Blackbird

FWIW: "Eareckson Air Station (IATA: SYA, ICAO: PASY) is a U.S. military airbase located on the island of Shemya, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. It was Shemya Army Air Base during World War II.[1] Redesignated to Shemya Air Force Base on March 26, 1948, by Department of the Air Force General Order No. 10, it was later renamed Shemya Airport in 1954. It was again redesignated Shemya Air Force Station on January 1, 1959, by Department of the Air Force General Order No. 4 of January 20, 1959. The base was re-redesignated Shemya AFB in 1968.[1] On May 19, 1993, it was renamed Eareckson Air Force Station in honor of Colonel William O. Eareckson, an Army Air Forces combat commander in the Aleutian Islands. The base was redesignated to Eareckson Air Station January 24, 1994." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eareckson "Johnston" Island/Atol, no relation to the Shemya Island, is located 750 nautical miles west of Hawaii. On more than one occasion "Rivet Ball" operated from Johnston Island/Atol when covering long range Soviet ICBM shots into the Pacific Ocean. These tests usually lasted no more than 2-3 weeks during the summer season. Been there, done that in 1967 with "Rivet Ball". Click Here to learn more about Johnston Island/Atol. Click Here for my webpage on Johnston Island/Atol. Click Here for my story about "Rivet Ball', "Rivet Amber" and "Shemya".

Click Here for 69 detail construction photos located on page #13 of my website story, "A Tale of Two Airplanes by King Hawes". Scan down the page until you reach the following entry: "On 2 March 2010 I started building a 1/72 scale model of Rivet Ball (Modified RC-135V by AMT / ERTL). I hope to have it finished in time for the upcoming "Tales of The 55th" program on 9 April 2010. Click on the following high resolution photo links and you can watch it develop: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 (Completed on 7 April 2010)."

Here is a recent photo (July 16, 2010) of "Rivet Ball" on a lazy susan with a photo of Hangar #2, aka "The SAC Hangar", in the background. Hangar #2 is located on the remote island of Shemya in the Aleutians. Aircraft and crew lived together in Hangar #2 when on alert during the "Cold War". Her mission was to monitor and record the terminal phase of Soviet ICBM testing on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Hi Resolution: http://www.wtv-zone.com/kingdon/Aviation/r...ar-2-shemya.jpg Full Story: http://www.RC135.com Shemya Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=sh...mp;t=h&z=13

Below is my completed 1/72 scale model of Rivet Ball (RC-135S, #59-1491). It took about a month to complete. It's not perfect but it works well for my purpose. Detail construction photos are located on page #13 of my story, "A Tale of Two Airplanes" by King Hawes @ http://www.RC135.com/. Scan down to the "2 March 2010" entry for 69 high resolution photo links. Once again, thanks very much for all the advice and help. Yours Truly, Kingdon R. "King" Hawes PS: I've been invited to conduct a seminar during the 2011 IPMS/USA National Convention in Omaha, NE. Hope to see you there.

Below is my completed 1/72 scale model of Rivet Ball (RC-135S, #59-1491). It took about a month to complete. It's not perfect but it works well for my purpose. Detail construction photos are located on page #13 of my story, "A Tale of Two Airplanes" by King Hawes @ http://www.RC135.com/. Scan down to the "2 March 2010" entry for 69 high resolution photo links. Once again, thanks very much for all the advice and help. Yours Truly, Kingdon R. "King" Hawes PS: I've been invited to conduct a seminar during the 2011 IPMS/USA National Convention in Omaha, NE. Hope to see you there.

I want to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions on my "Rivet Ball" project. I haven't made any decisions yet but I'm leaning toward modifying a Heller 1/72 scale KC-135A. The most difficult part for me will be adding a "thimble nose".

My name is Kingdon R. "King" Hawes. I want to say hello to everyone from Omaha, NE. I'm new to modeling and will have questions about building a custom model of an RC-135S (#59-1491) named "Rivet Ball" that I crewed on back in the 60s during the "Cold War". Any help will be much appreciated. You can read about Rivet Ball by going to the following address: http://www.RC135.com Rivet Ball: http://www.wtv-zone.com/kingdon/SAR-Photos...Ball-Shemya.jpg