1/32 Williams Bros. Militarized GeeBee R-1 'Fossfighter'

Gallery Article by Buffalo George Toomer & Michael Presley on Oct 23 2009

 

Photos by Henry Popp

      Buffalo George Toomer was an internationally known illustrator, advertising man, author, social observer, humorist, and celebrity in Dallas Texas from the 70s until his recent death this year. He appeared on NBC's the Today Show 5 times, as well as 'Real People', and '20/20'. He appeared on the Dallas ABC affillate, WFAA's 'PM Magazine' as their junk food/social critic, and had his own segment on Baltimore's Channel 13 for several years. In the late 60s, he founded the illustration, advertising, & marketing  studio, The Image Group, which went on to employ many of the Dallas area's finest young illustrators. Among these, was the multi-talented Patrick Foss, who would be his professional associate, and friend for many years. Around 1978, George and Pat began an informal, ('funny') model building contest, which would later be referred to as 'The Image Group Model Wars'. The most famous creation to emerge from this humorous conflict was George's militarized, 1/32 Williams Bros. GeeBee R-1, the 'Fossfighter'. Decked out in early U.S.A.A.F. olive drab, and neutral gray camo, sporting four underwing 500 lb. bombs, as well as decals raided from a Monogram B-17 (remember, this predated the now popular line of 'Egg Planes' by decades), the Fossfighter was an aggressive, winning design. Perched for years on George's studio desk, it made a bold modeling statement, and always garnered attention even among the hundreds of eclectic 'Objects d' Art', which included a stuffed Buffalo head on one wall. It was rediscovered among George's effects, by his son, George Jr., who presented it to it's namesake, Mr. Foss. Pat then asked me to make repairs to the now battered (but proud) model. After a few conversations, it was decided, I would undertake a full-blown rebuild, using modern 21st Century materials and techniques.  

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   I began by cleaning 30 years of dust & tobacco residue from the airframe with warm water and liquid dishwashing detergent. I then removed the three remaining underwing bombs. Inspection showed these to have been hastily assembled under the pressure of 'wartime'. So  I scavenged the bombs, as well as the decals from a Monogram B-17 in my inventory (as I had no intention of using either on my build of that kit). I then began removal of the cigar smoke stained decals, and paint starting with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper, ending with 8000 grit polishing cloth, & bare plastic. During this process, I made a startling discovery, and issued a bulletin to Pat, and other interested parties..."During decal removal, a WW-2, German Iron Cross (probably from a Monogram Me-109E, or Fw-190A) was discovered under the port wing's U.S. Star. No similar cross was found under the unit I.D. triangle on the starboard wing. This raises several intriquing questions. Did Buffalo George originally intend the Fossfighter to have the sinister trappings of a Messerschmitt, but was dissuaded by pangs of American patriotism, OR was this the result of a decal shortage? One of the many mysteries of the Fossfighter."

 I then removed the lose cowling, and sawed the engine off the airframe. I was able to disassemble the engine, & drilled a new hole for a propshaft, the old shaft having plugged the crankcase when it had been broken off, decades before. I added the Pratt & Whitney's wiring harness using lengths of solder, & repainted the engine. George had used internal cockpit bits to construct a fuselage mount 'machine gun'. I removed this, and decided to replace it with something more intimidating. At this point I decided to visit my brother Paul, and get his assistance, and opinions...also to raid his spare decal, and parts boxes (these are the modeling equivalent of Arizona's aircraft boneyards). I had already given him a list of the parts I was seeking...principally a pseudo-replacement prop, and cannon/machine guns, so he had a selection already culled for me. I also just wanted to sort through for any possible "additions".   When I arrived, he'd found the perfect prop, a 4 blade, Curtiss Electric from a 1/48 Monogram B-29. He had used the wartime Hamilton Standard option when building his Superfort, so had four extras. Despite it's smaller scale, it was huge, but could be easily cut down, and modified into a 'military' GeeBee unit. He also had a single 20 mm cannon, and a 1/48 quad of .50 cal Brownings from the nose of a Monogram P-38. I took both to add to the 1/32 .50 cal I had taken from a Hasegawa P-51, all of which were being considered. I would later settle on the P-38 unit.

I then got down to serious work, filling, sanding down all the airframe seams using puddy, Mr. Surfacer 500, and Crazy Glue. After polishing, several coats of Alclad Gray Primer and Microfiller were applied, and polished. Then Model Master Olive Drab, and Neutral Gary were then sprayed on. I formed a new canopy using the crazed, and yellowed original as a mold. Tamiya P-51B rearview mirrors were added to the canopy frame. Two blades were amputated from the B-29 prop, and the remaining blades had 3/8" of their tips removed. I then restored the pitch by thinning, then twisting the tips, and rounding off the edges. Paint chipping was applied only to the areas constructed of metal (cowling, engine accessory panels, fairings, wheel pants).

Exhaust, & oil stains were done with Tamiya 'Smoke'. The wing rigging was modified to dodge the underwing ordinance, and made of the thicker, white, Bobe's EZ-Line, colored with a silver Sharpie. I made Buffalo nose art logo decals, to go with the new ones collected from a dozen sources. These were applied with Micro Sol, and Set. The 'Little George' pilot started as a Hasegawa P-51 jock, which I added a 1/4" filler into the seam for 'scale' girth, then added a beard of epoxy, and white glue applied with a toothpick. The antenna post was installed off-center a'la a wartime F4U Corsair, or SB2C Helldiver, with the antenna being made of thin charcoal colored EZ-Line. I wrote the 'chalk' bomb messages directly on the bombs with an ultra-sharp, white Prisma Color pencil (reshrapened after each letter), the "Dear John", and "Hi There", being homages to Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove'. Those were then sealed in with flat lacquer, as was the majority of the airframe's paint and decals. Having added navigation lights to the wingtips, and tail, it seemed only logically that a mil-spec GeeBee would also have a landing light. So I attached a model railroad CV lens to the portside landing gear leg. That pretty much capped off the restoration-rebuild. The refurbished Fossfighter is now hangared at it's namesake's home in Dallas, as is only fitting. Thanks to Pat for the project, Henry Popp for the photos, and to the Buffalo himself...for all the laughs, & memories.

For more great stories about George's life, and work, do a quick Google search by simply typing in "Buffalo George Toomer". There is a wealth of tall tales, as well as factual information...

Prez

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Photos by Henry Popp, and text © by Michael Presley