Mark Deliduka

Thanks Gil! Yeah, I had to join the "dark side". They have cookies! Ed,l I simply forgot to remove the masking from the windows. I was so thrilled to have finished this that I just overlooked it until someone on another Forums pointed it out. I have new pics taken of Annie without the masking; I need to get them posted soon. Gil, good one! LOL!

Thanks Chris! It feel great finally getting these done! Thanks Joseph! I appreciate that very much! I have one room of a two-bedroom condo with shelves along two walls that extend from two feet above the floor to one foot below the ceiling. Most all the 680 armor models are on those shelves along with my 400+ aircraft, 380+ ships and some other assorted models. The only ones not on the shelves are two armored trains and Dora because I have no room. Someday; when I get more boxes removed; I'll take a new pic of my Hobby Room. Thanks again for the great replies guys! Stay tuned for more.

I agree about knowing the base kit. I can see however that space is a bit at a premium. Still, I think it would be nice for someone to look into this possibility.

Welcome Kevin! I'm a member of IPMS Orange County here in the greater LA area. Would love to see you come to a meeting. We have a number of excellent modelers who would be a great help for your projects; including one guy who lights up his models extremely well. I would love to come help build a few things for you.

There are a number of pictures on the IPMS Orange County website showing all the winners. I think they are still getting all the pics together of the overall show. The slideshow at the top shows pics from Orangecon: http://ipmsoc.org

Nice Bob! But are they resin? I think I'll wait for plastic myself. The cost will be lower, for one; and I won't stab myself so many times for another. Thanks for the great links Bob, That gives one hope!

Today I finished up seven models. These are the two ships I was able to launch from the Maddog Manufacturing shipyards; the first ones in years! First off, this is the old Minicraft Spruance class destroyer that I got from my IPMS club's Distressed Kit Auction some time back. It was "severely started" as we like to say; the deck decals had even been applied! Anyway, I went to work ion this and got it finished up today, christening it the USS Caron. Here it is ready for the shelf: Right after this one left the slipways, I launched my USS Virginia. This; by the way, is another Modeler's New Years Resolution completed! The USS Virginia is now on her shakedown cruise with the USS Caron: These are two of the five models I completed today. The rest can be found in the Armor Forums. Feel free to check them out. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

This brings me up to 680 completed armor models now. Let me start with a couple artillery pieces for my Italian and Russian Armies. This first gun is a rather toy-like re-pop from Water 1815 done by Italeri for wargame armies. I got it because th4e figures looked good ion the kit and this is the only way I was going to get a heavy gun in 1/72 scale for my Italian Army. Here it is completed and ready for delivery: I'll finish the troops up later, but this gun at least is completed. Next, My Russian Army took delivery of a couple pieces. First was this BS-3 anti-tank gun from ACE. I had lost this model some months back and even questioned whether I had actually started it at all. Then I found it after my extensive Hobby Room Cleanup. Here it is all completed: The second thing my Russian Army got was this T-90 tank with the welded turret. This model is from Modelcollect and has a metal hull. It went together like a dream. I'm glad to have this in my collection: Next, my US Marines received this LAV-25. This was a Trumpeter kit that I got from my IPMS club's Distressed Kit Auction. It was "severely started" as we like to say; a pic of the contents of the box can be seen in my Maddog Manufacturing Thread. This was finished completely without instructions as they were missing in the kit when I got it: I noticed I had a floating wheel back there. That got fixed already. Finally, my US Army took delivery of my M-65 Atomic Annie. This is the Dragon Black Label kit and I've been working on this for awhile. This has been one of my Holy Grails and now I have it in my collection: These are five of the seven models I completed this week. The other two can be found in the Ships Forums, so feel free to go check them out as well. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

Ah the memories! Thanks again Gil for that great model! I am really loving this!

Welcome Harry! I've been at the workbench quite a bit myself lately, as you can see in my Maddog Manufacturing Thread under "Photos-On the Bench". If you're there too, you're going to fit right in here! Welcome aboard once again!

