Italeri 1/72 Convair B-58 Hustler

ITALERI 1:72 CONVAIR B-58A HUSTLER
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: John Lacey (rec.models.scale)

Aircraft History

Possibly the sexiest strategic bomber ever built, the Convair B-58A seemed to epitomise US military aviation in the late 1950s to early 1960s, sleek, high tech and filled with cutting edge equipment. Unfortunately, the B-58 would not have the longevity of the B-52, being deactivated from service by 1970 due to many differing factors that will be debated amongst aviation buffs for years.

Kit Parts

Italeri’s B-58 has been released a number of times in both its B-58A bomber and TB-58A trainer guises. Recessed panel lines, nicely detailed cockpits with sidewalls and raised instrument panel details and ‘boxed in’ wheel wells start the ball rolling with the Hustler’s stalky landing gear being well replicated and the ejection seat ‘modules’ also present. Clear parts and commendably clear and bagged separately so as to avoid scratching.

Options & Stores

Stores include both types of weapon pods associated with the B-58, the larger being a MB-1C combined fuel / thermonuclear weapon and the smaller BLU-2/B-1 warhead component of the TCP or Two Component Pod system. As this used a larger BLU-2/B-1 fuel pod of the same profile as the MB-1C, it could be also suggested that one is given instead both components of the TCP. Additional stores come in the form of Mark 43 Nuclear free fall bombs and their wing root pylons and racks, these being a little vague in comparison to reference material at hand. There are no options as such but the enterprising modeller will be able to get a ‘gear up’ configuration with a little work.

Instructions

Par for the course for Italeri here. Multi-lingual aircraft history, FS and Model Master paint callouts, a parts map, nine construction steps and three pages of painting and decaling diagrams round out a fairly comprehensive build.

Colour Options

To paraphrase Henry Ford “you can have any colour you like as long as it’s natural metal’. That being said, there are panels of titanium and gun metal over the airframe that break up the landscape of this beauty. Three machines are catered for, all USAF as the only operator of the B-58A (believe it or not, the RAAF were actually approached by Convair with a stripped down conventional bombing variant…. Now that would have been a sight!!!). Unfortunately references will be needed here as the instructions give no information as to the identities of the birds. With a little research, one finds that all machines eventually served with the 43^rd Bomb Wing, based first at Carswell AFB then Little Rock AFB, each having unique service histories. I recommend looking up these aircraft at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/toppan/b58.html.

Decals

Decals are typical Italeri, commendably thin, in good register and with quite a deal of stencilling.

Impressions

A beautiful aircraft to be sure and one that I have always wanted in kit form. It looks like it’s doing Mach 2 in the box!!!

Conclusion

Fans of the 60s will want one of these birds on their shelves. Well detailed and looking every inch a Hustler, I can’t recommend the kit enough. It would make a superb model in any of the three supplied schemes but naturally that won’t be my path. Check out http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum and look for Maverick (that’s me).

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