dihedral). the plane was well soaked in oil and the ribs had been vibrating apart with the grain for years. when I recovered it I put cross grain supports on the ribs in front and aft of the main spar (where I could) but in the wheels up landing the balsa between the main spars was gone and the spars where free in that box. so I retired it.
mine also had a os 1.2 pumped I had bought in the 1980's maybe early 90 and spent the majority of its life in it. it had the pump fail and I could not get parts for it. hope they improved that! I finally put after market pump on it and continued on till I got out of liquid fuel.
I always liked the marie, it was a great beginner wood warbird once it had flaps. my son found a said to be h9 marie with flaps but when we unboxed it it was built even lighter than mine photos earlier so it just sits and festers in his attic. keep us apprised of your progress please.
Joe