This has to be my favorite bird of all time. THe only problem is, I can’t find a model of one. Who makes a model of it, so I can look more thoroughly at me LHS.
Now, the pic…My great uncle took this picture while the plane was still in testing. I don’t know how he got it, but, he did. This picture was top secret at the time it was taken. My uncle knows the this plane in and out. But he also knows about every other plane in the world. I can show him a picture of a plane tail, and he can tell me the plane, the model, and what year it was made. he says even though there are different models, yearly changes were made. Now the picture is never-before-seen(I think, please tell me if I’m wrong). He gave it to me before he moved away from us. It is a picture of the picture which is hanging in my room. Sorry its in black and white, theres nothing i can do about that. So, Enjoy!
Click to make much bigger. Can anyone tell me what plane is refueling it? I forgot to ask him this.
That is a B-58 “Hustler” (left) and a Beoing KC-135 (right). Monogram made one of the first kits of the B-58, and you can still find re-issues of it. There may be others that I’m not aware of, but I’m sure someone on here will set you straight.
Go on E-Bay and do a search for “B-58”… or “KC-135” (if that’s the one you’re referring to) Although if it was a Top Secret assignment, I’d guess the plane you’re talking about is the Hustler.
Great picture, thanks!
Take care,
Frank
That would be a KC-135 Strato Tanker my friend. made from the beoing 707(??).
Thanks, I was wonderin what plane it was. i will look for model my next visit to LHS.
You didn’t say what scale you prefer but Italeri makes a pretty nice kit in 1/72 scale. In fact they’ve got a TB-58 kit as well.
Look for Revell Kit # 04337 1/48th Convair B-58 Hustler. It can be readily found in most hobby shops now. Cost is about $25 US.
Academy makes a 1/144 B-58 if you’re pressed for space on your shelf. The kit got a pretty decent review in FSM sometime in the last 18 months I think.
Italeri make a very nice '58 while Heller do a '72nd KC135.
Your best bet for both is either Hannants or Kingkit .
The anker looks like a “short tail” KC-135, which might make it an A or B model. THe B-58, judging from the tail markings, is one of the first four built not counting the original, so it would be 55-661, -662, -663 or -664. Could you look closer at the base of the fin and try to read off the number?
I know Italeri makes a 1/72 scale Hustler
The B-58 is one of the three or four all-time favorite planes. Along with its little brother, the F-106. I built my first B-58 at about the age of eight, right after I saw one fly right over my head at about 500 feet in my little home town schoolyard in the mid-60s. I went out and got that old Monogram kit with a button on top where that round, flat antenna is behind the weapons officer’s station. The reason for the button was, if you installed the parts and the spring just right, you pushed the button and the pilot would eject. There was also a Thud kit with that feature, and an A-5 that not only ejected the pilot, but also launched something that looked like a torpedo out its unique rearward firing bombay. Of course, the real bomb they used in that utterly failed “innovation,” was two fuel tanks sandwiched between a nuclear device, and all three of them looked more like oil drums than a torpedo. But it was a secret then, so Monogram had to guess. Or Auroria, or whoever made that kit. That failure aside, I still think the A-5 is yet another drop-dead gorgeous airplane, and faster than a turpentined cat, as the hillbillies say.
Oh, and Jeff: The KC-135, strictly speaking, was not developed from the Dash 80, or rather, the first incarnation of that airplane. In fact, the Boeing 707 civil transport was developed from the military plane, and in fact, I recently read that widespread jet air service in this country was delayed a couple of years so Boeing could meet the military’s then-desperate Cold War needs for the tanker. It was needed because the jet fighters and bombers just got too fast to keep using prop-driven tankers. Many accidents began to occur as a result. In fact, debris from a B-47 fell on my hometown as it crashed on the outskirts of the tiny town, the result of a tanking accident with a KC-97.
TOM
Wow, your uncle must be an Aeroholic or even worse an Aero addict.
Very cool.
I remember building a B-58 when I was around 8 years old. Thought it was the coolest plane I’d ever seen. Don’t remember who made it, and it was probably box scale (seemed hugh at the time), but I remember it was molded in white. Ran it over to my friends house, we spread it out on the kitchen floor and slapped that baby together in about 10 minutes. Glue all over the place, drooping wings, squishy landing gear and all. Probably poured a bottle of silver paint on and spread it out with a brush.
aaaaahhhhh, that was back in the day…