ATLANTIS #H252 -- 1/93 SCALE AIRCRAFT MODEL REQUIRES ASSEMBLY WITH MODEL GLUE AND PAINT (NOT INCLUDED) -- 67 INJECTION-MOLDED STYRENE PARTS -- MSRP $21.99 -- RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 14 AND UP -- ASSEMBLED MODEL 11.5" IN LENGTH, 7.5" WINGSPAN

BY BILL ENGAR

​Atlantis Models has released a classic B-58 Hustler!  This was originally engineered by Revell as one of their early aircraft models.  A handful of B-58 models were released in the late 1950’s by the major model kit companies of the day and each has its vintage charms.  This one is my personal favorite.  With this kit, Revell caught a perfect balance of accuracy, features and details.  Such attributes with many of their early kits  propelled them to legendary status with modelers.

Atlantis uses awesome vintage artwork for its 2024 release of the 1/93 B-58!

The kit’s engineering was relatively even-handed for the period.  It has a modest number of small, raised rivets.  There is a combination of raised and engraved panel lines.  Many of the early aircraft kits had raised lettering decal guides to assist younger modelers and this kit has these.  However, they’re not extremely prominent and shouldn’t be too visible if the modeler aligns the decals with the markings as intended.  The super-picky contest modeler might be able to scrape them down with a curved (#10) X-Acto blade.

We were amazed at how many parts fit into the kit box!  We verified 67 parts molded in silver and clear plastic.

The landing gear is fixed (you won’t be able to deploy it and stow it like some other kits of the period).  Wheels roll and canopies open and close if you want.  So there are some minor “action features.”  But by and large, Revell chose to go the accuracy route over movable parts when it came to engineering this kit.

The kit has a combination of recessed and raised panel line detail.

The raised details and decal-locator markings aren't too heavily rendered. Molding also appeared to be in good condition; note the polished sheen on this wing top!

There are three crew figures.  Each is distinctly different, contrasted to some B-58 kits that have a set of identical triplets.  These figures can be glued into their simple seats.  There are no internal bulkheads or instrument panels but that won’t stop the enterprising scratch-builder from adding them using bits of styrene sheet.

Decals include original artwork.

There will be a little flash to clean up on the clear parts.

The model looks more like a B-58 compared to some of the kit’s competitors back in the day.  In particular, the thin wing of the B-58 was exquisitely rendered by Revell in four components.  Perhaps the most egregious offender when it comes to accuracy is the weapons/fuel pod.  This was part of the kit design using materials supplied to Revell by Convair during the B-58's development.  The pod as-flown didn't have fins in the front and middle as depicted on the kit.

The cockpit is basic but the figures are each unique.

Landing struts are realistically thin.  They have a little flash that will benefit from some cleanup.

Cockpit hatches have a little flash as well.  At top right is a fin to the fuel-weapons pod.

This is a vintage 1950's kit with some flash that will need to be cleaned up with a hobby knife.  Parts will benefit from test-fitting during assembly.  There are a few sink marks.  Sandpaper and modeling filler putty will be helpful here.  Some experience completing similar kits will definitely be helpful.  An intermediate modeler should be well-equipped to enjoy building this model.

The instruction sheet is printed on a high-quality clay-coated paper.  It's 8-1/2X11" (approximately A4) and uses vintage artwork.

This is vintage Revell reference material used in kit development.

Atlantis included this view of a built model on the back of the box.  

Revell's early kits were very popular.  By the time the B-58 was released, Revell had developed a good relationship with the various aircraft manufacturers and they were cooperative providing drawings and technical information that helped Revell build a reputation for producing accurate models.

The rear wing bottom fit will be improved by thinning the plastic near the tips and sanding the edges flat.

Test-fit the fuselage halves before gluing.  The pod half on the left needs a little trimming for the best fit.

