From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V4 #11 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Sunday, 12 September 1993 Volume 04 : Number 011 In this issue: Re: Hey Buddy - Wanna photo of Groom Lake? Aerofax Stories Re: Hey Buddy - Wanna photo of Groom Lake? SR-75 Kits Re: Aerofax Stories Re: Space Access Society updates RE: SR-75 Kits SR-75 and Testor's strategy See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 93 23:50:16 MDT Subject: Re: Hey Buddy - Wanna photo of Groom Lake? Larry says... >The new Testors SR-75 model evidently has a reproduction of >such a photo on the instruction sheet for the model, along with >a 1968 photo of the same place. You can see the development that >has occurred at that location over that 20 year period. Great! That is definitely a "value-added" item there! :-) >The addresses on how to obtain your own copy of BOTH photos is >also indicated in the instruction sheet. Hmmm... does that mean their "reproduction" is of reduced quality? >No, Testors is not selling copies of those photos. The 1988 photo >is a Russian sat. image obtained through the French (SPOT). Well, if the instructions are only on how to obtain it *directly* from Spot Image Co., then naturally that means some big bucks. >So the implication is, if the Russians have images of Groom, >who are we trying to keep the place secret from? US of course, since OBVIOUSLY the Russians have been taking high resolution images of Groom for *decades*. Clearly it would have long been in their "top 10 list" of high-priority CONUS imaging targets. They must have a whole warehouse full of those pics. Hmmm... how about a book: "Groom Lake: The First 40 Years" ? :) - -dean ------------------------------ From: sp2stes1@hugin.his.se (Stefan "Stetson" Skoglund) Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 13:25:03 +0200 Subject: Aerofax Stories Larry says... >The USAF censors didn't want the production figures on the U-2 published. >This was rather mysterious, as lists of tail numbers have already >been published. Hmmm ... . Dean says... > Phew. When will these guys get their heads out of the shadows? Maybee because some air-frames wasn't intended for US use. for example: the list of tail-numbers says 55 was built. Lockheed's list says 60 were built. Why the difference ? Did Taiwan or Pakistan bought planes directly from Lockheed. That could be sensitive. Only FMV, Saab and probably Flygvapnet knows how many Draken were built. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Stefan Skoglund I "Viggen | i tiden *)" sp2stes1@helga.his.se, I | University of Skoevde, Sweden I _____/0\_____ - --------------------------------I ____________O(.)O___________ I -+- O -+- I *) Viggen with two Rb04 ------------------------------ From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 93 23:50:16 MDT Subject: Re: Hey Buddy - Wanna photo of Groom Lake? Larry says... >The new Testors SR-75 model evidently has a reproduction of >such a photo on the instruction sheet for the model, along with >a 1968 photo of the same place. You can see the development that >has occurred at that location over that 20 year period. Great! That is definitely a "value-added" item there! :-) >The addresses on how to obtain your own copy of BOTH photos is >also indicated in the instruction sheet. Hmmm... does that mean their "reproduction" is of reduced quality? >No, Testors is not selling copies of those photos. The 1988 photo >is a Russian sat. image obtained through the French (SPOT). Well, if the instructions are only on how to obtain it *directly* from Spot Image Co., then naturally that means some big bucks. >So the implication is, if the Russians have images of Groom, >who are we trying to keep the place secret from? US of course, since OBVIOUSLY the Russians have been taking high resolution images of Groom for *decades*. Clearly it would have long been in their "top 10 list" of high-priority CONUS imaging targets. They must have a whole warehouse full of those pics. Hmmm... how about a book: "Groom Lake: The First 40 Years" ? :) - -dean ------------------------------ From: Bruce Henderson Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 13:36:53 -0700 Subject: SR-75 Kits Well, The San Diego area is pretty clueless about this thing. Could some kind soul who knows forward me all of the details about this thing (like stock numbers?) so that I can tell my local (and quite pompous) hobby store to order one. "SR-75, there's no such thing, you mean an SR-71.... I can assure you there is nothing new out, because if there was we would have it...." Thanks in advance Bruce ------------------------------ From: dnadams@nyx.cs.du.edu (Dean Adams) Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 19:58:40 MDT Subject: Re: Aerofax Stories sp2stes1@hugin.his.se (Stefan "Stetson" Skoglund) says... >Maybee because some air-frames wasn't intended for US use. >for example: >the list of tail-numbers says 55 was built. >Lockheed's list says 60 were built. >Why the difference ? >Did Taiwan or Pakistan bought planes directly from Lockheed. >That could be sensitive. Could be... I noticed that the U-2 "fact sheet" I have from Lockheed says: " Number produced by Lockheed: classified " BTW, they refer to Groom as a "secluded dry lake bed in Nevada". - -dean ------------------------------ From: graumann@acs.ucalgary.ca Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1993 21:19:01 -0600 Subject: Re: Space Access Society updates Yes please, I would like to be kept up to date on SSTO stuff. ------------------------------ From: cimshop!KELLEHER%DISNEY@uunet.UU.NET Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 21:54:17 PDT Subject: RE: SR-75 Kits Hi Bruce - I checked with our local expert at San Antonio Hobbies in Mountain View CA. He said the first batch of SR-75s is a "pre-production" run and is apparently going strictly to the big chains like ToysRUs and WalMart and the like. The guys with big bucks have enough buying power to get these on the first batch. He said regular hobby stores can't expect them for several months. John - -------------- >Subj: SR-75 Kits >Well, >The San Diego area is pretty clueless about this thing. Could some kind >soulwho knows forward me all of the details about this thing (like stock >numbers?) so that I can tell my local (and quite pompous) hobby store to >order one. >"SR-75, there's no such thing, you mean an SR-71.... I can assure you there >is nothing new out, because if there was we would have it...." >Thanks in advance >Bruce ------------------------------ From: Rick Pavek Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1993 23:03:54 -0700 Subject: SR-75 and Testor's strategy Well, big bucks is not exactly right, but it's close. Testors realizes that the IPMS (International Plastic Modeler's Society) type of modeler, the one that orders kits from mail-order and buys detailing kits and different decal sheets isn't the primary buyer of their kits. They estimate that only 5% of their kit sales are accounted for by the hard-core modeler. And that, by the way, is why you see more automobile kits than airplane kits... As a result, they decided to accomodate the large chain stores first since these stores account for the bulk of their sales. Sure, it's blatent and mercenary. But I'll take their side, since they have to make money to stay in business. Can't do it for free or even cost. If they don't think something will sell, they don't make it. But look at it from this angle... All you have to know is where to find it. It's going to show up in the hobby stores, it's just going to be a couple of weeks later. And if you buy it at Walmart or Toys R Us, you're going to be paying *>LESS<* than if you bought it for full retail at the hobby store. All it amounts to is they've quantified their priorities a tad differently. I'm more opposed to strategies that used car dealers use... This I can live with. Buy your glue and paint at the hobby store, and if you can wait, or have some deepset loyalty to your hobby store, the kit. Otherwise, save some money and get the kit at the discount chain. My $.02... Rick SR-75/XR-7 _|_*O*_|_ | Rick Pavek \ __|__ / | HA!! kuryakin@halcyon.com \______-/ [_] \-______/ | Ruby - \-\___/-/ | Galactic Gumshoe ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V4 #11 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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