YB-58A Hustler 58-1015 "Ginger"
Nicely moulded kit, not too complicated but those wheels are tiny!
Plenty of weight added to nose & forward fuselage (yes, cyano) plus I found some suitable instrument panels from previous builds to fill out the cockpit.........of course, none of this will be visible once it's all closed up.
Lots of dry-fitting to try and minimise filling/sanding.
Stanley Encapsulated Ejection Seats were designed for Mach 2 egress!
Fuselage halves glued (Tamiya Extra Thin), test fitting canopy & wings. Before attaching wings all sanded with 320 then 413 wet & dry, final sand 1200.
Still waiting for my MicroScale Micro-Krystal Clear to arrive so I resorted to the 20-year-old Humbrol Clearfix.
Those rear canopy windows are too high so they'll be painted over. I thought of drilling and filing but couldn't find a suitable template to scribe the outlines so will resort to decals.
I find these tiny wheels are easier to paint on the sprue.
The custom decal sheet, ready to be printed. I like to have plenty of duplicates to allow for spoilage.
Here she is, complete with "barber pole" at nose! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any hi-res pics, guess we need to wait for a quantum time device.
Wings to fuselage, intakes to engine nacelles; bake overnight in the drying room then some more sanding.
Gave everything an additional sand with one of my fine Flexi-i-Grit sheets before assembly. Bare metal finish - yeah!!
pretty average fit, but all good. I left the exhausts off for ease of holding during painting.
This is what they need to look like. It's a good challenge.
I knew that "Air Power" subscription back in the early 90's would be useful, and here we are, Vol 2 Warplane Classic - B-58 Hustler.
Nice big fold-out for those little details.
Even a cutaway for if I ever build a 1/48.
For anyone building a B-58 model, a copy of this excellent detailed history of the B-58 program is a must - everything you need to build a 1:1 scale example (almost!).
Glued wings to body after checking, adjusting fit and rechecking.
Love these Wolfcraft clamps, nice and slim with silicone grips, spring tension just right.
Time to drill out the exhaust centres so I can insert rods for painting.
I found the exhausts required some filing & sanding to give a more to-scale thickness around the diameter
and what to do about the absent exhaust petal detail inside the cones? Tried scribing freehand (not so great), then found a spare 1/48 seatbelt which was about the correct width for use as a scribing template. Definitely looked better, but still not really happy so I've decided to represent them by painting (I'm the only person who'll see them when it's finished).
Dry-fitted the engines and have to say it's beginning to look the part.
Yes!! Definitely has that Mach 2 look.
Filler time for the wing roots - hardly any required but that's the advantage of these acrylic fillers......
Apply a thin bead then wipe the excess off using a damp cotton bud. No sanding required. Next task, after another fine sand, will be to mask the cockpit.
After a couple of days of indecision regarding how to mask the cockpit windows and having decided that taping the whole glass area then hand painting the frames after spraying the body aluminium wouldn't be satisfactory, I decided the tried and proven method would give the best result. Foil wrap from "oxo"-style kitchen flavouring cubes ("Star" in Italy), separated from the backing paper, rubbed down using a toothpick, trimmed with new X-Acto blade.
The foil follows contours pretty well but I did right side then left side to minimise the likelihood of creases.
A sharpened toothpick allows even the sharpest hollows to be filled.
The framing is well moulded so the outcome should be rather satisfactory.
I thin the Vallejo primer by 40% using a mix of Vallejo airbrush thinner with 2% Liquitex flow aid, spray at approx 15psi using an H&S Evo/.4mm tip.
I'm happy with the result, just required a couple of tip cleans but no spattering and was able to achieve an even wet coat after a couple of misted dry passes. After 24 hours in the drying room a light sand with superfine Flex-i-Grit will be next then gloss black before I begin with the Metal Color.
Forgot to prime the small MB-1C pod yesterday so drilled pylon first to allow easier painting
During most of it's test career 58-1015 flew with just the earlier small pod, which contained a W39Y1-1 nuclear weapon plus jet fuel at each end of the pod for balance.
Undercarriage colour suggested is "silver", so I applied a first coat of 71-063/RLM01 then brushed Metal Color 77-716, 77-717 & 77-702. Decided the Duraluminum/702 resulted in the best "look".
In the afternoon (window faces west so better natural light) applied first light coat of 70-861 Gloss Black, thinned to 45% paint and applied using the trusty H&S Evo.
After cleaning the airbrush thoroughly and taking pics I decided another coat of black would give a better base for the Metal Color to come. Mixed up another blend of gloss black thinned to 45% paint and back to the booth, approx 30 minutes between coats.
Definitely, the booth prefilter must be changed before I use it again!
Definitely, the booth prefilter must be changed before I use it again!
Mainly, the second coat was necessary because I realised the nose area received a very light first coat of black.
After changing the filter material of the spraybooth I applied two light coats of Metal Color 77-716 satin aluminum
Then left for 24 hours to cure fully in the drying room (Vallejo say you can recoat after 30 minutes, but I'm a bit old school regarding drying times - even for acrylics).
This morning I was all set to start masking up then decided to brush the different shades - the only point to beware of is not to overbrush as Metal Color doesn't like this and will lift the previous coat.
There are now six shades of Metal Color on various panels, plus a missing DSO's (Defensive Systems Operator) canopy!. During the brush painting the aircraft escaped and dived for the floor; during it's escape the DSO decided to eject but only the canopy blew. So far we've searched for it 4 times without success, I'm sure it will reappear in the morning.