We did some test-fitting.  The wing bottom has two parts.  Sand mating surfaces flat so these components fit together without gaps. The wing bottom needs to be sanded thinner, particularly towards the rear corners.  Alternate sanding and test-fitting until the thickness of the wing bottom butts up perfectly against the rear flaperons.  The fuselage halves have the fin molded fully in the right side.  The pod half on the left side needs some slight trimming so it will fit against the tail without creating gaps where the fuselage halves meet.  The cockpit piece fit was tricky; some adjustment of the inner pins and tabs may help.

The side of the box has information about the model and a list of paint colors.

The model's low price provides the more advanced modeler with the opportunity to build other variants of the B-58 such as the unbuilt concept versions and the unusual camouflaged version.  This kit is a great addition to the other classic Revell bomber aircraft that have already been released by Atlantis Models.  The 2Modeler.com guys give Atlantis' B-58 Hustler four enthusiastic thumbs up!  Intermediate modelers and collectors  will enjoy this kit!

SPECIAL THANKS TO ATLANTIS MODELS FOR PROVIDING THIS KIT FOR US TO REVIEW AND ENJOY!

BONUS FEATURES

THE B-58

Convair was a division of General Dynamics when it designed and built the Mach-2 B-58 Hustler for the USAF's Strategic Air Command.  It was the first bomber aircraft capable of Mach-2 flight.  The design was based around a delta-wing with aerodynamic characteristics similar to Convair's own F-102.

The world's fastest bomber aircraft came on the heels of the world's biggest; during the development of the B-58, Convair's huge B-36 was (and to date remains) the world's largest bomber aircraft.  Atlantis Models makes a very nice kit of the B-36. 

While fast, the B-58 was a relatively compact aircraft.  The plane could not have flown at Mach-2 without the fuselage "pinch" behind the crew stations.  This was known as the "area rule" concept and supersonic airflow in this region would have acted like glue without reducing its cross section.  Staggering the engines fore and aft was also required; this is why the inboard engines were placed far forward on long pylons compared to the outboard engines placed at the rear of the wing on minimal mounts.

Note the finned weapons pod on this B-58 mockup.  It is likely the basis for the pod included in the Atlantis kit.  The actual B-58 had several pod configurations.  Even though this one never flew, it's very cool and it's how I'll depict my Atlantis B-58!

The necessary wasp-waist "pinch" really removed the capability for an internal weapons bay.  An extremely thin wing also made it difficult to hold much fuel, a mandatory requirement for the thirsty turbojet engines of the period.  The solution was a droppable pod containing ordnance, in this case a nuclear weapon, and fuel needed to approach the target.  As the B-58 neared the target, it would use up the fuel in the pod, release the entire weapon/fuel pod, and depart the target area on internal fuel.  The B-58 did have a refueling receptacle in its nose so it could refuel in-flight outside of hostile airspace.

A contemporary photo shows the B-58 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  The white haze around the window frames was degradation of the laminated transparencies from years of sun-damage while on display outside.

A B-58 prototype shows pristine cockpit transparencies.  Early B-58's did not have the crew escape-pod system; they used simple ejection seats similar to any other high-performance fighter of the day.

Fitz Fulton was a famous test pilot who provided crucial test data on the B-58's performance during its development.  While the B-58 was known for its many speed records, in 1962, Fulton achieved an altitude record of over 85,000 feet while carrying a payload equivalent of over half a full bomb-load.

The B-58 was operational between 1960 and 1970.  It evolved during its development and service.  Pilot safety became a serious concern as the aircraft developed an unfortunately high accident rate.  An escape capsule-system was created to protect the crew in the event of a high-mach egress.  Early B-58's, such as that depicted in the Atlantis Models kit, did not have this ejection capsule system.  Early concept drawings of the B-58 indicate that it was intended to have a transparent window above the two rear crew positions.  Revell's kit depicts this.  The design was changed by the time the prototypes were built.  The entire top hatch was skinned over although an paneled opening can be seen in the underside of the hatches.