Hey Bob, I gotta keep you guys on your toes after all! LOL! Besides, they don't make a Monkeemobile in 1/72 scale! At least that got someone to post here; I think I've overwhelmed everyone into speechlessness. Thanks for posting Bob! Now on to today's update.... Today was finishing day and making more progress day. I started out with trying to get everything done that was so close to the finish line already. That meant, for starters; my ships were getting decals. The Spru-can was first. I got the remainder of her decals on the hull: Here she is sporting her new name: Next I did the same for the USS Virginia: Here's a better shot from above showing all the decals on the deck: Gee, gotta fix my white balance.... Moving on, I shot some yellow on the little Czech plane. Now I need to find some decals for this little bird: I also shot the Alclad on my Mustang. For once, it went on like it's supposed to the first time: Later I masked off the nose to paint on the black anti glare panel. For some reason, my black just doesn't want to spray right no matter how much I thin it down or adjust the air pressure: I smoothed it out a little with some thinner. I'll be able to buff this smooth more easily now: Next I worked on some armor as well. The interior of my Diamond T truck is now done; I can assemble the rest of this now: Since I was decaling my ships, I figured, let's get the armor done too. First up, my T-90 tank: Later, I gave it a dark brown wash overall, and a black wash on the engine deck meshes; then I shot the dullcoat over it: I noticed that frosting on the tank after awhile, so I think some of the wash in the deepest crevices was still wet. I'd thought I'd given it enough time to dry, but apparently not. That was fixed by shooting another dullcoat over this; all the frosting went away. Moving on, I also decaled my LAV-25. This one had an interesting 'extra' on the decal sheet so I added it to this model to make it "Bertha". I had to guess where to put the decals as I had no instruction sheet to follow. I did use one of my previously finished LAV's as a guide: This one then got a dullcoat as well: I also washed and dullcoated my two artillery pieces while I was at it: It doesn't really show up well in these pics, if at all. Finally, there was one more armor model that I applied decals to. First though, I had to go on the AMPS Review site to get the decal guide that my friend Robert put in the review he did: Granted, some of the wrong decals were applied, but they are all in the correct places! Here's the first decals on the gun carriage itself: Then I applied the decals to the two carriers. You'll note that the bumper decals are far too long. I think Dragon did that on purpose: I added Solvaset to these and let them set for a it, then I went back and trimmed the bumper decals. First though, I fixed the pivot plate under the gun itself: Now you can see the bumper decals after I trimmed them off: Just for fun, I put this whole beast together and shot a pic: Okay, after all that was done, I went ahead and finished several of these all up. Finally I can post some finished models!!! You can see the finished models in the ships and armor pages of these boards. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Amen to that Clutch! I have had that happen several times myself.

Thanks for that info Mark! I had thought that was discontinued a long time ago since I could never find one. I'll have to look into getting about three or four of these.

Beautiful shine man! I'm trying desperately to get that same kind of shine to no effect. I suck at that. You truly are a master at the smooth, shiny finish. I love the subtle flames on that as well! You rock!

