Hello everyone.

It has been a long time since I had a blog in this section of Kitmaker but while waiting for items for my latest ship build I have started building some of my older kits that have been in the stash for 20+ years and some others from manufacturers I have not built kits from before.

I started the Italeri 1/72 SM-82 Canguro, Roden 1/48 PC-6 Turboporter and the Valom 1/72 Albemarle last weekend. All are now up to paint stage and I am now waiting for masks for them all, especially the intricate Albemarle. Yep, three kits in one week, mainly because I had it off as I got a virus and didn't want to go to work and spread it around.

I went to the shed this stash facility this afternoon and picked three more kits, Tamiya's 1/48 Shinden, Trumpeter's 1/72 Tu-16 and the Italeri 1/72 B-58 Hustler, the subject of this blog. I have had this kit since just after it was released and it has followed me all over Australia moving either with the RAAF or my work post-RAAF. I thought it would be interesting to see how bad the fit was etc like many people seem to think on some other sites I inhabit. Let me state categorically they are wrong. The fit of this ancient kit is excellent and will need very little filler, if any , to finish.

I started at about 2pm and all the wings, engines etc are all built and the fuselage buttoned up by 4.30pm! Woohoo! A quick build is a good build.

The box top..



Contents.





I found one moulding fault in one of the instrument pedestals in one of the drew areas..



Not too worried as there are only four tiny windows which you wont even be able to see through for this area. Another problem I found was with the original decals..



Oh well. And some weird patterns on other parts of the sheet, . Think they came off the instructions at some time..



Here are all the subassemblies waiting for their time to shine when they get attached to the fuselage..



And I took a photo after I buttoned up the fuselage..



Just one or two clamps. But again fit is marvellous.

That;s it for now. Might even finish it this week..

Cheers
Warren

Pulling up a chair for this one Warren
tim

Hi Tim and welcome aboard.

I have attached the wings and filled the gap between the wings and fuselage and will attack it tomorrow to smooth the seams out. I ended up using thin CA glue for the job.

Photos tomorrow

Warren

A little inspiration from the Wright-Pat:
Nice going on the build!


Three photo montage hand stitched together into one image.








Experimental B-58 clam shell escape pod.

Always like a good wing thing: Following with interest, Warren

I let the CA glue dry over night in the gaps between the wings and fuselage and this afternoon I filled the areas with the 500 grade Gunze Mr Surfacer that I thinned further to allow it to get into the small spaces.

Will remove excess tomorrow and see if it needs more filler or not.

The Hustler is a real favourite of mine. I'm seriously thinking of acquiring the kit so it will be interesting to see how this build goes.
tim

It is 'interesting' Tim. Fit has become a bit hit and miss but it is posing no real problems yet.

The wings, crew covers, rear gun and radome are on and the big bomb carrier/drop-tank in assembled.









The gap between the wing and the fuselage took a few applications of filler etc but I am happy that it has disappeared enough.

Cheers
Warren

Another day another few hours of modelling joy!

The Hustler got its canopy attached this morning ..



.. and after letting it dry and applying some Maskol over the clear bits I found I had some Mr Hobby 218 Laquer left over from a previous project. 218 is Aluminium and looks the part on the Hustler..



WIll wait for at least 24 hours before I mask up for the darker metallic colour on the engine pods etc.

Cheers
Warren

nice clean progress, Warren

This looks like a deceptively large plane?

Warren! I don't think I've ever seen it built even if it was quite common on the shelves in the 1980s. Keep up the good work!



Magnus

Thanks Russell and Magnus.

I have had it since 1985 and thought it was about time to build it.

Cheers
Warren

I've got that same release in the stash waiting for me to be brave enough for a large scale NMF. I'm past that fear now, all I need is time and inspiration. Thanks for sharing your build.

I realise now that the classic axiom "if it looks right it is right" doesn't hold true when it comes to this machine. It must be one of the best looking aircraft ever made but it served for less than ten years and suffered a lot from both systems trouble and bad flying characteristics! So much for checking things up, I wish I had continued living in ignorance in this case !

Anyway, that doesn't matter a bit when it comes to the model, that one will surely look the part!



Magnus

Actually Magnus after a few teething problems the Hustler went on to become a fantastic aircraft, but in their usual stupidity the USAF decided it's roll wasn't needed anymore so they retired them... and then developed the B-1A which did exactly the same thing as the B-58, except much more slowly ..

