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 l engths 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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