The B-58's thin wing created challenges when it came to landing gear.  Wheel and tire diameter was limited to a small size to fit a very shallow space.  To support the aircraft's weight, the number of tires on the main bogeys had to be doubled to eight.  Tire pressure had to be much higher than standard values as well.  Landing gear had to be very tall to provide clearance for the weapon/fuel pod.

The B-58 had a rearward-facing M-61 Vulcan cannon with 1200 rounds of 20mm ammunition as a defensive measure.  The DSO (Defensive Systems Operator) could lock onto a pursuing interceptor via a radar targeting system which was capable of aiming the gun at the target while compensating for its range and heading.

Another view of the NMUSAF's B-58.  The pod on this aircraft was restored with a silver-painted finish.  Operational aircraft had a natural-metal finish.

The B-58 was expensive to build and maintain.  Improvements in Soviet antiaircraft missile technology made the plane vulnerable to interception even at speeds of Mach-2.  The best tactic to counteract this was a low-level terrain-following flight profile.  With its delta wing, the B-58 was not well suited for this.  After a relatively short service life, the B-58 was retired.  A potential successor was the B-70, a large, Mach-3 bomber.  Two XB-70's were built and tested.  However, new solid-fueled ICBM's rendered a high speed, high altitude bomber aircraft obsolete by the mid-1960's.  The mission of the B-58 was eventually replaced by the FB-111 and B-1.

BUILD WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

The B-58 was a revolutionary design in many ways.  During the B-58's development, its design evolved so the plane could meet the requirements of its planned mission.  Different engine types and engine configurations were considered.  One version that made it to the full-size mockup stage was a twin-engine nacelle.  In the end, the best solution for Mach-2 flight was to stagger the inboard and outboard engines by putting the inboard units on long pylons that extended the engines nearly beyond the leading edge of the wing.  The outboard engines sat close to the wing on minimal mounts.  Arranging the engines this way provided better supersonic airflow according to the area-rule principle that had been discovered not too many years prior to the B-58 project.

Pushing the inboard engines further forward and placing the outboard engines close to the wingtips provided better aerodynamics, allowing the weapons/fuel pod to be moved further rearward than on this full-sized mockup study.

With minimal design changes, the B-58 could have been made into a Mach-2 executive transport.  It would have been a cramped ride, but five passengers could have ridden inside a redesigned belly tank.

Atlantis' B-58 is very economically priced and the more advanced modeler could consider purchasing some extra kits to try some interesting conversions.  In addition to the twin-engine nacelle version, there were a few interesting passenger versions that were considered for the B-58.  One of the more unusual involved converting an ordnance/fuel pod into a passenger module.  Inside a 60-inch diameter space, five seats in a single aisle with a narrow walkway to one side would make for a rather cramped Mach-2 ride.  It would appear that few changes would be needed for the B-58 (the pod's drop-mechanism would have to be deleted or disabled for obvious reasons).  This design could easily have been operational by the mid-1960's.  The Concorde could carry many more passengers in greater comfort but it didn't begin revenue flights until 1976.

GlobalSecurity.org has these drawings of some interesting B-58 variants that were never built.

Another GlobalSecurity.org drawing shows a Tactical Air Command B-58E in an interesting camouflaged scheme that evokes the Vietnam-era.

Several larger, faster variants of the B-58 were proposed.  Larger airframes and more powerful engines would have increased the performance of the B-58 weapons system.  Engines from the SR-71 could have pushed a modified B-58 fuselage to nearly Mach 3, nearly as fast as the XB-70.  These variants were never built, of course, but you could certainly create your own "what if" version by modifying an Atlantis kit.  A popular modification that won't require any changes to the kit is finishing a B-58 in a Southeast Asia camouflage scheme.  The U.S. Air Force actually created guidelines for a B-58 in SEA colors but the scheme was never applied to an actual aircraft.

