B-52 Group Build

Castle closed in Dec. 1996, so your friend was there at a good time.  That area loved the base.  When I was there the locals went out of their way to be friendly.  Great climate, too.  Close enough to the wine country that you could tour on the weekends, San Francisco was relatively close, Yosemite National Park was incredible, the old gold mining towns, and on and on.  I really enjoyed it there, can you tell?

Al great to hear of your experience. A good friend of mine was stationed at Castle from 86-90 FMS airframe repair. John

You're quite right, a couple others pointed out my error a few days ago.  1/72 is the correct scale.  I'm using the excuse that it was a "senior moment" to mask my stupidity.

AMT never made a 48th scale B-52, KC-135 or B-70. They were all 72nd scale.  A B-52 in 48th scale would have a wingspan of over 4feet

Hi Al;

You have your own thread "B52 Group Build" so your posts are going there. If you want to join the Buff Group build, then click on this .aspx link:

153086.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=1

and it will take you to the BUFF GB thread. Once you are there you can read the intro, send me a message and I'll put down as a participant.

If that is still clear as mud let me know and I'll help get you organized Thursday - tomorrow.

Dom

Hi, Dom, yes by all means feel free to post my reply.  Actually, I thought my reply would go to everyone in the Group automatically.  Could you enlighten me on how communications within the B52 Group Build works?  As a "newby" there much I don't know yet, especially about Group Builds.  There were a couple .aspx's in an earlier post (such as 153086.aspx).  Are they links to different threads?  Also, how will I know when I'm "officially" part of the B52 Group Build?  BTW, my name is Al (for Allen).

Valkyrie:

That is a very impressive resume. We always welcome Vets such as yourself because of the background you bring to the table.

Would it be OK with you if I posted your reply to the BUFF thread?

Best,

Dom

Hi, Bockscar.  Thanks for the quick reply.  I definitely would like to join the GB.  I'll send pictures as soon as I'm able.

To help control your blood pressure, I found and purchased a B-52G, B-52H, KC-135A and XB-70 each made by AMT and in 1/48 scale at the Broadway Hobby Shop in Cincinnati, OH.  That was about 15 years ago.  It's a relatively small shop.  Life happened and I didn't get started building any of them until a few weeks ago.  The Boardwalk Hobby Shop is still in business, I visited it a couple times in the last few weeks.  They have NASAs B-52 (I think it was a B model)/X-15 combination in 1/48 scale, but didn't see any G's or H's.

Concerning my B-52 experience, I was an Aircraft Maintenance Officer in the Strategic Air Command stationed at Castle AFB (Calif.) where all B-52 and KC-135 Combat Crew Training was done.  We maintained B-52D/E/F models in "flyable storage" and were flying B-52G/H models.  At that time, 1974-1977, we did about 1/6th of all the B-52 flying in SAC.  We had a 5000 man maintenance complex running round the clock seven days a week.  We normally didn't fly on the weekend though.  We were divided into four squadrons, Organizational Maintenance (OMS), Field Maintenance (FMS), Avionics Maintenance (AMS) and Munitions Maintenance (MMS).  OMS had the crew chiefs and "owned" the aircraft, did servicing, launch, recovery, towing, etc.  FMS and AMS were "specialist" squadrons and were dispatched from shops to do repairs.  MMS handled the bombs both "iron" and nuclear.  I was Officer In Charge (OIC) of the Bomber Branch in OMS.  I had roughly 220 people divided into three "flights", B-52G, B-52H and "Crested Dove" (we called it "Crested Crud") with the B-52D/E/F models.  Can't remember how many of each type we had, but it was a very "crowded" parking ramp.

Hi Valkyrie,

Great to hear you are getting back into the fold!

Group Building is a bunch of guys building kits and sharing their experiences as they go along. Some build fast, some build slow, most GB's ask that you keep in touch and post pictures, if you can, and descriptions.

Often guys can demonstrate solutions to challenges and problems, or share techniques on how to assemble and detail their kits.

Our GB is THE OFFICIAL IN THE BUFF B52 GROUP BUILD and you can find it in the Group Build forum.153086.aspx

We have a number of x Airforce guys who are building BUFFs, like Striker8241:

149616.aspx

You are more than welcome to join in or post a question about the GBs!!!

I have a question for you, where did you get a 1/48 scale AMT BUFF? Maybe a 1/72?

(the idea of a 1/48 B-52 has got my blood pressure way up!!!)

Can you tell us a bit about your duties as a B-52 Maintenance Officer? - We would

really appreciate that!

Best regards,

Dom