Evenin’ All.
I am getting goodies together to go off the deep end. I want to do a Hustler in SEA camo. I usually do WW2 aircraft so this is a step off the beaten path for me. What kind of weapons load out could I have on this thing? And where could I get hold of them?
TIA
boogie bear
I have seen a lot of B-58s in real life and also in pictures and I don’t recall any of them in SEA camo, or anything besides NMF. The Hustler never carried conventional weapons. That was one of the major points for retiring it so early. The only weapons it carried were nuclear free fall weapons as part of the huge belly pod and small nukes, I thinkg B-61s on the pylon between the engines.
Darwin, (ooooooold, retired, SAC Trained Killer) [alien]
yardbird78
I hear what you are sayin’. There was mention of it in a book that I am reading, and it got me goin’. So, now I have the decals and the kit, in 1/48. All I’ve ever seen were NMF B-58’s also, so this is pretty much a ‘what-if’ project. I know that the -58 had four hardpoints on the wing roots, so I was curious as to what a realistic load out would be. I’m not going to open a can of worms by startin’ up the rumor mill. Thank you for your input though.
boogie bear
There was a single B-58 in SEA camo. It was a part of a test program low level/high speed. According to the scuttle butt, it performed admirably with f-4’s and f-105’s (?).
However the program was scrapped due to concerns over a B-58 getting shot down
over North Vietnam (Steve Ginter’s aerofax book)
One of the books published on the B-58 has a copy of the Tech order for the SEA camo patern to be applied to the B-58. The book also states that there was one aircraft actually painted in SEA camo. I have never ever seen a B-58 in anything other than NMF nor any pictures of a B-58 in anything other than NMF. Besides the SEA camo paint schemes there has occurred in print a few times a rumor of B-58s in all black paint. But again no pictures have ever been published. Maybe these should bve chalked up to “urban legands”.
My father, Capt Robert Hecker, was a navigator on the B-58 when I was a teenager in Texas and as far as I know (short distance) all I can remember and a few photos from that time (1963) is that the 58 was one heavy duty aircraft for it’t generation and I’m sure you can get all the info you need if you just go to anyplace about the plane on the web.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I am going to re-read the Jay Miller book on the Hustler. I have the decals, kit, and the nose weight should arrive in about a week. Hopefully I can enlist the help of a couple of friends to post in-progress pics.
A favorite saying of mine: Absence of proof does not mean proof of absence.
boogie bear
What decal sheet do you have? I’ve got the Fox One and some day a finished B-58…
Eddie
Eddie.
I have the same one. It took me a while to find though. Seems like its not in production any more. Shame too, there are a lot of nice options on that sheet.
boogie bear
Tech Order 1-1-4 (Project Bullseye) supposedly used 59-2428 as a pathfinder, leading four F-4’s or F-105’s. Since this was for Vietnam we can assume conventional bombs. In Jay Miller’s book, there is a picture of a RAAF B-58 model loaded up with 12 500(?) pound bombs. Page 89. The picture below it shows 10 Mk. 117’s, but that is a B-58B model. Good luck!
You ain’t kiddin’! I’m very happy with those decals. I was lucky that the hobby shop owner found them for me, or I would have been S.O.L. I’m refurbishing mine to be 55-662. Good luck and show us your progress.[:)]
Eddie
Way ahead of you Boogie Bear[:)]
As soon as I saw the drawings with the RG kit,I just had to do it.I too usually do WWII birds but this thing is awsome.My camo may not be exact to the drawings with the kit .I used no masks and painted it all freehand by eye with a badger 150 and Tamiya acrylics.
Here she is,slightly dusty[:D]
