Johnny_K Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 (edited) This is a Monogram 1/48 scale B-58 that I purchased on e-bay. Included in the kit was a set of aftermarket Scale Aircraft Conversions metal landing gear . I think that the previous owner of the kit gave up before the kit was started. This kit is dated 1986, so you can just imagine what kind of nasty tricks will pop up and bite me on the nose😱 I started this build in March of last year. A month later I was so fed up with the kit that I put the kit on to the Shelf of Doom due to some insanely poor engineering issues regarding how the tail assembly joins the fuselage. In June of this year I sprinkled the kit with holy water and started building it again. It's now coming along nicely, but very slow. This my eight foiled airplane. My previous foiled builds were a P-38L, P-47, P-51, F-86, F-104, B-24J and B-29. After the B-58 will be a B-25 gun ship. All are 1/48 scale. The B-58 model has raised panel lines and it is molded in a weird silver plastic. The idea was that this model would not need to be painted. I think that this is the third version of this kit. The first version had a button that dropped The Bomb. The second version has opening hatches for all three crewmen. This one has an opening hatch only for the pilot. Notice that the box states, "molded in silver". Notice the wavy lines in the silver plastic. This would be one weird looking model if it wasn't painted. This photo was taken after I used a wash on the gear housing. I purchased engine update kits from Fisher, a cockpit upgrade kit from Eduard and a metal pitot tube from Master Reality in Miniature. I started with the cockpit. The kit's cockpit lacked a lot of detail but the Eduard's upgrade kit fixed that problem. Eduard makes nice upgrade kits. Next, I decided to attack the four rather large engine pods. The upgrade kit includes an intake fan for the front and exhaust nozzles. I couldn't find good photos of the nozzle of a B-58, so I used a photo of the nozzle of an F-16 as reference. First I painted the outside of the nozzle black and used a black wash on the inside. Next I applied Bare Metal Foil to each nozzle petal individually 😵 . The turbine fan was weathered with a black wash and the tip of the engine shaft was painted blue. This process took a while to do on four engines. Edited September 23, 2019 by Johnny_K Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spruemeister Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 The exterior of the exhaust nozzles is a worn and highly weathered black paint, not polished metal. Rick L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 11, 2019 Author Share Posted August 11, 2019 Two types of nozzles were used on the engines, one was smooth and the other had petals like an F-16. Neither nozzle was painted, they turned gray with use. The dark colored panels on the engine pods and elevons were a special heat resistant stainless steel alloy that appeared dark in color, almost the color of Titanium. Based on the photos that I have looked at, there appears to be a number of different versions of the engine pods. FYI, I am not finished with weathering the engine nozzles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 Weights need to be added to the nose of this plane to prevent it from sitting its tale. I don'y like to estimate the amount of weight, so I taped the entire model together and started adding weight to the nose of the plane until it sat on its nose. The cockpit was glued into the lower fuselage and weights were added in front of the cockpit. The side windows were installed prior to glueing the two fuselage parts together The top of the fuselage was clamped to the bottom of the fuselage. A rubber band holds the nose together. That thing above the fuselage is a combination fuel tank and "Bomb". We'll get into that later. Tape was also used in an attempt to align the top and bottom of the fuselage. Monogram did not provide enough alignment pins. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 (edited) Due to a lack of alignment pins, the fuselage required filler. Multiple sandings and layers of Mr. Dissolved Putty were required. I used scraps of Bare Metal Foil to test the seam. The seam on the left need more putty and sanding. The nose was painted after the seam was sanded smooth. The engine pods were glued together while the putty on the fuselage seams dried. The pods are pretty big when compared with an F-86. Clamps, clamps and more clamps were required to get a tight seam between the two halves of the engine pods. Edited August 13, 2019 by Johnny_K Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Really cool seeing just the engine size comparison to something more familiar of that era. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 This is a good photo of the aircraft's main wing. Note the two areas of the wing that are not made of aluminum panels. Also, the elevons are a different color than the wing. They were made of a high temperature stainless steel alloy because they were in the jet wash of the inboard engines. I used Testors' Metallizer Aluminum for the painted areas. I did not buff the paint because I wanted a dull finish. After the paint dried I sealed it with Testors' Metallizer Sealer. On the underside I painted the wheel wells a silver color and lightly washed the wheel wells with a rust colored wash to simulate dust. I glued the top and bottom of the wing together and used my architect's scale and clamps to remove the obvious warp in the wing. I used the same technique on my B-29 and B-24 wings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 7 hours ago, Johnny_K said: I glued the top and bottom of the wing together and used my architect's scale and clamps to remove the obvious warp in the wing. Where can one find clamps like that? I've not seen them around. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 (edited) Harbor Freight has them as do many others. Do a search on ratcheting bar clamp spreaders. . Edited August 14, 2019 by habu2 typo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 2 minutes ago, habu2 said: Harbor Freight has them. . Thanks, found them! