THE OFFICIAL IN THE BUFF B52 GROUP BUILD

Jim:

I take it you are not a Bone fan, was the plane more trouble than it was worth?

This just in:

Revenge of the Bismarck!

What a shaggy dog story;

My 1/600 scale Bismarck from 1967 fell off the shelf over my work bench,

the turrets ended up in four remarkably different places, small pieces everywhere,

many to never be recovered. Not unlike the debris field from a real battleship sinking.

I had to remove a lot of my building tools and materials from the back of my bench around to

try and recover as many parts as I could, can you say "salvage"?

So, scribing tools and sharpies are now about halfway forward on the bench, not

their usual place.

Dominic is tired, going to hit the sack, and reaches down to pick up half a gas tank

for an old Mono 1/48 P-51, and, yes,

POINK,

drives a scribing tool right into his left hand's index finger knuckle!

Kee Ryyyyps! More blood for the dog, just waiting to see if the fargging wound is

going to go tetanus on me, well it's been about 12 hours,

gaaaaa daaaaaang iiiiit!!!!!!

Dom

Bockscar

Jim:

I take it you are not a Bone fan, was the plane more trouble than it was worth?

That is my cranky BUFF guy side coming out.  All new planes have growing pains, but it was hard to listen to the propaganda that came out of SAC HQ.  They were often touted as a nuclear deterrent.  They sat less than 5% Alert compared to 30-35% for the BUFFs.  So while there were about 90 BUFFS on Alert, there were maybe 6, but probably 4 BONEs on Alert.  And they needed more tanker support than us.  That palne never lived up to the hype in my eyes.  The proof to me was on a deployment to Spain for a NATO exercise in Turkey.  When the crap in Mogadishu went down, we continued to fly to Turkey.  The BONEs had to stay home.  That certainly didn't impress me.  Oh, and while they stayed home, they flew missions for pilot proficiency.  Nothing like jerks doing afterburner climbs while you are trying to sleep so you can do the mission planning for the Wing at night.  So, yeah, it ain't my favorite!

I always wonder if after

predendisent Fimmy Jarter's cacellation of the B-1A the

stunted B program never got back on track.

B-1 was supposed to be a supersonic cruise penetrator,

but ever since the mid fifties', someone comes along to say "oh, there's this new Russian

technology that can knock any U>S> current or drawing board design right out of the air!!!"

'What's the new technology called, sir?"

"They call the new weapon "missilesky"!!!!

"oooooooh.....that sounds nasty, better not build any new designs then........"

The BUFF still rules.

Amen.

Dom

Ouch!

Sure hope I didn't jinx that Bone!

news.yahoo.com/b-1b-bomber-crashes-montana-crew-ejects-210005183.html

Looks like the pane landed in a perfect belly flop.

Dom

Looks like it nosed in.  Hate to see that in any aircraft.  Fortunately, the crew made it out.

Yeah Jim;

at least the crew survival system was working....

what a 'splash'!

Dom

I can't win these days.

My thumb finally healed from grabbing that X-Acto blade backwards.

So, a cupboard shelf bracket gave way, and when I opened the cupboard door

a Corning or Pyrex measuring cup fell to the tile and shattered.

I got that mess cleaned up last weekend.

Today, I was going back into the cupboard to pull out a mixer,

and there were shards of ultra sharp glass all over the inside of the cupboard.

Got that cleaned up.

So, around 10:00 P.M. I go back to my haunted tool desk, and I start to

do some fine detail cutting, and drive another knife blade into my thumb

in a nice slicing schnitt.

the dog loves the taste of my blood on the floor , the little vampire.......

Ga Dannng........

Ouch! I feel your pain. Sounds like a typical day for me every day. Hang in there man, they can only get better.

Ow, Dom! Take it easy, man!  Save a few fingers for your later years .

Hope it heals soon, bud,

Russ

Thanks guys;

the stupppppidist self-inflicted of all time.....

Well....it wasn't Darwin grade, but I guess i gotta' be more careful.....

Tx

Dom

Sounds like you need some oyster shucking gloves!

