West Middlesex Scale Model Club

B-58 Hustler

Convair B-58 Hustler, Italeri 1/72nd scale.
I choose to do the Aircraft 59-2447 Rapid Rabbit which unfortunately crashed on 15/02/62 - 38 miles E. of Lawton Oklohoma. The aircraft was in an inverted spin when crew ejected. The Nav and DSO ejected simultaneously and collided injuring the Nav. Pilot who suffered a back injury due to loose harness at time of ejection. AF pilot Maj. John Irving, AF Nav/Bombardier Capt. John Fuller and AF DSO Capt. Donald Avallon all survived.
The kit is not bad as a whole requiring the usual Italeri persuasion to go together but nothing drastic. The area requiring special attention was getting the undercarriage into the wheels up position. The kit really doesn't allow for this and things had to be carefully modified to get things looking right. Right from the start I was looking forward to going mad with AK Interactive's Xtreme Metals and the paints didn't disappoint. The whole thing was sprayed Aluminium but this was far too shiny for what I was after so it was resprayed White Aluminium. In the end I used white aluminium, dark aluminium, matte aluminium, aluminium, duraluminium, steel, titanium, jet exhaust, pale burnt metal and gun metal on the build. One area that was a minor concern was adding Ammo enamel panel line wash to unprotected Xtreme Metal paint. The only aftermarket I used was a Master metal pitot tube to replace the kit part which was horrible. The highlight of the kit was the decals which were superb and Italeri provided six schemes to choose from in the kit.