Continued from above.... Moving on to my armor now, I had to fix a ding on the barrel of my Russian BS-3 gun. I didn't get any pics of that since it went so fast after the Mr. Surfacer dried. I did get pics of the fix I did to the rotating platform on Annie. First I scraped and sanded the top to remove the crinkled paint; then I took my Exacto blade and scraped out the messed up paint in between the ridges along the side: Then I shot the OD over it. I did that when I was shooting the helicopter and C-46: Wow, looks like I still need to do a little cleanup on that thing. The next thing I did work on though was my IBG Diamond T Cargo truck. I had finished up the chassis first, complete with engine: Then I got the front of the cab built along with the cargo bed: They are just sitting on that chassis to get a better pic. The next thing I did was paint the chassis Oily Black: Paint was a little wet still I think... While I still had the OD out, I shot a coat over the Diamond T's fenders on the chassis; and then the cab and cargo bed: Next I should be able to paint the interior details in the cab and then get it assembled. Hopefully tomorrow. Now it was time to get some serious work done.... I started out with the little LAV I was finishing. I pulled out my Silly Putty and placed the masking on it for the second color: Next I pulled out my brown and shot it over the little vehicle: While that was drying, I pulled out my T-90 and started masking off the green with the Silly Putty as well in preparation for the second color: This one got a dark earth color; more tan than brown: The holes in the turret Silly Putty happened because I'd forgotten to take the pic of the tan color first before I started removing the Silly Putty where the black was supposed to go. Once these two were dry; I removed the Silly Putty in the places where the black was supposed to go and then masked off the rest of the tan: I also masked off the brown on the LAV in preparation for shooting the black: I mixed up a little "light black" using some light grey in a jar of flat black and proceeded to shoot it on these two armor models. First the T-90: Then the LAV: Once they both dried, I was able to remove the masking to see how well these came out. First the LAV: Black came out a bit pebbly because for some reason my compressor had turned off and the tank had run down. I hate when that happens! I turned it back on to shoot the T-90. Here's the T-90: Not bad if I do say so myself! The black turned out a little better. Finally, after they had both dried sufficiently, I shot clearcoats on them in preparation for washes and decals: The last thing I did before I ran out of time was to shoot the remaining black paint on the side of the Rescue Launch's hull: Well, that's all for today. I'm hoping tomorrow to get decals on at least three models, if not more; shoot some Alclad on the Mustang, make more progress on the New York, and shoot the interior and roof of the Monkeemobile. If all goes well tomorrow, I might be able to get all that done. So, stay tuned everyone, and remember, comments are welcome. Thanks for looking in on this overly long post.

Well, I got a lot of things to post! I spent the day trying to get several projects moved ahead so I can get them off my workbench sooner and make up for lost time again. I am pleased that I got a bit more done than I had expected or hoped for. Okay, let's get on with this since I have a lot to show here. First off, I clearcoated a few things in preparation for decals. I re-shot the USS Virginia, and Annie; then shot a clear on the Spru-can. I've decided that she'll be christened the USS Caron, even though she's not quite in the proper configuration according to the instructions. Oh well; this was before her refit. I also shot a coat of clear over the Mustang in preparation for the Alclad. I didn't shoot any pics of them as they look the same as before. Once the decals go one and some other weathering is done, I'll have something to shoot. Now on to the things that I can show progress on.... First off, the Monkeemobile I've had on the Shelf of Shame has been there too long. I took the body down and shot another coat of red on it. Still not very smooth.... again: While that sat drying, I went ahead and painted the bottom chassis black: I then checked the instructions and saw that the interior should be done in white, along with the roof. I'm thinking for simplicity's sake, I'm going to shoot it Radome Tan instead. Or maybe a camouflage grey, which is really really light grey, almost white. I'll see which one I have more of. Moving on, I went to work on a couple of my aircraft. First I masked and painted a white stripe on the fuselage of the little Czech plane. I planned on getting that stripe painted yellow today but didn't get around to it: Next I did what I could with the C-46 since I feel like it never gets anywhere no matter how much I work on it! I sanded the seams smooth that I'd filled with Mr. Surfacer the other day: Then I shot a coat of Primer Grey on it again. Looks a lot better now: After that, I shot Primer Grey over the top of it too: You can see how big that monster is on my workbench. Now you know why I'm so eager to get it off my bench! Finally, I masked off the bottom and shot Olive Drab paint on the top. Hopefully everything looks well enough for me to continue on with this plane: After that, since I had the OD out, I shot some on the exterior of my helicopter I had started some time ago: The remainder of this update will be continued on the following post since it won't all fit here on this post...

Thanks Gil! Those assemblies were so small I was afraid to remove them. I thought that would cause me to lose them that much faster. At least now I know where they are.

Well done Nick! Have fun with all that. Take your time and savor every moment of building a masterpiece!