Ya know, Jim;

I have some,

worked at a large grocer's seafood counter,

I bought some and they are sitting with the kitchen

knives.

Now I gotta' build airplanes wearing crutches?

-ouch

Dom

Well, I finished it.  Well, mostly.  I still need some people roaming around the plane.  They are on the way from our friends from Squadron.

The power cart, the crew truck and the fire extinguishers are scratch-built.  The asphalt is construction paper.  The concrete is card stock with the block pattern printed on it.  The lines are colored pencil.  The BUFF and the step van come from Skywave.  

Gotta love 1/700th scale!

I'll take this to a model show next week.  I don't plan to win anything, but I probably will cause a little discussion.

That should keep me happy for a few days.

Jim

Yeah Jim;

Those 781's gotta be pretty small....

Man, that's tiny, I feel like a spy satellite just looking at them.

Looking good,,,,I'm starting to love the smaller scales again.

Winter's coming like a freight train, I gotta get back to BUFFology....

Great work,

Dom

Looks great, Jim! Man, you must have outstanding eyesight! Hope you score big at the show.!

Cheers,

Russ

Bockscar

Those 781's gotta be pretty small....

Man, that's tiny, I feel like a spy satellite just looking at them.

I did the math.  The 781 would be about the size of a period on this page, 0.017" x 0.014".  So, I'm gonna skip making that for this model.  Besides, I think it is in the cockpit with the crew.  And no, I am not going to super detail the landing gear bays and the cockpit.  OOB is fine for me.

I did the scaling for the pad off of Google and their satellite imagery.  They have some neat stuff.

Jim

Striker8241

Looks great, Jim! Man, you must have outstanding eyesight! Hope you score big at the show.!

Cheers,

Russ

At one point in my life, I had really good vision.  Now, I have bifocals and a magnifying visor.

Jim

Jim;

I'm very disappointed you lost your skills to read micro-dots!!!

I can still read advertisements printed on a flea's backside at 15,000 yards!

.........

Well, all those advertisements are for reading glasses.....

you don't 'spose there's a coincidence there?

Funny thing, micro-dot technology was 50's and 60's, but did that ever make it to

consumer grade?

No worries not completing the cockpit or avionics/wheel bays,

that saves me painting the crew faces......

Dom

Insanity is a wonderful thing.  Thanks to Eduard, I have a crew and crew chief.  This is how I plan to show it off on Saturday.

Looking nice Jim,

can you imagine if they put out Mk 82's?

Good luck at the show!

Dom

Hy Jim:

One last little annoyance;

Is there any way you could get an ultra-fine black magic marker

or felt type pen, and black out the wind screens?

Dom

I'll look into it.

Buffirn

Insanity is a wonderful thing.  Thanks to Eduard, I have a crew and crew chief.  This is how I plan to show it off on Saturday.

The troops add a lot to the diorama, Jim. Looks good!

Good luck at the model show!

Russ

Hobby Lobby provided me with the really fine point pens to fix the windows.  They are fixed.

Jim:

At that microscopic scale, any detail is worth 100 hours at a bigger scale.

Looking forward to seeing your solution.

Dom

Well, I didn't win anything with my BUFF.  There were some awesome dioramas there.  I did get a 3rd place with a 1/35 Brazilian Osorio MBT.  That surprised me since I finished it late last night.  Still, I had a good time, I got models finished and I bought more stuff that I could no live without.

Jim

Hey, any award is a winner. Congratulations, Jim!

Russ

Wait until you see my next diorama attempt.  I am gonna keep this one SECRET for the time being.

Jim

Hey Jim;

Yes! Congratulations!

A win is a win!

Hmmmm Buffs and MBTs? What a combo.

Throw in battleships and subs, and you are in like flint!!!!

Dom

Bockscar

Hey Jim;

Yes! Congratulations!

A win is a win!

Hmmmm Buffs and MBTs? What a combo.

Throw in battleships and subs, and you are in like flint!!!!

Dom

I have a 1//72 USS Skipjack and a 1/700 USS Arizona in the stack.