B=58 Experts needed

[71roadrunner426]

What color should the wheel well bays and inside bay doors be? I've seen NMF, White and interior green, Thanks for your help, Rob

[Pete]

Some pics and info here and here. With some nice overall shots here.

[kenlilly106]

No NMF in the gear bays due to corrosion issues, anything that looks like aluminum would be silver paint.

My best guess:

Inside of doors - silver paint

Bays - light gray, interior green, silver paint.

There does seem to be some variation in colors and I'm not sure whether that was due to variations on the manufacturing line at Convair or things were repainted at the squadron or depot level (I think it was the latter 2).

Ken

[john53]

The older pics look like the doors were chromate yellow and the wells were interior green

then others look like they were repainted white.---John

[71roadrunner426]

Thanks guys for the help, maybe go with Zinc Chromate for the doors and White for the wells.

[Scott R Wilson]

Thanks guys for the help, maybe go with Zinc Chromate for the doors and White for the wells.

Please remember the photos I took of the TB-58 were almost 20 years after the plane was retired. Most all the photos online of the Pima Museum's B-58A are likewise from after the paint was quite old. The paint was by then quite weathered, I doubt it is truly representative of an in-service Hustler. The photos of the B-58 with the J93 engine test pod are most likely representative of how GD delivered the airplanes. The other planes GD produced during the same time frame, the F-102 and F-106, all had interior green wheel wells, wheel door interiors and missile bays, so it stands to reason the B-58 used the same paint, and that is corroborated by the GE J93 testbed photos. The photos of the in-service Hustler at Moron AB also show green interiors. It looks a little lighter than interior green but that might be because of the film, processing or any number of factors.

In the photos I took of the TB-58 and the photos I've seen of the Pima Hustler, it appears the wheel wells were sloppily and incompletely repainted white while the plane was still in service. It also appears some gear doors had been replaced with replacement doors that didn't match exactly. As far as the chromate yellow color showing in my photos, could be local paint work was done with yellow chromate primer with white sprayed over it, which subsequently weathered away in the near-20 years before I took my photos. It's really difficult to say. But if I were building a Hustler model I'd be more inclined to use interior green, as it seems the white paint didn't appear until shortly before their retirement.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Scott R Wilson

[swimmer25k]

My best guess for the wheel wells was gloss gull gray.

[markiii]

The T/O I've seen specifies FS16473 Aircraft gray.

[Scott R Wilson]

The T/O I've seen specifies FS16473 Aircraft gray.

What T/O was that? Personally I think photos of in-service aircraft count more than opinions. Here's another one showing interior green.

http://www.mcmahanphoto.com/na431--convair-b-58-hustler-nose-gear-photo-print.html

[john53]

As noted above the Convair F-102 and F-106 were interior green wheel wells

and door interiors. Why would they switch colors, B-58 was built around that

same time frame. It looks like someone sloppily repainted the wheel wells white,

who knows when or why but I remember seeing a lot of aircraft from that time

frame with interior green. Just my 2cents worth.---John

Edited April 12, 2014 by john53

[DET1460]

I saw the '58 at the Air Force Museum a couple of years ago. The inner sides of the gear doors were yellow zinc. The place was to dark to see in the wells themselves, AF standard was to paint wells and door inners the same color.

DET1460

[kozlok]

The one in Dayton does indeed look to be Yellow Chromate. This was taken in April 2013.

IMGP3056.jpg by kozlok2, on Flickr

[john53]

I looked through the ARC gallery and just about every one was light gray

or white on the wheel wells and door interiors, however I also did some

googling and found a picture from 1958 of the rollout of YB-58A painted

in red,white,blue scheme with interior green interiors on the front gear

doors. I have seen a lot with chromate yellow especially on open access

panels--FWIW---John

[markiii]

What T/O was that?

Hey Scott, I saw it on the cybermodeler site.

[71roadrunner426]

Thanks for all your help guys. I went with interior green on this one.

[Scott R Wilson]

Thanks for all your help guys. I went with interior green on this one.

If it makes you feel any better, here's some excellent photos from http://b-58.com taken by Richard "Dick" Dirga who used to be a B-58 crewmember. There are a bunch of great photos and stories on this site, scroll your mouse over the "contents" title at the top of the page. The photos by Dirga are priceless, and the photos by Paul Wulf of alert aircraft loaded with live B43s are also amazing and so very rare.

Here's some of Dick Dirga's photos.

Obviously interior green inside the gear door:

These next two look like they might have been painted white:

Here's another B-58A photographed by Dick Dirga, but this one has Interior Green nose door interiors:

Edited April 14, 2014 by Scott R Wilson