Convair B-58 Hustler

[No.1]

This will be something big and shiny

[Sall]

Really big!!

[Nico Braas]

In fact B-58 was a medium bomber and it was also medium-sized when compared with a B-36 or
B-52 heavy bomber! One of the forthcoming 'Warplane' series will be on this very interesting type!
Publication is expected later this year.

[No.1]

Well my friend... when you make 1/48 kit and try to put is it show case, you realize it is big It is big for me in different reason, first time I have created files out of standard sizes offer in Photoshop, this time I make 1000 mm wide canvas and this one will be big poster. Also it contain more hidden layers so there will be container too

[Second Air Force]

One thing about the B-58 that really impressed me on first walking up to one was how TALL it sits on the gear to keep the centerline pods from hitting the ground! The engineers that designed the landing gear had a real task to fit everything into the gear wells.

[Nico Braas]

Their solution was brilliant: combine the long wheel struts with small diameter wheels and it will even fit into the wing!
Photo will be published in book!

[No.1]

That was in general unpleasant solution for designers. Long landing gear are more sensitive to crash and also they have weight penalty. Other problem is weight distribution during retracting actions and this could cause balance problems. Final problem is the more space need to mount it on airplane and this mean braking of frame structure with demand to reinforce area with additional framing and this again mean weight penalty. That was experienced with Kyushu Shiden with mid wing and long landing gear, due to the many problems, it was redesigned into low wing just to reduce size of landing gear.

[Second Air Force]

The B-58's small main wheels were ingenious, but they did cause other issues. I don't have the material at hand, but I have some manual excerpts that speak of only being able to taxi a certain distance at a given speed to keep the tires from overheating and melting their thermal fuses. All in all though, a brilliant compromise!

[No.1]

They did not use any special material for wheels?

[Nico Braas]

Yes! Wheel tires were strengthened with metal and had a very high pressure.
Operational life must have been low. For the book we have a photo showing the B-58 landing with tires almost on fire and with lots of black smoke!

[No.1]

That was regular problem in that time for rubber, I read somewhere that Me 262 rubber could be used for just four take on/off operations.

[No.1]

Update on panels and next to go will rivets and shadows

[Second Air Force]

In addition, the main gear wheels were dangerous after landings or long taxi-time. Ground crew were actually killed when a wheel "exploded" and fragments hit the personnel.

[No.1]

Must say that this subject open very interesting info about type I go back now to work, new update coming soon

[No.1]

Little progress