Fortunately, no other damage apart from a slightly scuffed nose.
Fortunately, no other damage apart from a slightly scuffed nose.
First task for today (after installing some extra LED's over the cooking top) was to find that missing canopy.
Logically, it had to be in this zone as it had ended up at my feet below the UPS.
Logically, it had to be in this zone as it had ended up at my feet below the UPS.
And sure enough, after removing half of the printer paper packages, there it was!
Demonstrating how small the B-58 was - quite tiny compared to the B-47 it replaced and not that much larger than the F-111B which "replaced" it.
Canopy foil removed, just needs some paint touch-up.
Added some additional panels behind the cockpit in Metal Color Chrome 77-707 plus another shade on the hot zone of the engine pods. Almost ready for the Pledge clear coat then decals.
First run through the printer but it was evident wrong scale!! Back to GIMP and resolved the issue without requiring another sheet of decal paper - whew. Paper is Euro 18.50 for 6 sheets, so I try to optimise each sheet.
This is the satin varnish I use to seal the decals - it's water based and results in a decal which can be managed without problems, also using Micro Set/Micro Sol.
Ready to begin...
After 3.5 hours, I'm happy with the result. Kit decals for national markings, walkway lines & ejection seat triangles.
Kit was purchased in early 2000's but only had problem with one walkway decal, which broke into 3 parts, Was able to recover situation rather well, just some touchup required at the join points.
While waiting for the pre-decal clearcoat to harden I decided the front undercarriage was just too bare.
This is the real thing, lots of additional links & mechanisms for the gear fold sequence.
Back side enhanced
Front side enhanced; still lots of gizmology required, to be added after partial assembly.
Finally, engines & pod attached
Just think, operational in 1960, nuclear armed & capable of a Mach 2.4 dash
Just needs the engine pod attachments tidied up, tail fairing, landing gear & pitot tube, another coat of clear to seal the decals.
It always pays to dry fit before gluing! The mainwheel bogies attach to the pointy end but another confirmation that an oversize round peg won't fit a square hole!! A few minutes of filing & trying were required.
Sunday's 4 hours devoted to the landing gear; after attaching the main gear yesterday evening I realised that the forward facing brace pieces were too short so first task was to prepare some rods of correct length (7mm to be precise) cut from pins. Then filed the braces to better fit the rods.
Half way there
Attached and the extra rods will add strength, too.
Meanwhile at the front gear I added various fine wire rods to represent the door actuators.
In the afternoon I took a deep breath and detached the 16 main gear wheels from the tree. So far I'm most of the way through pairing them up and attaching to the bogies with only one pair escaping to the floor (found it, phew!).
So, finally, standing on its undercarriage (main wheels not attached yet, though).
Starting to come to life!
Starting to come to life!
Mainwheel bogies - managed to attach all the wheels without losing any!!
Extra decals attached - yellow emergency opening outline for canopy tops, fuel fill points.
There are 2 large landing lights & 1 small on the front landing gear struts; how to fabricate them? I decided some spare missiles would be the donors.
Pretty tiny, but they'll do the job.
I just did the 2 larger ones, nobody's going to be looking at them, after all!
Now, what to do about those engine attachment points?
After some careful filing and filling I decided enough was enough, time for the clear coat to seal the decals.
I applied the Pledge using my old Tamiya Spray Work airbrush, using it virtually straight from the bottle @ 15psi - initial passes were OK but then nothing but in trying to get some flow all I managed to do was apply large blobs - DISASTER!
After cleaning the gun and checking all connections I realised the problem was the compressor - the power plug has always been a bit imprecise so no power, no compressor, no air in the reservoir. Plugged in in firmly and normal service was restored, applied several coats of Pledge, to a ripply finish, and put the model in the drying room, hoping all those articles I read about Pledge's self-leveling properties would recover the situation. This is the result.
Finished build after tailcone and pitot were attached.
YB-58A, 58-1015 "Ginger", April 10 1961, Edwards AFB, California.
B-58 with the B-47 medium bomber it superseded and an F-102A.
Comments
30 4 February 2022, 14:22
Richard ChealsThanks, all you mates! Almost finished now, just need to finish those mainwheel bogies, tidy up the nose wheel & fit landing lights, tail fairing, pitot & add some light panel line shading. I'm pleased I decided to concentrate on one build at a time for 2022, been more concentrated on the details.
20 February 2022, 18:22
Richard ChealsFinally completed! Had a disaster with the decal seal coat of Pledge but I'm happy with the final result. 😓
25 February 2022, 11:08
NeilHi Richard, turned out very nice indeed 🙂 excellent final result 👍 looks great in 'formation' on the ground.
25 February 2022, 16:38
David CulpLooks great, and thanks for posting such an informative build thread.
14 September 2022, 23:41
Album info
I remember when these amazing jets were in service - capable of Mach 2, in 1961 a Hustler made the first supersonic transatlantic crossing between New York and Paris in less than 3h 20m.
This build will be another test of my natural metal finish skills.
I decided to create & apply markings for a test aircraft, 58-1015, which was assigned to the 6512th Test Wing at Edwards AFB to carry out pod drop and high gross weight tests in 1959. It was the last a/c to be upgraded to full production status and joined the 43rd BW at Carswell AFB TX in October 1962.
