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Regarding Convair B-58A Hustler in 1/72 scale


RAGATIGER

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Hi there 

 

Well after a long time I been wondering about the Italeri 1/72 B-58A Delta Bomber now I got a bag complete kit and wondering about what to do to improve it??? So i'm open to sugestions

 

I have a whole bunch of Hasegawa afterburner leftovers from Hasegawa kits so for now that's the only after market I have in hand!!!

 

101675-15582-97-pristine.jpg

 

Thanks in advance

 

Armando

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Having finished mine last year, from the “If I did it again.” list.

1. Mask set, the wheel masks will help you keep your sanity.

2. Caracal decals-better than the kit and you can build almost any Hustler.

3. The exhausts are simple, but not that noticeable once it is on the shelf.

4. Add some hinges to the gear doors early in the build, I added some basic ones near the finish line after failing to glue them with a butt joint.

5. Use gloss black for your base colour and mask the wing walks, then spray the metallic finish-much easier than the decals.

6. Hustlers almost always have the elevators and ailerons drooped when parked.

7. The crew hatches fit poorly closed up.

8. Pilots seat should be offset to the left. 
9. If you reduce the diameter of the engine fronts, you can deal with the seams in the intakes easier, adding the front part after painting the intakes white.

10. Hardest part of the kit, is the seams for the inner engine pylons where they meet the wing, if you fit them before painting, painting gets much harder. 
11. The panel lines are too wide, but if you paint it and sand it back about six times, they look better-multiple primer fails on my part.🙄 Maybe don’t bother with this suggestion!
 

Finally, it is too short, not sure by how much, but it looks like a Hustler, and until a correct one comes out, it looks fine.

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I hate to bring the bearer of bad news. 

*BUT*... 

 

The long and short of it, if you want to build an accurate B-58, you'll have your work cut out for you. Italeri, like on their Mirage 2000, confused the fuselage length with the pitot tube (which is not inconsiderate in the Hustler) with the fuselage length without it. This gives the entire kit a crushed look - the kit is about 12% too short, which is quite noticable.

 

Furthermore, this is spread throughout the entire fuselage, the wings and engine pods, also throwing off the wing sweep (again, their Mirage 2000 has the exact same issues).

 

It may look somewhat like a Hustler, but in a certain light* I look somewhat like George Clooney.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

*: (ie., none)

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1 hour ago, Hook said:

...................................................

 

It may look somewhat like a Hustler, but in a certain light* I look somewhat like George Clooney.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

🤣

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21 hours ago, Hook said:

Italeri, like on their Mirage 2000, confused the fuselage length with the pitot tube (which is not inconsiderate in the Hustler) with the fuselage length without it. This gives the entire kit a crushed look - the kit is about 12% too short, which is quite noticable.

 

I read the original fault was with the AvNews drawings on which Italeri based their kit. Probably the Aerograph had not yet been published when they tooled the kit (1984?). 

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On 1/21/2024 at 7:12 AM, Hook said:

I hate to bring the bearer of bad news. 

*BUT*... 

 

The long and short of it, if you want to build an accurate B-58, you'll have your work cut out for you. Italeri, like on their Mirage 2000, confused the fuselage length with the pitot tube (which is not inconsiderate in the Hustler) with the fuselage length without it. This gives the entire kit a crushed look - the kit is about 12% too short, which is quite noticable.

 

Furthermore, this is spread throughout the entire fuselage, the wings and engine pods, also throwing off the wing sweep (again, their Mirage 2000 has the exact same issues).

 

It may look somewhat like a Hustler, but in a certain light* I look somewhat like George Clooney.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

*: (ie., none)

And that is what I had read, as well; Italeri either used inaccurate drawings or  the wrong OAL figure, and because of that, the kit fuselage was too short,, but the error was spread out throughout  the entire length- almost impossible to correct, I would think. A shame, as  it's a pretty nice kit. I wish, but doubt we will ever see another state of  the art B-58, which is a shame, as it was not only a very unique  airplane, it was a beautiful one as well. IIRC, there was also an issue with the shape of the fin. 

Mike 

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1 hour ago, 72modeler said:

 I wish, but doubt we will ever see another state of  the art B-58, which is a shame, as it was not only a very unique  airplane, it was a beautiful one as well. IIRC, there was also an issue with the shape of the fin. 

Mike 

There is another state-of-the art kit (of sorts) of it, albeit with the state of the art of 65 years ago and in a slightly awkward scale - but I always found the Lindberg 1/64 kit rather impressive, with all its gorgeous (probably spurious) detail.

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2 hours ago, tempestfan said:

There is another state-of-the art kit (of sorts) of it, albeit with the state of the art of 65 years ago and in a slightly awkward scale - but I always found the Lindberg 1/64 kit rather impressive, with all its gorgeous (probably spurious) detail.

I have one in the stash. ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/21/2024 at 1:12 PM, Hook said:

I hate to bring the bearer of bad news. 

*BUT*... 

 

The long and short of it, if you want to build an accurate B-58, you'll have your work cut out for you. Italeri, like on their Mirage 2000, confused the fuselage length with the pitot tube (which is not inconsiderate in the Hustler) with the fuselage length without it. This gives the entire kit a crushed look - the kit is about 12% too short, which is quite noticable.

 

Furthermore, this is spread throughout the entire fuselage, the wings and engine pods, also throwing off the wing sweep (again, their Mirage 2000 has the exact same issues).

 

It may look somewhat like a Hustler, but in a certain light* I look somewhat like George Clooney.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

*: (ie., none)

Italeri must have a problem converting imperial to metric system as they also screwed up the B.57 Canberra.

 

John

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