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by 3327 4481 days ago
That is a fine piece of hardware. what would restoration cost? How do you even restore it ? spare parts, technicians on the Tu-95MS are probably not in ample supply.
2 comments

One main issue with owning aircraft like this is not the cost to get it ready to fly from its current state but maintaining it to fly. In the air-force you normally have large mechanic teams that are dedicated to the aircraft. As soon as it lands its taken to the hanger and the teams get to work on it. These are not your normal cessnas where you land, tie down, then come back a week later and throw gas in and go. As soon as these planes land, there is stuff that is broken or needs fixed/tuned each time. You will end up employing an entire team to keep this air worthy. This is the same issue you find with older migs for sale and why they are so cheap.
I would imagine that as far as expertise goes, a seasoned mechanic in that field could work nearly as well with this aircraft as any other, much the same way our own expertise in computer hardware might translate across varying brands and models, gotchas and idiosyncrasies aside.