B-58 Hustler
Received this scratch built wooden model a few years ago. I'm finally replicating it in plastic.
I'm not really going for accuracy with this interior, just something generic since it won't really even be visible
Walls and floor are a dark gray mix. Consoles and any other instrument panels are xf-19.
Not the neatest hand painting, but it’ll do
Panel lined and matt coated
I somehow managed to remove the locating pins from the fuselage, so I had to go back and drill holes in both fuselage and fuel tank. I then superglued some brass rod to act as locating pin
Engines assembled. These were a bit tricky and required a good amount of sanding to fit.
I couldn’t help myself 😄
Black glare shield done. Time to polish the canopy and close up the cockpit
This is my first time really making sure there aren't gaps from joining pieces together. Looks like the top is mostly set.
Lots of smoothing left on the bottom. I did a bit of a test prime on the wing, and it seems very smooth, so the full body sanding looks to be worth it
Sanding
More sanding
Canopy is on, as is the weighted nose cone. I finally bought some stainless steel ball bearings to use as weight. Rather than nails and hot glue.
I'm adding locating pins for the engine pylons. This should help line everything up so I minimize the damage when gluing everything together
I'm trying something different, and building the gear assembly before painting it. Maybe this way, I can use the gear as stands while painting the main aircraft
Primer is on. I don’t know whether I should put another layer of black on top or get started on the NMF
Base Matt Aluminum is down. I'm not sure how I feel about this color. I'm considering covering it with some Ammo Mig Polished Metal, which is quite a bit darker.
This is my second NMF. The first was using enamel based revell paints that were 10 years old. It's shocking how much easier it is using new paints
I was literally 1 drop of paint short :\
The centerline pod is coated in ammo mig polished metal. The outboard engine pylons are coated in ammo mig steel, and the inboard engine pylons are coated in ammo mig Matt aluminum which is on the whole model currently. Definitely will be going with steel to get that NMF shine, since it isn’t too much darker than the aluminum
Definitely a much better color. Not sure if it’s the fact that this is a glossy paint, or the fact that I forgot to wipe the surfaces down, but the paint looked a lot “rougher” than the aluminum
Masking NMFs is always a nightmare. I didn’t clear coat the base layer, and know there’s already some paint coming off while I’m masking, I just hope it isn’t anything major
The thermally reinforced areas are done. I used ammo mig polished metal for these sections.
Next is gonna be adding some patch work using blued titanium, a mix of steel and polished metal, and a mix of steel and copper.
I ended up using a mixture of 2:1 bluish titanium and steel, to tone down the bluish titanium. Very happy with the end result, as it's actually somewhat difficult to discern the different colors at the right angles
Next will be the addition of some lighter shading. Likely a mix of steel and gold, or possibly copper/brass
The centerline pod is going to need a lot of masking for the final color, which will be a slightly darkened steel.
The color is ok under natural light, but too gold for my liking under harsh led light. Something about the mixture of steel and gold did not cooperate, and I got consistent nozzle blockages while adding this shade. Next up will be a slightly darkened steel.
I ended up ad-hoc mixing steel and polished steel as i was airbrushing. Some panels are a nice, and easily discernable shade, some are very similar to plain steel.
Remaining panels and the centerline tank will be painted in a mixture of steel and gun metal. Perhaps it might make sense to test out colors before putting them on the final model.
The more shades I add, the less it feels like a cohesive “skin”
Any masking I did on the very dark thermal areas has pulled off a good amount of the polished metal portion of the paint mix. I'm not super happy about it, but I think I might leave it so I don't need to re-mask the area again.
I'm extremely happy with how the centerline tank has turned out. Unmasking this, proved a bit of a revelation I had last night.
Next will be adding gun metal to the back machine gun, as well as the engine pods. Exhausts will also be painted using burnt iron
The diluted steel definitely helped tone down the contrast.
