<S> All-
Please excuse the somewhat off-topic post, but my family and friends think I'm nuts so I'm posting this message here 'cause I know you guys can relate and I just have to share this!
I drove 10 hours round trip today (Berkeley to LA and back) to pick up a B-29 nose I scored on eBay yesterday. No s*&t! It was a prop in the 1980 Disney film "Last Flight of Noah's Ark" and is, sadly, all that remains of three *complete* China Lake boneyard B-29s used (read: destroyed and dispersed)in the making of the flick. The seller, a miniature designer and special effects specialist for the film industry, saved the nose for the past 20 years since the movie, hoping "to eventually make a fish tank out of it" (!) but that vision thankfully never materialized. Now that he's closing his miniature studio (due to the onslaught of cheap digital special effects), he's liquidating his collection of scale movie models on eBay, and I was the lucky bidder on the B-29 nose.
I took a bunch of digital photos but I don't know how to post them here so I'll have to wait until I figure it out or get some assistance... <hint, hint> Basically, what I got is the complete front nose "cap" (seems to be 100% magnesium, stamped/moulded w/ Ser. #) which is roughly 5 feet in diameter by 2 feet "deep" X 40-50 lbs. With it came the original outside moulding pieces that hold the glass in (I think these pieces are aluminum or an alloy) as well as a complete 8-piece custom-fabricated 1/2 in thick set of plexiglass panels they ordered for use in the film.
Needless to say, I'm just GIDDY.
Should make for a pretty epic wall display, no?
btw/ here's the truly amazing part of the story, IMHO: In 1978 the Air Force gave the studio the OK to come to China Lake and "have at" whatever they wanted to make the film. They selected three of the best intact B-29s, removed the wings, and had two shipped to Hawaii. One of those was blown up (!) the other one was flipped on its back, welded to an underwater barge/flotation device, and used in the "flood" sequence. Both of these were sent to the scrap heap in Hawaii after filming. The other (the third) was sliced and diced in North Hollywood to make several interior sets for the film, and the nose was the only piece he saved after the shoot was finished.
Can you believe it? Three B-29s sacrificed for a Ricky Shroeder adventure... <shudder> WTF was the Air Force thinking? Oh well, I'm ecstatic to have the remaining piece, and will treat it with the respect/awe it deserves.
<S>
-goob-
Dweebs of Death
PS Now you get to guess how much I paid for it!
PPS I should say... this was the only WWII-related item he had, but the submarine miniatures from "Escape From New York" and a few other items are still up for grabs. btw/ one of this gentleman's recent claims-to-fame was the model of the "Exxon Valdez" used in "Waterworld". That one, 120 feet in size, was destroyed... too big to ship I guess.
