Monogram 1/48 Convair B-58 Hustler

MONOGRAM 1:48 CONVAIR B-58 HUSTLER

Reviewer: Phillip Pittendreigh (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 20 January 2002

Aircraft:
The B-58 is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken, a planned supersonic bomber with escape pods for the crew, an area-ruled fuselage, extensive use of honeycomb sandwich skin panels, tall landing gear to give clearance for the huge centreline fuel/weapon pods carried and a large delta wing supporting the four podded engines. Two XB-58 prototypes were built and the first flew in November 1956. This was followed by 28 pre-production YB-58 versions which were used for service-test purposes. Most of these were then converted to either the reconnaissance RB-58 version or the dual-control trainer TB-58 variant. The B-58A was the sole production bomber model and 86 of these were built, with the ability to carry the different pods on the underfuselage station. One pod was almost as long as the aircraft which was made up of both fuel and nuclear payload storage. The fuel would be used on the outward leg of any bombing mission and the pod jettisoned over the target. The smaller pods carried either contained sensors or weapon payload. The aircraft was just under 100 ft in length and was an impressive beast.

The Hustler was very difficult to fly but was effectively the world's first strategic supersonic nuclear bomber. As a result of its structural achievements and how hard it was to fly it suffered the highest accident rate of any USAF aircraft up until that time (and probably still has that record!). In addition to this, the cost of maintenance proved to be prohibitive in expense and ultimately both problems lead to the type's retirement in 1970.

The Kit:
This kit was first available in the early 80's and has been reissued on a small number of occasions since - each time supposedly going to be the last time. I picked my kit up second hand a few years ago and it is either the original release or one of the first reissues. It comes in a big box with plenty of parts to sift through - far too many to count. The main parts like wings etc are loose with small sprues while all the other parts are contained on a number of sprues. The plastic is soft, typical monogram, and coloured in a metallic grey finish. All panel lines are raised while control surfaces are generally recessed.

Instructions:
These are typical Monogram and present assembly in clear and concise steps with FS numbers and generic colours provided throughout construction.

Detail and Options:
The level of detail on this kit is quite good, considering its age and origins. The wheel wells have all been given structural/plumbing detail and the fit out of the cockpit is very good also. The rear crew stations though do not contain much detail at all. The panel lines are raised and probably oversized if you want to harp on it. The pilot's hatch is the only crew area that can be opened, although I have heard you can get resin replacements for the rear cockpit which will give you a reason to perform surgery on the plastic to open up their hatches. The undercarriage is large and well detailed.

For stores you are presented with two choices of the large payload pods, one a bit larger than the other for the combined weapon and fuel system, but essentially identical. Four B43 free fall nuclear bombs are also provided to fit on racks either side of the pod. I noticed that the pre-flight protective caps are molded onto these so these will need sanding off if doing anything other than a pre-flight static Hustler - which in itself should have RBF (Remove before flight) flags attached. I'm not sure the fins are shaped correctly, they don't match the photos I have.

Construction:
Firstly, throughout construction it is a good idea to have your reference material laid out beside you because the instructions are not going to answer a lot of small queries about painting, precise positioning etc and this is where photos and other assistance will be needed.

Secondly - plastic preparation! One thing about this kit (and plenty of others moulded in this metallic grey colour) is that there are a number of mould imperfections on the surface of the parts, most notably sink marks. All these need fixing up before commencing construction and the best way is generally filling in sink marks with super glue or fine liquid putty and then sanding back to smooth out the shape of the various parts. Some parts worth mentioning that need attention include the fuselage, canopy hood and control radar for the rear gun.