After a few layers, I love the color of the Tamiya x-7, but the red needs to have more of an orange tone
Went back and added X-6 orange to the red. It definitely made the color match better, but probably could have used more orange
White stripes added. I overheard someone saying mig washable white camo worked very well as a white, and I have to agree. It is by far the best white I’ve sprayed in my experience
I'm using the same micro sol/set process for decals i've always used. I also used the same gloss clear coat over the NMF, so I'm not sure why i'm getting this strange darkening effect underneath the decal. Looking at it from different angles, there's what appears to be a huge amount of silvering already. I will need to do some thinking before applying the rest of the decals
I took a break for a while, and it seems that once the micro sol fully dries, the darkening effect goes away and the decals finish clear.
Almost finished with decals. Interestingly, there are none on the underside of the fuselage.
Some light weathering done, as this is a test aircraft, my assumption was that it wouldn’t have been sitting in the rain repeatedly, so I went easy on the oil and water staining.
In some reference images, you can see some vertical streaks on the spine of the aircraft, so I tried to replicate that using weathering master soot
Reference photos show these areas being absolutely filthy, so I went a bit heavier on the soot and oil staining
After looking through a bunch of reference photos, it seems like gear bays were painted a color between pale yellow drab and white.
Adding some basic details to the gear bays
I think I might've gone a bit overboard with the weathering in the gear bays for the exterior weathering of the model
Assembly started. I think because I used the landing gear while painting, I weakened some of the joints, and a couple struts broke off while gluing the gear on.
Mostly straight. None of it is perfect, but that is the story of my life 🙂
Gear doors are left. Once those are done, pitot tube, antennae, and wheels are left to complete this project
Not quite done, and by no means perfect, but I'm very happy with how this has turned out
Even though this is not accurate to the historical version, I included the serial number on the front gear doors.
There is a part that is meant to be attached at the hole towards the bottom of the main gear. The piece is meant to represent several linkages, but it is just a singular block, and doesn't look great in my opinion
A couple things left to tidy up on the assembled body. There needs to be more oil and soot streaks further along the wing, and I need to go back over the nose of the aircraft with a dullcote.
Normally, I’d say the wheel upgrades aren’t really necessary. I would have loved to have the upgrade set to not deal with all the flash on the wheels
I’m skipping the couple of instrument antennas since they’re not really to scale
XF-85 is on the wheels
Pitot tube is ready for clear coat
Landing gear is on. Pitot tube, and then she’s done
Danger Kitty
Comments
57 5 March 2022, 02:23
Reaper_leadFor an almost 50 year old kit, not bad shockingly. People have talked about its shape issues, but apart from that, everything has fit fairly well. The plastic itself is a little rough, so I've gone over most of it with sandpaper to get a smoother finish. You can also see some weird mould lines from when the plastic was moulded. Hopefully those do not come through the NMF, otherwise this might turn into a bit more of a problem. Rest of the kit is fairly simple. An enjoyable experience so far.
8 March 2022, 23:12
Oliver ZwienerI love this aircraft , built the Convair B-58A The Pulaski Hustler - BuNo 58-1011 recently 😉
10 March 2022, 19:42
Reaper_leadThank you Cuajate, Neil, Vincent, and Skywalker. I forgot how stressful NMF is to mask :|
2 April 2022, 22:15
Reaper_leadOliver, I've actually used your article for a fair amount of inspiration in regards to the colors, and placement of the various metal shades. It has been very helpful, and is a gorgeous representation!
2 April 2022, 22:18
Chris H.I really like the B-58 with her strange landing gear and the funny ejection seats. Awesome bird!
6 April 2022, 11:47
Reaper_leadThank you all for the encouragement! I had a bit of a revelation last night while I was thinking about how to make everything feel more cohesive. Contrary to normal non-metallic paint, it is harder to discern differentiations in color/contrast etc. because of the glare (even from regular room light. One of the issues I have been frustrated with, is my initial mixes seem to be the same color as the base steel. To compensate, and get a bit more of a contrast, I have added more of the non-steel color. While this has improved the contrast under direct LED light, it has also caused this feeling I get when looking at the model. The finish doesn't seem cohesive, and it doesn't feel like weathering/panel changes originated from the same color. To remedy, I think I will go over everything with a very diluted plain steel to reduce the apparent contrast.
