I am planning a diorama of the Rufe operating out of Kiska, Alaska. It will involve a rocky black-sand coastline with heavily clothed work crews, a nice contrast to the warm water white-sand beaches seen in the typical dioramas of the south Pacific operations.

Although the diorama still is in the planning stages (collecting reference materials from fellow model builders) I did enter the model at the 2007 Puyallup Fair (state Fair for Washington) where it received a First Place blue ribbon and Best in Category honors. Quite a surprise considering the plane was mounted on a base that had once been the lid to a Costco-sized mayonnaise. I drilled through the lid with a micro-drill so I could thread some very thin wire trough the wheels of the landing dolly to keep the plane from flopping on its tail. I mounted the dolly off center so that a placard could be tucked to one side of the main float.