Convair B-58 Hustler 1/72

[Space Ranger]

13 hours ago, Convair said:

A 1/80 B-58 instead?

It's got so many issues that it can be just about whatever scale between 1/72 and 1/80 you wish to call it, depending on where you measure it.

[billn53]

Here's today's update:

 

Basic construction of the pilot's station is nearly complete. Next step is to prime, paint, and detail. The major components (side panels, instrument panel, and ejection capsule are removable to facilitate detailing. The kit's ejection capsules need a lot of work, which will be another project entirely. Here are some pics with everything temporarily tacked together with Gator glue:

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

Happily, everything fits!

 

 

 

and it's much more satisfying than what I started with:

 

 

 

 

[Getting Old]

It's going to look brilliant painted, well done Sir 

[Andre B]

Those "ejection seats/capsules" must be one of the most complicated ever constructed...

 

/André

[Nikolay Polyakov]

3 hours ago, billn53 said:

Basic construction of the pilot's station is nearly complete.

Very cosmic. The B-58 is a piece of the technical art. Good work! 👍

 

Cheers! 😎

[billn53]

On 4/9/2019 at 10:20 AM, Getting Old said:

It's going to look brilliant painted, well done Sir 

Here are a few pics after painting. I haven't detailed the ejection capsule or aft bulkhead yet -- that's later on my list of things-to-do.

 

 

 

   

 

   

 

Instrument faces are are Mark Grant decals, applied individually, covered with a layer of clear UV-activated gel.

[Getting Old]

Coming along very nicely, well done 

[Andre B]

Is it an casette recorder back to the right in the corner of the cockpit?

 

Cheers / André

Edited April 11, 2019 by Andre B

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Andre B said:

Is it an casette recorder back to the right in the corner of the cockpit?

 

Cheers / André

No. It's a cubbyhole for the pilot, where he can store his lunch, etc. I'm not making this up 😇

[Andre B]

22 minutes ago, billn53 said:

No. It's a cubbyhole for the pilot, where he can store his lunch, etc. I'm not making this up 😇

Almost like the Avro Vulcan but not so spartan!

Edited April 11, 2019 by Andre B

[billn53]

14 hours ago, Andre B said:

Almost like the Avro Vulcan but not so spartan!

But did the Vulcan have a clothes line?

 

 

 

😁

[billn53]

With good progress made on the pilot's station, I'm moving on to the navigator's position. Here's the general layout:

 

 

 

And some screengrabs from the USAF Museum's VR imagery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italeri vs Airwaves rendition of the navigator's forward panel:

 

 

 

I am following the same general procedure as I did for the pilot's station. Here's my progress so far:

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

I have a couple of more items to add before painting, and then I'll start on the DSO's station.

[Getting Old]

a fantastic master class, well done 

[billn53]

Two down, one more to go! I've finished up the Navigator/Bombardier's station, that leaves the station for the Defensive Systems Operator (DSO still to do.

 

 

 

Some closeup shots follow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pumped at how my scratchbuilt Flight Control Stick turned out. The stick is on an arm that is normally stowed against the starboard cockpit wall. The stick is un-stowed when the pilot gives control of the aircraft to the navigator/bombardier. Here are photos in the stowed and unstowed position:

 

   

 

I decided to model mine in the unstowed position:

 

 

 

Finally, I did some cleanup and additional detailing of the pilot's station. Here you can see the warning & indicator panel on the starboard side, and the pilot's maps & mission data briefcase in it's stowage nook:

 

 

 

That's all for now. Next up is the DSO station, then I'll begin detailing the three escape capsules.

 

 

 

[wombat]

On 4/8/2019 at 7:16 PM, whiskey said:

Is it even really worth the trouble to go through that? Especially for a 1/72 kit that it's not just a small portion of the airframe, but it's the whole bloody aircraft? 

Just be sure to label the model correctly. 1/72 thisaway, and 1/82 thataway....

[Getting Old]

coming along very nicely 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

On 12/04/2019 at 00:23, Andre B said:

Is it an casette recorder back to the right in the corner of the cockpit?

Also, you can see a lot of the tape slots here:

 

😂

 

The cockpit work looks great! 👍

Edited April 14, 2019 by Nikolay Polyakov

[neil5208]

36 minutes ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Also, you can see a lot of the tape slots here:

 

😂

 

???

Sorry but I cannot see any slots for a cassette of any size.

[Nikolay Polyakov]

4 minutes ago, neil5208 said:

Sorry but I cannot see any slots for a cassette of any size.

It was a joke. I mean the telelight panels with a warning indicators.

[billn53]

It's Sunday night and the weekend is nearly over. I had hoped to get the DSO's office done today, but I fell into the trap of "more detail is better" and spent most of the day working on the Pilot and Navigator stations. I added the throttle levers and some miscellaneous handles in the cockpit:

 

 

But in the Navigator/Bombardier station I went totally out of control on the forward panel. Basically, I thought the Airwaves PE panel looked too "2-D", so I proceeded to drill about three dozen holes, using photos of the real panel for guidance, and inserting minuscule pieces of styrene rod for the knobs & switches. Below is an "in process" pic, and another after painting everything up:

 

   

 

At long last, I finally began work on the DSO's station. Below is a comparison of Italeri's panel with the Airwaves version:

 

 

And my progress today at roughing out the DSO's consoles and side panels:

 

 

That's it for this update. Hopefully by the next one, I'll have all three stations done and have started work on the escape capsules.

[busnproplinerfan]

After all this don't close the canopys.

[Getting Old]

you've put in a lot of work but those panels do look very good, well done Sir 

[billn53]

I'm still working the Hustler's crew stations, today I pretty much finished the Defensive Systems Operator position. Here's the general layout:

 

 

 

And some pics of the real McCoy:

 

Forward panel:

 

 

Left side & console:

 

Right side & console:

 

You may have noticed that there are circuit breakers just about everywhere! I suppose the Air Force thought there wasn't much to the DSO job, so they put him in charge of the aircraft's electrical systems 😀

 

Anyway, here's where I am. There's not much to the DSO's forward panel, just some electronic warfare gizmos and chaff launcher controls:

 

 

My panel looks pretty scuffed-up, probably from the DSO resting his feet on the panel while he naps.

 

I was challenged by replicating the station's circuit panel boards. The Airwaves PE had only one small panel, not nearly enough for the DSO's station. I tried scratch building but wasn't happy with the results. After a lot of failed attempts, I finally gave up and printed up some decals instead. It's not the best, but visibility into the crew positions will be limited, so maybe it won't look too bad.

 

   

 

 

 

I nearly forgot* to add the DSO's most important item -- his control stick for the Vulcan mini-gun in the tail. Here she be:

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*We modelers hardly ever forget the important stuff, right? Well, hardly ever... That's why I wrote myself this note:

 

 

otherwise I might be building a diorama of this:

 

 

That's all I have for now, folks! Until next time, Happy Modeling!

 

[Getting Old]

Very nice work indeed Sir 

[Kev The Modeller]

Just love this aircraft, superb detailing mate