Convair B-58A Hustler - build log

Dry-fitted the beast to check out its size.... it's gonna be one massive addition to my collection 🙂 

And it's also gonna need a massive nose weight to keep that nose grounded. 

Main fuselage and wing assembly. Already mounted the gear doors, cause doing that after painting is going to be messy since they're moulded as one piece with the well sidewalls. 

Collection sub assemblies 

Made some metal plates in both of these and a small magnet in the belly of the Hustler so these tanks will be interchangeable 🙂 

Trying out the nacelles to check how their seams are gonna work out, to further determine build order 🙂
It's like strapping two F-104's under each wing 😉 

Started building the engines with all my add-on resin, here's the seamless intakes 

A full dryfit of almost the complete kit. It is enormous... 🙂 

All four of them, and the four exhaust nozzles 

First of the nacelles assembled 

Made a catch for that enormous pitot tube, so it'll be removable and nicely lined up  

Retaining those raised panel lines was never an option really... :-/ By far the worst fit I've had on my bench so far ... #PuttyPuttyPutty 

Undercarriage done 🙂 

First of the nacelles rescribed... with a little F*-up on the pylon, but otherwise not bad. But OMFG what have I gotten my self into... 

Putting this big boy on hold for the moment, getting a bit frustrated with the (lack of) progress with all this filling and sanding and more sanding and rescribing... 

Finally sunk my teeth into that tedious job of panel rescribing.... the Hustler is going again 🙂 

Finally some panel lines ladies and gentlemen <3
Turns out the removing of the raised panels lines was in fact the most tedious job of this. Glad I'm rolling again 🙂 

Nice to see some actual progress again: windshield mounted and I made some window frames for the two rear cockpits to add some more detail to this ancient eighties kit. 

The beast has its quartet of J79 engines mounted now 🙂
I pre-painted the dark metal panels and masked them of, since that'll be a lot harder with these engines mounted. 

It's finally starting to look like a Hustler 🙂 

And we have a painted Hustler ladies and gentlemen! Now that the gloss aluminium finish is on, my hard work of rescribing the panel lines really pays off. Used a Tamiya spray can by the way since this bird is way too big for the airbrush 😉  

The pod is magnetically attached 

New masking method.... 😉 

Painting phase II completed.... 🙂 

This is gonna be quite a challenging decal session: these decals are over two decades old so very prone to disintegrating and take a loooong time to let go of the carrier. So far these two big f***ker have survived in one piece 🙂
And I am applying extra decal glue to each and every one of them. 

Oompf, that was a daunting two-day session.... but I managed to get almost all of them on undamaged except some of the black/red lines. I made sure to use extra decal-adhesive on each and every one of them. Only needs minor retouching on the no-step lines before I can quickly seal these fragile f**kers in with the final layer of clear coat. 

Reveal time!
I must say that in hindsight this kit was out of my league.... rescribing such an old kit is no joke... But I'm happy it finally got build 🙂 

And from not to close by (when you'll see the small mistakes and mishaps) she actually looks quite nice 

 

Nasty paint damage on the belly, but I'm gonna leave it alone 

The SBS Model intakes 

And the Aires exhaust nozzles 

The Convair lot 🙂