Convair B-58 Hustler 1/72

[Jon020]

Just found this thread... wow. Mind you, there are few other words to describe the real one are there. An enjoyable read and good to see the progress. Looking forward to seeing the final result.

Jonathan

[snapper_city]

Great work on this so far. I'm glad you find my build of some use. 

I don't get on the forums much these days so only just stumbled across your build. I'll follow on from now. 

 

Cheers

Mark

[billn53]

Continuing to work on the landing gear...

 

Here is the nose gear with the Eduard PE in place. Although the open framework is a nice improvement on the kit, the overall impression is "too thin". Compare with the actual item:

 

   

 

My fix: add thin styrene strip along the PE edges:

 

 

 

I also reworked the bottom end of the nose gear to add missing details, namely, the hydraulic cylinders for nose wheel steering:

 

  

 

Here's my nose gear with detailing added so far:

 

 

 

The main gear will get similar treatment. Here's what's in the kit:

 

 

 

Main items I will be adding are the 'V' shaped torque arm cylinders on the front of the wheel carriage:

 

   

 

To be continued...

 

 

 

[billn53]

If I had a "punch list" I'd be methodically working my through it, instead I'm tackling things more-or-less at random as I get to them.

 

This weekend focused on two areas: exhaust "stains" on the underside of the delta wings, and finishing up the nose area. First, the exhaust stains -- This is what an actual Hustler looks like from below:

 

 

 

Notice the regularly-spaced lines behind the inboard engines. I don't understand the mechanism, but it appears the exhaust stains are collecting in areas corresponding to the wings' internal structure. To model this, I again broke out my pigment powders and came up with this:

 

 

 

In addition to the exhaust "lines", there is also a general discoloration aft of the inboard engine. For this, I airbrushed thinned-down Tamiya smoke, followed by a matte varnish (the Tamiya smoke is very glossy):

 

 

 

And, yes, I couldn't resist fitting the engine pods and centerline weapon pod, just to see how things look!

 

 

 

Moving to the pointy end, I painted the black areas for the nose radome, anti-glare panel, and wing panels for the radar warning receiver and break-lock antennae:

 

 

 

I also punched out a circular mask and painted the large UHF command radio antenna just behind the cockpit:

 

 

 

The kit's windscreen is very clear and thin.  I went ahead and did the polish & clear dip process, which further enhanced its clarity:

 

 

 

Unfortunately, a hairline stress crack was created in spite of my handling the windscreen with kid gloves 😞  Hopefully, it won't be too obvious once the windscreen is in place:

 

 

 

Here it is, installed, after masking and painting. You can't see the crack in this photo, but it is visible to the naked eye:

 

 

 

And, that's it for this weekend's work.

 

 

[busnproplinerfan]

Glad you broke through the silver issues.

[mike romeo]

You're doing a fantastic job on this!

 

Would a further dip in klear perhaps reduce the visual  effect of the canopy crack?

 

Regards

 

Martin

[RidgeRunner]

Beautiful, skilled work, Bill

 

Martin

 

[billn53]

10 hours ago, mike romeo said:

You're doing a fantastic job on this!

 

Would a further dip in klear perhaps reduce the visual  effect of the canopy crack?

 

Regards

 

Martin

I've tried that before (on my Ford Tri-motor build) and had no success :-((

[billn53]

This evening I finished up the landing gear, up to the point where I install the gear on the aircraft. First up, I added the 16 wheels to the two main gear bogies. The projection on the forward end of the bogies is for the torque arm cylinders, which I'll add once the gear are assembled to the airplane:

 

   

 

I added the two large landing lights and a smaller taxi light to the nose gear. I also wired up the hydraulic lines for the steering cylinders:

 

 

 

Other than paint and weathering, I left the landing gear bays "out of the box". Call me lazy....

 

   

 

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I'll have this bird standing on its own feet. In preparation for that, I jury-rigged a support to allow me to work on the Hustler's belly without having to worry about it flopping around:

 

 

 

[billn53]

I feel like I'm on a roll now!

 

This evening I got the landing gear installed, which has to be a major milestone:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll see what I can do about the gear doors.

[LorenSharp]

Excellent job on the exhaust stains, I'd never noticed the rippling effect on the wing before.

[Getting Old]

Excellent work, progressing very nicely. Well done 

[busnproplinerfan]

She sits good, did the nose get chipped? I thought of making the B-36 with B-58 prototype wing( I think that was the one) transported underneath. Just like to know which particular plane hauled it. 

[billn53]

22 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

She sits good, did the nose get chipped? 

The nose is still waiting for me to install the long nose probe. That I'll do later, if I do it now it'll just get broken off.

[busnproplinerfan]

23 hours ago, billn53 said:

The nose is still waiting for me to install the long nose probe. That I'll do later, if I do it now it'll just get broken off.

That’s always the first part to break.

[billn53]

1 hour ago, busnproplinerfan said:

That’s always the first part to break.

So true! And, I would also like to add some static discharge wicks (see post #57), if my old eyes and clumsy hands allow —  I can see those breaking off just by looking at them!

[Nikolay Polyakov]

On 26/06/2019 at 06:53, billn53 said:

I feel like I'm on a roll now!

Indeed! What a great job you did on the Hustler, Bill!  Outstanding work!

[opus999]

That landing gear detail is stunning.  I've got one of these in the stash and now this has seriously set the bar for me!

 

Also, I have to echo the others and say that the exhaust looks fantastic.

 

Getting anxious to see how this one looks over the finish line!

[LorenSharp]

On 6/27/2019 at 10:25 AM, busnproplinerfan said:

She sits good, did the nose get chipped? I thought of making the B-36 with B-58 prototype wing( I think that was the one) transported underneath. Just like to know which particular plane hauled it. 

It was B-36F-1CF(49-2677)

Hope this helps

[billn53]

1 hour ago, opus999 said:

Getting anxious to see how this one looks over the finish line!

Me, too.

 

🤪

[Space Ranger]

2 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

It was B-36F-1CF(49-2677)

Hope this helps

With inboard props removed, and landing gear locked down for the ferry flight.

[RidgeRunner]

On 26 May 2019 at 12:36 AM, billn53 said:

Yep, that’s it. 

@opus999 It works a treat? I just used it On the cavernous gaps in my latest Valom F-101. It worked perfectly? The bonus over filler is that it can be easily rescribed.

 

Martin

[busnproplinerfan]

2 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

With inboard props removed, and landing gear locked down for the ferry flight.

Perfect, even the book I have on the B-36 doesn’t show it, except for a sorta bottom view but no number etc. Another future project.

[opus999]

1 hour ago, RidgeRunner said:

@opus999 It works a treat? I just used it On the cavernous gaps in my latest Valom F-101. It worked perfectly? The bonus over filler is that it can be easily rescribed.

 

Martin

OK, now I have to try that.  Any special recipe, or is it just melt the plastic in the glue until you like the thickness?

[billn53]

48 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

Perfect, even the book I have on the B-36 doesn’t show it, except for a sorta bottom view but no number etc. Another future project.

Here are some pics from Jay Miller's Aerograph #4, "Convair B-58" (provided under fair-use copyright rule):