My family and I watched David Bloom's advance across the desert and were amazed by his ability to keep us informed as his unit moved. I tip my hat to NBC for commissioning this project and give you a big cyber "high five" for being chosen to do the work. Best of luck.

Patrick

Congrats Gunnie!

Now get to work!!! #:-)

Cheers
Andy

Gunnie, since this has gone public, I'm here to publicly announce my congragulations. Like I said in my email, they've picked the right person that has the skill and passion to complete a project of this signifigance. Congragulations.

Well, I'm a little late on this one Gunnie. Been off the net for a week. But there isn't much I can say that they guys haven't covered already. Every contact I have had with you has been positive and you have always helped me to learn something about the hobby. You are one of the true class acts out on the net, and deserve this commission. Not only is your work top notch, but more importantly your outlook on our hobby and how you share that with us.

Congratulations buddy. I know that this is going to be one of the most impressive models I will have ever seen.

Stuke

Congratulations Gunnie!!! Hopefully NBC will let you post in progs.. like all your other projects!!!

Gunnie....... Any updates on the progress of it??????

I won't be posting photos - yet - but yes, the Ford F-450 Truck and Equipment Body is done already. The truck was tough and I worked hard to get the contours correct. I'm working on the dome that protects the satellite dish and electronics presently. NBC still wants a type of cutaway that I still think detracts from the final product, but it is their miniature after April 7th.

They've shared with me the intended display layout and location of the miniature. That'll make it a little difficult to see the cutaway and equipment inside - but equipment photos/diagrams will accompany the model anyway - so that's nice.

Gunnie

I just heard about all this. That's an awesome achievement. I'm glad to hear the work is progressing and coming along so well. I hope you're planning to give us an article on the process and such. It would be fascinating to see!

Great job and best of luck as the project comes to a close!

Wow, I had missed this also! Well never to late, CONGRATULATIONS GUNNIE ! A very deserving task for a top notch guy. Hope to see your work soon!

Best regards,

Garry

BOOYA, Gunnie!

My heartfelt congratulations on this honor NBC has paid you.

Would you let us see your progress? I'd really like to see what you come up with.

Brilliant Gunnie,
I'm sure you'll do the memorial proud.
Have a huge slice of credit.
Cheers
Peter
:-)

Good on ya', mate! Oops, I forgot. I'm an American.

Congratulations!

Sealhead

Good luck with the build Gunnie !!!


Cheers, and have a few now while you still can...

Harm

I'm one of those who missed this. Anyway Good Luck on the build Gunnie!!!

So, I'm a little slow on the uptake here, but I just wanted to pass along a congrats and GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Above Photo: Almost finished!

My wife and I returned from New York City this morning. She's taking a nap - which is something I should be doing too. If you were watching your local NBC news affiliate you might have seen the coverage of the Journalist's Memorial that I attended at NBC Headquarters - and my completed miniature of "The Bloommobile" donated to NBC as part of a permanent display at Rockerfeller Plaza on your nightly news.

I was fortunate and deeply honored to have been stationed behind and off the left shoulder of the speakers at the podium (Neil Shapiro, Bob Wright, and Tom Brokaw) and next to Matt Laurer - but due to the camera's filming angle - I do not appear in the final edit. Good - as the model did get photograhped - and that's all I could have wished for. I just was thrilled to be there with them and to have met them all in the Reception afterwards.

I'm trying to sort out a lot of prints and digital images shot by my wife, NBC News personnel, and fellow modeler Pete Gay (who modeled the AFV Club M88A1 into the second vehicle that made up the two-vehicle "Bloommobile" combination) and I'll share them with you when I have the best of the bunch. Above, this is the Ford F-450 Diesel SuperDuty Truck that was converted into the satellite uplink vehicle actually known as "The Bloommobile". The model is nearly finished, and one of the last photos I took before packing it up for the flight to NYC. It was a harrowing flight, though I carried the "Bloommobile" in a transparent case. The TSA were fabulous and really tried to accomodate me in everyway. So did American Airlines. The only time I turned white with fear was in the limo ride from JFK to our hotel on Central Park South. By the time we left, some 10 taxi cab rides later, I began to notice I was enjoying the taxi rides! It was good to leave when I did - I had begun to bond with NYC .

There was and still is some confusion about the "Bloommobile" because this truck was kept in near secrecy - even while it zipped along with the 3rd Infantry Division on their drive into Baghdad. Most actually think it was the M88A1 Recovery Vehicle and didn't even know about the uplink truck. It really wasn't 'authorized' to be there in the first place but remained in the convoy some two miles behind the lead elements. The Ford F-450 Sat Truck could make up to 70 miles per hour in the desert and was equipped with a set of specially designed GoodYear tires that were "mushy" and gripped the sand impressively. Now that it has been formally presented, I can talk about it a little more, and relate what I learned from the designers, builders, driver, and operator of this unique truck.

