Problem I found years ago living out in the countryside is that if you can see your neighbours you can usually smell the cow shit instead 
Still thinking about that 7904 on eBay. Doesn’t power up. Thinking of low offer. Might just be duff PSU caps as it’s an early switcher.
I grew up on one of the last surviving (okay, taking the longest to die due to my grandfather's obstinacy) family farms in the Finger Lakes region of New York. As you might imagine, I am no stranger to the smell of cow chips, and I prefer it a thousandfold over the smells of Houston where I live now. The difference... you can wash the smell of cowsh** off you. You can't get away from the stink of the city without distance AND time AND lots of showering.
I'll say a prayer for your lumbar as you contemplate this purchase.
I would seriously be tickled pink to see such a thing [SR71] with my own eyes.
Very unlikely to, now. ISTR NASA keeps one flying.
The first time I saw one it had an armed guard, and the other dripped fuel as it accelerated down the runway. I refuse to consider how many decades ago, but I do remember that the entry cost was per car - so we took 7 people in a 5 seat car, with two in the boot
There is an SR71 at Duxford, 10 miles south of Cambridge; you can touch it. The last time I went there was in a DC-3
I was a rabid fan of the SR-71 from a young age; the advent of the internet and the postings of the declassified flight logs of NASA, CIA and USAF sorties occupied me for hours on end. I've seen and touched the one in at the ASM in DC; presumably it is the one on exhibit that is closest to flightworthy condition.
Fun fact: They ALL leaked like a seive; both air and liquid. They were tested on the ground in imperfect status; the Skunkworks engineers had to design like the craft was operating at 10 ATM on one end and -2 ATM at the back, and come up with a plane that would seal up at 2,000mph. Somehow they managed near-perfection on the first try with the A-11, then had to completely rethink it all for the addition of the "chines" that gave the A-12 and SR-71 it's distinctive silhouette.
They used the fuel as hydraulic fluid; it was critical to keep it at a stable temperature, and the massive tanks on the craft were the perfect heat sink. They had more failures on the ground due to magnesium wheels than in flight, and when they started work on the variable vector thrust engines (these are a conventional multi-stage compressor jet engine that essentially converts to a ramjet at speed), between existing airframe production and engine R&D, they reserved at triple premium price the entire world's production of titanium for over a year.
Less poo on it's ass. Next cnc run a plate under the switches and bnc's with labels.
Woah! Nice job. I wasn't expecting you to be making replacement panels.
I'm waiting for the followup anodized version with CNC port markings; it's obvious that bean 'as gone 'round the bend.
mnem
*Too educated for the country, not enough of an a**hole for the city.*
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