7 April 2022, 11:37
Oliver ZwienerI used the Vallejo Art. 77.603 Metal Color Set: Aluminium Dope Set (4x32 ml).
Mayby you will have a look on modellversium.de/gal..58-1011-italeri.html
8 April 2022, 05:04
Hanno KleineckeFrom my perspective you did a superb job with the NMF so far !
My suggestion to make the surface come alive a bit more, would be to polish it gently with 8000/12000 grid micromesh, rather than giving it another layer of paint…. In addition to a finishing wash and decals that should do the job in making it all join together optically.
The phenomenon of various metal shades in different lighting scenarios and angles can be observed in almost every photo of unpainted
aircraft. The surface of same plane never looks alike in different photos shot from different angles. 👍
16 April 2022, 05:37
Reaper_leadThank you for the information Hanno. Unfortunately, I've already put a gloss clear coat over the NMF, but I've already ordered some of the micro mesh pads to do some polishing
19 April 2022, 01:19
CuajetePainting job and decals looks very nice 👍
For old and yellowish decals, I first put them in a window in the sun for several days or weeks, until they whiten. Then I apply Decal Film (in case age affects its quality) and finally (to try to avoid silvering as much as possible) I cut the film around the decal as much as possible before applying the Set and Sol liquids. Before all this it is convenient to scan the decals to have a backup copy in case they are lost in the process.
20 April 2022, 09:05
CuajeteSorry Łukasz, in the South it takes only a few days in summer 😄
Maybe an alternative is those UV lamps that women use to dry their nails faster. And they are not very expensive:
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20 April 2022, 17:41
Łukasz GlińskiThat's a real food for thought - got such a thingy, but never considered sticking the stickers inside 😮 👍
20 April 2022, 18:57
Reaper_leadInteresting technique for reviving decals. I'd never considered anything like that, especially the UV nail light (which my fiancé has). After applying those first two decals and seeing the darkening, I forced myself to stop and have a think about what to do. When I came back, the darkness and silvering had disappeared, and the decals were fully clear.
20 April 2022, 19:11
Reaper_leadI was really surprised when it initially happened, since I was using the same application technique, paint, etc. and I've always heard (now have experienced) how high quality caracal decals are. I didn't notice this effect when applying decals to non-metallic surfaces, so it might come down to the ammo Metallics I've been using
20 April 2022, 19:14
RuiI live fairly far north so our 7 hour winter days don't help decals much, but in the summer it works fine. It worked well with the build of the very old Lindberg Do.335 (Lindberg | Dornier Do 335 | Practice Kit | Project by GrenadeBait (1:72)) it cleared all the yellowing, but of course couldn't help with the out of register and thickness of the decals LOL 🙂
I like the idea of the UV lamp. I can probably find a way to suggest to my partner that she get one... for her nails of course... muhahaha 🙂
23 April 2022, 05:58
CuajeteRui, that's a pretty good excuse to try and get a UV nail dryer!! 😄😄😄
Very nice painting and weathering job so far 👍
23 April 2022, 17:48
Reaper_leadAaaand done. Thank you Hanno, Cuajete, and everyone else for the encouragement. I'm pretty happy with the result. I think the next NMF I do, I will do some testing before painting, to see if I could get away with not using clear coats
7 May 2022, 18:01
RuiLoved watching this come along. Very entertaining and learning experience. The end result a great work and inspires me to build my own hustler. 👍
7 May 2022, 18:47
Reaper_leadThank you everyone! If anyone is interested in building their own hustler, there's an eBay auction currently running for the latest italeri release with the caracal decals and metal pitot tube included. https://ebay.com/itm/4036620..t_ver=artemis&media=COPY
18 May 2022, 13:58
