ElectroSoldier Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I've offered before, and I'll offer again - I've got a HUGE library of technical stuff on the 135 and variants thereof. I'm happy to assist with getting things complete and accurate. All he needs to do is email me at jrh at pemtel dot netJ And taking note of the differences between TF33-P-5 and TF33-P-9 cowlings & pylons would be nice!J Good call on the engines, I think its got to the point where we almost deserve a decent sest of engines for these kits! I would also say great call on the collaberation to make it accurate too. Last thing we need is another conversion that doesnt quite make it because of one or two small details! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark S. Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) Gents: Okay, I'll do one. The first kit will be based on the AMT/Heller/Italeri KC-135R kit and will be a RC-135U Sombat Scent. The equipment fit for those aircraft is always changing so I'm going to pick a set of photos and go with what's on them. The modeler will need to add or subtract details for earlier or later versions. Jennings. PM or e-mail me. I've must have a incorrect e-mail addy for you. The amount of work and resin will make this a pricey kit. I'm thinking a sales price of around $30 to $40. Everyone still in? Mark Edited February 13, 2010 by Mark S. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gator52 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Sounds good to me, I'd take one in that price range. Jonah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Gents:The amount of work and resin will make this a pricey kit. I'm thinking a sales price of around $30 to $40. Everyone still in? Mark Does a bear do what it does in the woods? Heck yes I'm still in! Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lenny Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Oh yeah i'm in! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Quixote74 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I'm glad - no, ECSTATIC - to see any new, quality aftermarket products for modern 1/72 subjects. Having said that, I would want to see an RC-135S Cobra Ball conversion before anything else in the C-135 family. I'd also suggest doing the "hog nose" for the Cobra Ball/RJ variants separate from the rest of the set, as I'm sure I'm one of many who already has an "extra" AMT Rivet Joint set aside for Cobra Ball conversion. As others have already noted, corrections/updates for the engines and other common family components would also be very welcome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Oh goody, oh boy! And it's only taken 20 YEARS to happen!!! Can you believe that kit has been out for TWENTY years!?!?!?! Where *does* the time go? J Quote Link to post Share on other sites
modelman11 Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share Posted February 13, 2010 Heck yes!!!! Awesome to hear it will be an RC-135U!!!! Also, great idea showing the changes on the bird, will come in handy for sure. Id like to build a current configuration but obviuosly others will want to do and older variant. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spruemeister Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I'm still in for just about anything. Rick L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Mark, your proposed price is still much better than what the Maintrack set attacts these days... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
modelersc Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 I'm still in for two! One to build and one to stash away. Modelersc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pinhead Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Sounds good to me. Dan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nightmare77 Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Im still in for sure!!! Such a unique aircraft I have to have one. Especially because there are only 2 RC-135U's in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Im still in for sure!!! Such a unique aircraft I have to have one. Especially because there are only 2 RC-135U's in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Actually, there is only one. I believe the other Combat Sent jet was lost a number of years ago (possibly before being upgraded to U status). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J.C. Bahr Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Actually, there is only one. I believe the other Combat Sent jet was lost a number of years ago (possibly before being upgraded to U status). I may be wrong, but I believe there should currently be two as far as all my refs are concerned. There was a third, but somewhere during the mid-70's it got converted to a V-model apparently. Haven't ever heard of one of the U's being lost. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 (edited) Actually, there is only one. I believe the other Combat Sent jet was lost a number of years ago (possibly before being upgraded to U status). There are two. 64-14847 and 64-14849. The last RC-135 of any kind that was lost was Cobra Ball II, 61-2664, which crashed at Shemya in 1981. None of the original RC-135B/C fleet, all of which were converted to RC-135U/V have been lost. J Edited February 14, 2010 by Jennings Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J.C. Bahr Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Figured Jens would set us straight! :) There's also been at least one trainer (maybe two?) lost too right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 There's also been at least one trainer (maybe two?) lost too right? Only one. RC-135T 55-3121 (probably the most historically significant single C-135 airframe) went down near Valdez, Alaska on the night of 25 February 1985. A night I'll never forget! J Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J.C. Bahr Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 RC-135T 55-3121 (probably the most historically significant single C-135 airframe) What's the story with that one? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JakubJakepilot Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 i am in for a set with correct engines and pylons Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 I'll have to check my own references when I get home as I thought there was only one left. But even the DoD based sites are saying there are two. As for the T that was lost, I believe it went down in bad weather. Granted that is a normal thing in Alaska, but even good pilots can get tripped up when the weather goes extremely south. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