Onto the best part of modelling - building! And of course this starts on the interior of the huge bomber with the cockpit painted up in medium to dark grey shades, and dials and so forth picked out in black, yellow and red to suit. The cockpit forms part of the ejection capsule and a bathtub is the basis upon which the interior components are attached. A seat with seat belts, instrument panels and control parts are all provided for the main cockpit. Nothing much for the rear cockpit stations at all. Everything fits well inside the forward fuselage upper half. I also added in the side fuselage windows for the rear stations but these do not fit well at all as they sit far too back into the recess. After a combination of trimming and test fitting the windows grudgingly went into place and are a bit distorted. I then added noseweight to prevent any likelihood of tailsitting before fitting the underside forward fuselage half in place. The join is not very good and requires a fair bit of filler to fix up. As you would expect, you can not see much once the cockpit is closed so I did not spend too much time detailing it.

Next comes sub assemblies of the nose (including probe) and undercarriage. While these sub assemblies were completed now, I left them both off until the end of construction lest the nose probe be snapped off on a million and one occasions! These were assembled without any hassles and left to the side for later. The undercarriage is well represented with detail and includes eighteen wheels!

The wings come in upper and lower halves and as you would expect are big. I found the best way to attach these was to affix the top wing to the fuselage first before attaching the bottom wing underneath. The main fuselage section and tailpiece are then attached together and this is perhaps the worst join in the kit, with plenty (and I mean plenty!!) of filling and sanding required around the join on both upper and lower surfaces. In fact I had to slice off one of the locating pins in order to even be able to coax the tailpiece in properly.

Two choices of underfuselage pods are provided, one being the very large fuel/nuclear combination pod and the smaller one being just the payload pod. I chose the latter (the large one never looked right to me) and this assembles in four pieces. The engines were next and this was a combination of both straight forward and challenging assembly. I could see right from the outset that the intake cones were very close to the front of the nacelle so pre-painting is essential - the interior was given a satin white wash. The cone also closes off any view inside which is a bit disappointing. The pods also go together in such a way that you shouldn't be able to put them onto the wrong underwing station although even then the fit is not great.

The large windscreen was added and this needed a bit of coaxing to fit in properly before I cleaned up the model and prepared it for painting, the nose probe and undercarriage were added after completing painting. The whole model was primed first to give me a chance to spot any imperfections as a result of construction. These were then corrected before Humbrol metal cote paints were applied, using SNJ aluminium powder and rub n' buff methods to bring out different aluminium shades on panels. A light black wash was used in parts to simulate a bit of weathering but only a small amount - most of my pictures show the B-58 was in generally very good nick.

Versions & Decals:
For this kit you get the 1961 Bleriot Trophy winner 59-2458 which is on display at the USAF Museum. This place has an Internet site and you can log on and download heaps of pictures of this aircraft, including cockpit photos. The decal sheet contains a myriad of decals which are in good colour register but that's where the compliments stop. They are thick with a gloss finish and the backing paper also dissolved a bit with the decal. Nevertheless I persisted with the kit's decal sheet and succeeded in applying them onto the finished product. I am not sure if their are other aftermarket decals for the B-58 around - I certainly couldn't find any. It certainly needed a bit of extra effort to ensure the decals looked satisfactory on the finished model. I have heard that the most recent reissue a couple of years ago had an updated printed decal sheet included.

Accuracy:
Overall the finished model captures the look of the B-58 in a very convincing manner and to scale the measurements appear quite satisfactory. There are a few quirks, and these are basically courtesy of others over time who have built this kit and added their 2c worth with their findings. I'll include the ones I agree with and the ones I picked up myself. The underside does not contain the drag chute doors near the Doppler radomes aft of the fuselage, and comparison to photos suggest that the scribing of panels here is incorrect. The engine nozzles don't look right in my opinion, I haven't been able to put my finger on the problem, but there is something there - compare it to photos. The fairing for the tail gun housing is also incorrectly shaped when compared to photos and contains large ridges that don't appear on the aircraft. Apart from the scribing, these are relatively minor problems and the kit is still great as it stands.

Overall:
An impressive model and of course a big one! It is a typical old Monogram kit that was overall a fun build. It suffers from a few accuracy faults and fit problems but overall it is still a highly recommended piece of plastic to fit [somewhere, somehow] into your collection.

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