BOEING VS CONVAIR

BIGGER AND FASTER

Convair was a company of superlatives; they debuted the world's largest bomber, followed by the world's fastest.  Boeing, however, used a more holistic approach when it came to its bomber design.  Convair was known as a producer of hot jet fighters; its F-106 was considered the ultimate interceptor when it debuted at nearly the same time as the B-58.  In many ways, the B-58 is an enlarged F-106.  

In the 1950's, Convair tried to do everything bigger and faster than competing Boeing.  The B-36 was an extension of WWII technology; it could fly more ordnance further than the Boeing B-29.  The original purpose for its existence was as a hedge against losing Great Britain as a base from which to fight Nazi Germany.  After WWII, it was adapted somewhat for the then-new Cold War.

The Convair B-58 was much faster than Boeing's B-47 but it had a price to match its speed.  116 B-58's were built compared to 2042 Boeing B-47's.

​Boeing's B-47 looked like science fiction when it was introduced as the first swept-wing bomber. Boeing's B-52 was pretty much an evolution of this concept and it had versatility built-in.  It was able to successfully transition from a high-altitude mission to a low-altitude terrain-hugging attack profile.  It was also easily adaptable to deploy standoff cruise missiles and was even capable of flying anti-ship missions with a complement of Harpoon missiles.

Revolutionary when first introduced, the B-47 was still a subsonic design.  While well over 2000 were built, the B-47 turned out to be the basis for a much longer-lived design.  And the swept wing with podded engines became the new standard for many thousands of airliners that followed.

The B-52 became operational in 1955, several years before the B-58.  Designed as a strategic nuclear bomber, it was later adapted very successfully as a conventional "bomb truck."  It has outlived the B-58 by over half a century.  Upgrades have assured that it will still be operational at least three-quarters of a century after first entering service and likely well beyond.

As it was developed, probably nobody could foresee that the subsonic B-52 would be in service for well over half a century.  Boeing was not a producer of fighter aircraft and it did not have fighter technology to draw from to develop its large bombers.  Instead, it used technology from its bomber programs to advance its civil transports in the form of the Dash-80 technology demonstrator.  This aircraft spawned two highly successful programs in the form of the civil 707 airliner and military KC-135 refueling aircraft.

 Convair's 990 could arrive at its destinations a few minutes earlier than the competing 707 on a given route.  But the 990 couldn't carry as many passengers and it wasn't as efficient as the 707.  After the two types entered service, the cost of fuel rose to the point where the Convair 990 was uneconomical for major airlines. 

Convair had some success with a handful of civilian prop-liners and designed its 880 and 990 jetliners to compete with Boeing's.  The sleek Convair 990 was the fastest airliner of its day and used a modified version of the B-58's engines.  However, airlines and airline passengers preferred economy over speed and economic conditions favored sales of Boeing jetliners in preference to Convair's.

BOEING VS CONVAIR EPISODE 1:  THE PREQUEL

During early WWII, Convair was known as Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.  When they merged in 1943, they became Consolidated-Vultee.  Boeing and Consolidated (Convair) competed for WWII bomber contracts.  Consolidated's B-24 was the primary competitor to Boeing's B-17.  The B-24 was the newer aircraft.  It innovated tricycle landing gear, a configuration nearly ubiquitous to this day for large aircraft.  Bomb loads were comparable but the B-24 was indeed faster than the B-17 thanks to its improved aerodynamics (the advanced Davis wing).  The B-17 gained a reputation for absorbing more punishment than the B-24.  B-17 crews appreciated the higher probability that their aircraft would return them safely after a mission.  Even though the Boeing was favored by crews, planners bought more Consolidated B-24's; over 5000 more in fact!  

A contemporary photos shows two restored warbirds, Boeing's B-17 and Consolidated's B-24.

Boeing's B-29 was a high-stakes program.  A large, long-range bomber was seen as crucial to traverse lengthy Pacific Ocean distances to bomb strategic targets.  Many problems were encountered during its development and planners weren't sure if it would work.