To say I was humbled and honored to scratchbuild a 1:35th scale rendition of this truck would be the biggest understatement of the decade - but I'm at a true loss to convey to you the meaning of this little model to David Bloom's surviving family and now my new extended family at NBC News. I won't come down from this high for a really long time.

This was a difficult model to complete. 100% scratchbuilt - nothing formerly existed in scale to model a truck like this. It was a trying blend of smooth factory curves and contours meshed with rough and strangely large weld beads and slab-sided diamond plating. The Cab Interior is complete, down to the electronic communications equipment in the extended cab, seats, cooler, and Instrument Cluster. Dang thing has Door Locks in place. It has a complete engine that can't be seen because of a change in display requirements and a brass/white metal chassis for strength (which up until this time I had not done seriously before for any 1:35th scale model). It was so heavy that it sank into the sand floor of the Memorial display case. We (the display designers, me, and Pete) came up with two wooden shims that became planks to place under the wheels to spread-out the miniature's weight on the sand. Then, there was the two-part Antenna Dome with one side allowing the satellite components to be seen inside and the other painted and carrying the "Hi Dave" legend placed on it with Tape after David Bloom's passing. I also built the Main Antenna Mast as spliced and repaired by the crew in the aftermath of that vicious sandstorm that brought our forces to halt during the war.

Don't mean to be long-winded - but this is a modeler's dream...

Gunnie

Only Our Gunnie!!!!

Just outstanding Gunnie! An amazing work of art. Thanks for posting the picture. I"m looking forward to the rest. And I enjoyed ever word of your "long-winded" post. Now, go get some sleep.

Chuck

Congratulations Gunnie on the completed model and your hard work. Im sure that M88 Dave's family really liked it.



Pssst, I am one of those people who didnt know the truck existed lol.

BRAVO!!!!! Gunnie. A true Master among us. It will be very hard to top this honor that has been bestowed on you. Three cheers I salute you and your wonderful talent

Congrats again Gunnie -
More pics after your rested up,
PLEASE!!!

Absolutely outstanding Gunnie!! Can't wait to see more.I never knew this truck existed either.

Yeah I never knew about it either, which is why I'm interested.
I guess it followed (within two miles) to send the satellite pics back home.

Because of that modified truck were his reports clearer than most "embed's?"

I had many, many, sleepless nights thinking about this. So did many of the NBC News staff putting this Memorial together. It was and continues to be a very emotional subject. I could only ponder "what if" thinking that the model(s) might evoke a negative reaction...

I was more uncomfortable with those thoughts than I was standing under those really hot studio lights while shooting the ceremony.

At the Reception afterwards, Mark Lukasiewicz (Executive Producer, NBC News Specials & Special Projects - the man who brought me into this project) brought Pete and me over to meet John Bloom and Bob Wright. John is David Bloom's brother, and Bob Wright is Vice President of General Electric (NBC's parent company) and the President and CEO of NBC. Gasp! John is quite a charming and powerful presence like his brother. He was beaming - he loved the "Bloommobile! So much so that he wanted to take my truck home with him! He even loved the "Hi Dave" feature that the crew added to the truck after David's passing - which was the feature we all were really, really, concerned about evoking a painful reaction. (the Family did not know about this feature on the real truck prior to the Ceremony) I did not have opportunity to meet David's wife Melanie Bloom prior to and after the Ceremony, however...





The second concern was the approval of Craig White - pictured above. Craig White was David Bloom's camerman and the one who delivered those stunning images. He is the man at NBC News - a veteran of over 30 years - and I'm honored to say my friend. He took me around NYC during my first visit to not only let me see and touch and photograph the actual "Bloommobile", but on his hard-earned day off he also spent a whole day whisking me around on a tour of all NYC's landmarks. This was during the first and big blizzard last year on December 5/6th too! I got to know him personally.

Returning from the photo shoot - all of my film was ruined by the TSA in airport screening! I had to run from my memories of this day - but that's what I feel I do best. I have a tactile memory, and I remember smells, touch, sight, and feelings more than what I see in a book. Craig shared so much of what he experienced there, I felt I could model the "Bloommobile" just on the strength of that testimony alone.

This also made it more critical to "get it right" - because I couldn't bear the feeling of letting Craig down...

Craig was moved to tears...

I got it right.

Jim --

What a fantastic experience!

You should take all this info and do an article for the site -- sooner or later this thread is going to fade into the depths of the forum ...