Warren,
It was in fact, a record breaking aircraft, setting several speed records, and has to be given some credit for pioneering several innovations in aircraft design. But it was also known as a "widowmaker", and could be quite unforgiving during take-off and landing. I've been watching from afar, and have this exact kit on the "shelf of doom" and am waiting to see what you make of it. So far, I've gotten as far as assembling the engine nacelles, landing gear, and wings. I'm stopped at the fuselage halves as I have an ancient AM interior, but haven't decided how to proceed. I understand Eduard just released an AM set. But I'm waiting for you to finish to see what can be done. So far, yours is looking great!
VR, Russ

There have been many aircraft called widowmaker over the years but the loss/accident rate of the B-58 was better than many other aircraft.

It still holds many records even now. In these days of digital fly-by-wire flight controls there would have been many less accidents than they had. The main problem causing the accidents was inexperience of the pilot That is why they developed a TB version soon after it was introduced into service.

But who cares when we are discussing models..

I wouldn't bother too much with the resin cockpit as you can see stuff all when it is finished anyway.

Warren, my thoughts exactly on the cockpit, although I was intending to pose the canopies open. The AM stuff is primarily PE Instrument panels done with engraved instruments and panels. They look pretty good, but I’m still deliberating. The Hustler wing was one of the innovations, with a “honeycomb” structure rather than stringers which was pretty unique at the time. I used to have the Italeri TB58 in the stash, but gave it away several years ago. I’m assembling a collection of Convair deltas, the F102, F106, and the B58 were all integral components of Convairs “stable” at the time. So far I’ve got 2 F102s, and an F106, I just need to finish this Hustler, your build is inspiring me. Keep up the good work!
VR, Russ

The B-58 may have had the same mission as the B-1, but it was well behind in technology. I worked with some the engineers that had designed the systems on the B-58. The electronics were from the earliest days of solid state, so most of the stuff was tube based. One of the guys tried describing the effort to remove an engine from the pod for servicing. It was complicated, removing and then replacing panels so other panels could be removed. An engine change could take well over 20 hours. For reference an F-16 takes about a half hour. All told I think the ratio of maintenance hours to flight hours was like 40:1. In addition, there was no bomb bay, the store (or store and fuel) was all carried externally, it really couldn't handle conventional bombs.

It was fierce, it traveled at mach 2 while parked, and I think Jon Denver's dad set 6 speed records in on one day, including one for the most records set in a day. But it just didn't have staying power.

True enough, but then again it wasn’t designed for staying power. It was designed purely as a get in-get out quick supersonic nuclear delivery platform for the early 60s. It really can’t be compared to more modern multi-role aircraft like the F16 or B1, aircraft of later eras. It was replaced by the ICBM, not the B-1, which was designed for an entirely different mission. It never really had a “conventional” purpose— therefore, to compare it to more modern aircraft is really apples to oranges.
VR, Russ

Would be a good idea as the covers for the two crew (nit the oilt) fir very crapply...

I've always heard Italeri's B-58 is a good model. I'll be watching and awaiting your assessment.

That B-58 at Wright-Pat that Michael posted, I was admiring it when a docent came over and told me interesting trivia - he was the pilot when it came to Wright-Pat from Little Rock AFB! I wish I'd written down his name.

Let's see now.. three disasters and three recoveries sort of describes my Father's Day weekend..

First I sprayed the PC-6 I am also building and it came out really crappy with the first coat. Then I dropped it from a small height and it broke off part of the undercarriage and two aerials. I reglued the undercarriage but am leaving the aerials off until I have finished painting the foliage green, which I just did and it looks great now I have the paint mixture ratio good.

Then, and a bit worse, you know that nice NMF I got on the Hustler, well it has been removed.

I had not used that paint for a long time and after I masked it up and painted the darker silver on the engines etc. this is what happened..





Yes, the top layers of the paint seemed to lift off. Great eh! So I removed all the NMF and have to start over. It was buffing paint but I forgot that it lifted off when you removed the masking tape.

Warren,

Your trials may help many of us avoid or fix the same issues someday. Thanks for your dedication with this build. I appreciate you not round-filing it like I probably would.

Warren! I suffer with you, half a world away! That's an awful experience, especially if one is happy with the result the first time. I handle these kinds of disasters rather badly (another one of my less desirable personal characteristics ), you seem to do it a lot better! Hang in there!



Magnus