Consolidated's B-32 program was initiated as a hedge against the possibility that the B-29 program might fail.  Like the B-29, the B-32 employed a pressurized fuselage.  Many aspects of the B-24 were applied including the Davis wing.  Perhaps its most distinctive feature was its tall tail, a design which was applied to the U.S. Navy's PB4Y-2 Privateer, a derivative of the B-24. 

Boeing and Consolidated (Convair) went head-to-head later in the war, this time with the B-29 and B-32.  A large, long-range heavy aircraft was seen as crucial for Pacific Theater bombing missions and the B-29 was designed with many modern features including a pressurized fuselage and tricycle landing gear  improved upon from the B-24.  Planners weren't sure if the B-29's many new features would be ready in time.  In 1940, while the nearly 2-year-old B-29 program was experiencing difficulties, the U.S. Government contracted with Consolidated to provide a similar aircraft.  Interestingly, one of the riskiest aspects of the B-29 was its Wright Duplex Cyclone engines, which were shared with the B-32!  In the end, the Boeing B-29 was successfully deployed.  Nearly 4000 were built.  The B-32 showed up just a few months before WWII ended.  The B-29 program continued and evolved into the B-50 and C-97/KC-97.  Just 118 Consolidated B-32's were built and the program was terminated less than a month after WWII ended.

Build your own Boeing vs Convair competition!  Atlantis Models has kits of the B-24, B-36, Convair 990, B-29, B-52, and 707.  The kits are all in desktop Atlantis Scale so they'll make an excellent display together!

THE EARLY B-58 KITS

The Mach-2 B-58 generated a lot of excitement among a young and growing modeling community in the mid-1950's.  We've pulled up some BoxArtDen images.  BoxArtDen is like going back in time to visit an old hobby shop!  Check out their website if you haven't already. 

​In 1956, Comet Models came out with an early, if not the first, plastic model of the B-58.  This was a small kit scaled at 1/175.  Comet kits typically didn't have landing gear and were generally very simple models.  Aurora Models later purchased this tooling and re-released this kit.

Comet had the first injection-molded B-58 in 1956.  It was fairly small, measuring less than 7" long in 1/175-scale.

Atlantis Models uses the original 1957 Revell artwork for its re-release of the 1/93 B-58 Hustler.  This is our favorite of the early B-58 kits!

In 1958, Aurora tooled its own B-58.  Many of Aurora's aircraft kits were simplified for younger modelers.  The kit box stated that it was 5/32" scale, which is a nice way of saying 1/76.  Also in 1958, Monogram Models released a B-58.  This was a smaller kit at 1/121-scale.  Its most notable feature was a pushbutton that would release the weapons pod!  This kit had a cockpit arrangement similar to the Revell kit; you could lift hatches to see the included crew figures.  These figures weren't quite as nicely detailed as those in the Revell kit.

1960's box art for Revell's 1/93 B-58.

1970's Monogram box artwork included a photograph of the finished model.

Each of the early B-58 kits had a unique personality.  Lindberg Models waited until 1967 to release its first B-58, but it was loaded with operating features.  It had movable flight surfaces and you could stow or deploy the landing gear.  You could open up the engine nacelles to see nicely detailed (for the time) J-79 engines.  Many of the early Lindberg kits were 1/64, a little bigger than their 1/72 competitors.  Lindberg scaled this kit down to half-size, 1/128.  For just fifty cents and a boxtop from Post Raisin Bran or Sugar Crisp, you could get your own B-58 model!  Check out this fun YouTube video of the vintage commercial.  It provides a pretty good look at the model.  "Don't wait to get your B-58!"

Original artwork for Lindberg's B-58.  Note that it depicts the aircraft without the pod!

A later boxing of the 1/128 Lindberg B-58.

The last previous release of Revell's B-58 was 1987.  We love Stu Shepherd's artwork!

In the mid-1960's, Revell reminded us that "Revell models are FUN!"  Revell's B-58 has also been seen in a Heller box.