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, Johnny_K said: This is a good photo of the aircraft's main wing. Note the two areas of the wing that are not made of aluminum panels. Also, the elevons are a different color than the wing. They were made of a high temperature stainless steel alloy because they were in the jet wash of the inboard engines. I used Testors' Metallizer Aluminum for the painted areas. I did not buff the paint because I wanted a dull finish. After the paint dried I sealed it with Testors' Metallizer Sealer. On the underside I painted the wheel wells a silver color and lightly washed the wheel wells with a rust colored wash to simulate dust. I glued the top and bottom of the wing together and used my architect's scale and clamps to remove the obvious warp in the wing. I used the same technique on my B-29 and B-24 wings. I bought those clamps years ago in a Ace Hardware bargain bin for two bucks each. Amazon has those clamps: https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6-Inch-Ratchet-Spreader-39180/dp/B000NY4UDQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=ratchet+clamps&qid=1565821880&s=gateway&sr=8-4 Edited August 14, 2019 by Johnny_K Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 I used the ratchet clamp, architect's scale and rubber bands to straighten out the big warp on a B-29 and B-24 wing. The triangular shape of the architect's scale works great in straightening the warp because it is super stiff and will not bend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 27 minutes ago, Johnny_K said: I bought those clamps years ago in a Ace Hardware bargain bin for two bucks each. Amazon has those clamps: https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6-Inch-Ratchet-Spreader-39180/dp/B000NY4UDQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=ratchet+clamps&qid=1565821880&s=gateway&sr=8-4 Thanks, ordered some (different brand) from Harbor Freight. Will see how they work out. Saved the ones you posted to my Amazon "hobby list". Don't know why I couldn't find these before. Probably looking in the wrong place Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Great job so far! 👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 On 8/11/2019 at 9:13 AM, Johnny_K said: Two types of nozzles were used on the engines, one was smooth and the other had petals like an F-16. Neither nozzle was painted, they turned gray with use. The dark colored panels on the engine pods and elevons were a special heat resistant stainless steel alloy that appeared dark in color, almost the color of Titanium. Based on the photos that I have looked at, there appears to be a number of different versions of the engine pods. FYI, I am not finished with weathering the engine nozzles. Nice progress on your build. If I'm not mistaken, all B-58's used the J-79 engines with afterburners. the pic at the top of your reference is, I believe, the display at Pima Air and Space Museum, sans engines. There is another pic in the walkaround section of ARCAIR that shows from the rear and you can see all the way to the shock cones. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
warthog60 Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Great use for an architects scale (the triangular ruler being used with the clamps...), seeing that we don’t use them much anymore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 Drifterdon and Warthog60, thanks for following my post! That's a great photo of the underside of the aircraft. There seems to be only eight of these aircraft left. Seven are still in pretty good shape. One at Edwards is in really bad shape. Some one should put this poor aircraft out of it's misery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 After the glue dried I removed the clamps. This is one big wing!! The next step is to glue the wing to the fuselage. The fit of the seam is poor resulting in a large open joint. This is a well documented problem with this kit. The best solution is get out "THE BIG CLAMP". Enough pressure is required to close the open seam but not so much to crack the plastic. Now that's better. I can deal with that. Note that I started adding Bare Metal Foil to the model. There is a nasty seam at the front of the wing adjacent to the fuselage that needs to be fixed. There are more seams that need fixing on the underside of the model. Monogram must have been in a hurry to get this model on the dealer's shelves. This kind of stuff shouldn't happen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 Time to finish the four engine pods. This is the look that I am trying to achieve. The front of the pod will be easy to duplicate using Bare Metal Foil. The rear of the pod will be more difficult to duplicate. My first attempt was to use a combination of Testors' Metallizer Aluminum and Titanium. I didn't like how the Titanium looked, so I attempted to use an enamel wash to lighten up the color of the Titanium. I figured that an enamel wash shouldn't affect the lacquer Metallizer paint. Boy was I wrong. The enamel wash dissolved the lacquer paint. However, I did like the final effect. I decided to paint the rear of the engine pod with the Testors' Titanium Metallizer paint anf then remove it with an enamel thinner. The final finish closely matches the real aircraft's engine pod. I was able to vary the color of pod's panels by using a water based wash. Here are the four engine pods. I think that they look pretty good. Here are the pods in comparison to an F-86. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Parabat Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Fantastic build, great techniques and a great project. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nikolay Polyakov Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 (edited) On 8/10/2019 at 10:59 PM, Johnny_K said: I couldn't find good photos of the nozzle of a B-58, so I used a photo of the nozzle of an F-16 as reference. Hello @Johnny_K! Maybe I’m late, but here’s the great build with a some portions of research: Convair B-58 Hustler 1/72. Your progress is amazing, now the Hustler takes its shape! It seems like you’re a very skilled. Keep up the good work; I’m following with an interest... P.S. The foiled wings looks superb! Edited August 19, 2019 by Nikolay Polyakov Quote Link to post Share on other sites
markiii Posted August 19, 2019 Share Posted August 19, 2019 Excellent work thus far, I have one languishing on the bench to get back to with most of the Fisher upgrades. Those sets are excellent, hope he gets back on his feet soon! Anyway, one question? Why didn't you post this in the works in progress? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 1 hour ago, markiii said: Excellent work thus far, I have one languishing on the bench to get back to with most of the Fisher upgrades. Those sets are excellent, hope he gets back on his feet soon! Anyway, one question? Why didn't you post this in the works in progress? Ooops!! You are correct, this should be in the "In Progress Pics". I'll ask the moderator to move it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny_K Posted August 20, 2019 Author Share Posted August 20, 2019 It took about three weeks to make the four engine pods. Applying the Bare Metal Foil to the curved surfaces was a real pain. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vince Maddux Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 btw, if it helps other, I found that I could get the upper wing to fit the fuselage better by cutting the upper wing in half, and gluing then to the bottom wing. it prevents fighting with the upper fuselage/upper wing fit Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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