Here's my latest progress I got done so far. I've not had very much time to get to the workbench the last few days, but during the short times I have had; I've managed to get the following done. First off, I shot some Primer Grey on the bottom of my C-46. It looks spot on to Model Master Neutral Grey, so this will be the underside coat. It did reveal a few areas where some additional attention was needed so I added some more Mr. Surfacer to the areas. I'll be sanding these later: You can see where the Mr. Surfacer is added... While that was drying, I sanded and polished a couple other models: the F-51 and the Jet Commando. Since they still look the same, I didn't take pics of them. Next I took a look at the little Russian gun I had painted and I noticed an obvious seam on the top of the breach block. That ain't supposed to be there, so out came the Mr. Surfacer again and I got it all filled and smoothed out. I also adjusted the wheels so they all sit right, and I painted the details on the wheels, breach, gun slide, and targeting sight: Now to re-coat this in clear for the wash, then dullcoat and drybrush/weathering and this will be done. Speaking of guns; I found this little Italian gun that I'd started some time back. It's a cheap little snap-together wargame gun with crew that I got for my Italian Army. It is in soft plastic and has some fairly soft detail, but this isn't expected to go to any contests or anything. Anyway, it was primered white when I found it so I applied some paint to this to move it along: After all that, I felt it was time to get back to the Shipyards. I pulled down this RAF rescue launch that had been sitting for awhile and decided it was time to get it moving again. I finished adding a few more deck detail parts and then masked the windows for this. It is now ready for painting: Next I sanded the sides of the Spru-can I'm doing. Now I have to repaint some as I sanded down to the base plastic. I went ahead and masked and painted the lower hull anyway. Now it's got the red hull underneath and is that much closer to decals: Yes, some of the masts and antenna bits broke off again. I'm leaving them off until the end so that I don't have to keep re-gluing them into place. Finally, I was having so much fun in the Shipyards, I decided to open another slip and start a model that a friend on another Forums had just started. Now the two of us are doing a mini-group build over there building this model. It's the Dragon 1/700 scale USS New York and I started with the Rolling Airframe missile launchers: They each had four parts each and they were tiny! That's why I left the bases on the sprue until I need them. Moving along, I added the small parts to the main octagonal tower: Next, the instructions told me to add all the small parts on the foredeck before gluing the whole assembly to the main hull. I figured that these small parts would be difficult enough putting on the deck part, and then might break off when I attach it to the main hull. I decided to reverse the process; I added the fordeck part to the main hull first: Then I added all the tiny parts. It made this step so much easier: By this time I'd run out of time again so just for fun I quickly dry-fit the upper superstructure and forward tower to the main hull to get an overall shot of what this will look like: That's gonna be one impressive ship! I just hope I can do it justice. That's all I have for now. Stay tuned, I hope to have more done soon. Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

I got a couple things at my IPMS meeting this past Friday. Two were gifts, one was a purchase. This is my purchase. I got it for $5.00: This was the first of my gifts; I got it from the guy I bought the cutting mat from. It's a DVD set of the First Gulf War: I'm looking forward to watching that! Last was a gift from my good friend Joe St. Pierre. He was an F-4U pilot in WWII with four confirmed kills. He's not an armor builder, but when he got this he thought of me. He even signed it in the back: Now if someone would just come out with these in 1/72 scale injection kit I'd be able too use this to really trick them out! That's all I got for now. Time to go break in the cutting mat....

Very nicely done! I envy you getting such a smooth surface on your model.

Sweet! My father navigated AC-130's in the Nam. He was stationed at Ubon, Thailand. He had 115 missions shooting up trucks on the Ho Chi Min Trail.

Thanks Ed! I hadn't known about this pic yet since my Journal has yet to arrive but I do appreciate it. It was a bit tough getting it to Ohio. but it survived the trip quite well. Thank goodness Dragon made the box big enough for the whole thing to fit back in when the model is broken down into stages. Thanks again. That Saturn V has already taken two Third Place awards in local contests.

Looking good Joe! I'm glad you got it here for others to see.

Brian, maybe not dancing monkeys, but we have a couple Mice from a nearby attraction that might stop in to help out.... :D PM me your E-mail address and I'll pass on details later about why there won't be a Nationals in the Los Angeles/Orange County area for quite some years to come...