modelman11 Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 I'll have to check my own references when I get home as I thought there was only one left. But even the DoD based sites are saying there are two.As for the T that was lost, I believe it went down in bad weather. Granted that is a normal thing in Alaska, but even good pilots can get tripped up when the weather goes extremely south. Trust me theres two. Ive seen them both in the past year. Jennings has the correct serials. Also, its interesting to note that Ac# 4849 was the last KC/RC/C-135 airframe ever built!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
J.C. Bahr Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 As for the T that was lost, I believe it went down in bad weather. I was interested to know why it was such a historic airframe? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Trust me theres two. Ive seen them both in the past year. Jennings has the correct serials. Also, its interesting to note that Ac# 4849 was the last KC/RC/C-135 airframe ever built!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I believe you! ;) Well, if the UK has finally approved the procurement of RC-135 Rivet Joints to replace their Nimrod R.1s, then the airframes slated for conversion will be normal KC-135Rs from the transport command stocks as Boeing is no longer doing the CFM re-engining program. I am waiting to see what one of those jets looks like as except for the paintjob, they are supposed to be identical in equipment loadout to our own jets. At first I was considering doing one RC up as a 55th bird and the second one up as an RAF bird. But the more I think about it, I may do up a single jet in half and half colors, so one side is USAF and the other side is RAF, just to make it interesting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 (edited) I thought the RAF Rivet Joint purchase had been officially killed on cost and compatibility grounds??? Re 55-3121 - there is evidence that this a/c was the original "Speed Light" airplane modified to gather intel on the 1961 100 megaton Tsar Bomba at Novaya Zemlya, which would make it the first member of the C-135 family to be configured for intelligence gathering. After that, it was modified into a KC-135R (recce, long pre-dating the CFM powered KC-135R designation) and did some really wild stuff in several different programs. It had several very unique configurations as a KC-135R, and was later a KC-135T recce platform, then a KC-135T trainer, then an RC-135T trainer. The airplane went down in a valley near Valdez, Alaska on the evening of 2/25/85. I will *never* forget that evening as long as I live. I was a flight commander at the 6981st Electronic Security Squadron at Elmendorf. A big part of our mission was making sure the Rivet Joints and Cobra Balls didn't get their butts in a Soviet ringer. We had no missions flying anywhere in our area of responsibility that night, when all of a sudden the secure teletype (yes, we were still using teletypes back in the old days of the mid-1980s) from Eielson pops to life (which it rarely did) saying simply "An RC is down". I happened to be walking by the teletype when this message came across, and I nearly pooped my pants. An RC being "down" would have warranted a CRITIC message and would have awakened the President and the National Security Council. Since we had no missions up and I couldn't figure out what was happening, I got on the circuit to ask them what was up. No response. So I sent another message. No response. It required getting on a secure voice line to get them to respond that it was a training mission over US territory and had nothing to do with the USSR in any way. Many grey hairs were earned that evening on my part! A**es and elbows were flying for several tense minutes on my flight, I assure you. As it turned out, '3121 was one of the first USAF aircraft equipped with the then-new (and now completely outmoded) microwave landing system. The crew were doing MLS approaches into Valdez when the weather turned on them. They crashed in a steep, narrow valley several miles north of Valdez. There was no sign of the aircraft visible anywhere, and it eventually took a grid search using P-3s with their MAD gear and a couple of SR-71 missions to finally locate the wreckage. It was buried in many tens of feet of snow. I believe they finally got in there late in the spring to evacuate the bodies of the crew, but the aircraft remains there to this day. A sad loss of life and a very historic airplane. J PS: I've authored or edited most of the content in the Wikipedia article on the RC-135 family. PPS: Here's what '3121 looked like circa around 1970 as a KC-135T "Cobra Jaw" That thing on the back end is a big swing-down trapeze with a trailing "blivet" used to grab electrons out of the air. There are some WILD stories about the blivet! And yes, that's the Shelby cobra up front. It lasted for two missions only. On the second mission the bad guy was heard to say "Ah, the cobra has returned!" and the nose art was gone the next day... PPPS: Here's what she looked like when she was lost in 1985. Edited February 15, 2010 by Jennings Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.