Doug,
Is a man of his word we had exchanged e-mails and had a conversation on the phone before the first of the year..I did get a e-mail saying that he was no longer doing mods on SBM-1s as of Jan 2005.Later he said he would do it as he had told me before that he would do it..
He also said it would be his last that it was the end of a era, he had high praise for the SBM-1s..I would have to say its health reasons ,too bad nobody there took upon his skills..