Mark Deliduka

Nicely done! Thanks for the memories as well. I still have my Saratoga I built as a kid. It needs to go into drydock sometime for a few repairs.

Welcome back Brian! I know what it's like to have to cut back, but I'm glad things have improved enough for you to return. Lets see some of your models now.

Thanks for the compliments guys! Rusty I can't wait to get that Starship Troopers set done! Thanks Gil! I'm not quite back yet; I still need some more straightening out to do in the Hobby Room before I'm fully back at it. At least I'm feeling Human again! As for the designer of theT-90.. He was Russian after all...

I know how you feel. I was having a similar effect on my Saturn V when I tried painting it white. I went with a flat white instead and then clearcoated it afterward to make it a semi-gloss coat. I love Model Master enamel paints for airbrushing too.

My apologies for not posting anything for quite some time, but I've been fighting several illnesses that all hit me one after another; sometimes even running concurrently. Every time I thought I was recovering fine, everything came rushing back to me; beating me down harder than before. After several trips to the Doc and two different antibiotics; I've finally recovered enough to start posting something here for now. Some of this is actually work that I got done before I got sick, but never had the chance to post until now. Once I recovered enough to start building again, I got so fed up with the crap all over my workbench that I went to work cleaning it up. This has been a major effort that is still underway. I'll start with one of the train cars for one of my two Russian armored trains that I started to do before. I got the top and bottom attached and clamped it to dry: You can also see the two turrets for this car that were assembled and sanding a bit to improve the look on them. After it dried, I dry-fit the turrets to see how well they looked: I still have a lot of photo etch to add to this, but first, I taped off the top and added Mr. Surfacer 500 to the joint so I can fill the joint and sand it smooth without losing all the surface detail on the top half of this train car: Next up is another model I got more progress on before I got sick. This is my Russian T-90 with the welded turret. I got the turret assembled and added the main gun: Next I went to work on the upper hull. I added all the extra parts and the side skirts to this. Here you can see it test fit to the lower hull: Later on, I completed the turret, adding all the smoke dischargers and the Schtora fixtures. Here it is all complete except for tracks; ready for paint: In between these other two projects, I spent some 'down time' sanding and smoothing out this C-46 to get it ready for paint. I also had added the horizontal stabilizers on the tail and have been sanding and filling and sanding seams forever to get this ready for paint: Now, after several weeks of trying to clean and organize my Hobby Room, I'm still not quite done enough to do anything there, but an opportunity arose to go to the Hobby Day Hall for some modeling time. So Maddog Manufacturing started up again briefly in a satellite plant to make some progress on a couple models while the main plant is still undergoing renovations. Unfortunately, due to the demands of a comission job I took on some months back; I was only able to get work done on one model before it was time to head home. This is the IBG Diamond T cargo truck that I was able to start at the satellite plant. I got the chassis partly completed along with the engine: After that, I started on the cab, getting the interior done and the main hood on the front: That's about all I will do on that until I can paint the interior. Then I'll move on. As for that commission job? A friend has the Starship Troopers board game that has a ton of miniature Starship Troopers and Bugs (Arachnids for those fans of the movies) that needed to be built and painted. Well, they got built, for the most part: There are still a number of accouterments that need to be added to most of the troopers, but the bugs are done. Now to finish the troopers and get everything painted so I can get paid for this job. That's about all I have to show. I'm still working on the Hobby Room, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post any progress again, but stay tuned. I do hope to be able to resume production soon.

Those are some pretty awesome scores guys. I was only able to afford one purchase; acquired with the help of a friend since I couldn't find it anywhere! Here it is: Tiger Models 1/72 scale M1A2 Abrams SEP TUSK II. They've had this version out for years in 1/35th scale, I finally get it in my Braille Scale: It even came with the free gift of a Mystery Egg Plane. I haven't opened this yet to see which one it is: That's all I got so far. If I can get paid I'll see if I can't pick up some more 'must have' models. Until then, I have to keep working on my hobby Room so I can finally get back to the bench.

That's an idea Neal. However, I'd love to see a 1/72 scale Saturn V launch tower complete with Crawler for the rocket I now have!

Neal, that is excellent advice. I hadn't thought about putting a gloss over a flat coat. I might have to try that next time. Then again, I'm not sure when I'll do another 1/72 scale Saturn V!

Nice scores Gil! Way to go!

Thanks for the great comments guys! Coffee filters! That's brilliant! Time to go shopping again. Pete, I shot flat white because from the rattle can it went on smoother and less opaque. The gloss tended to go on too thin so that I could see the bare plastic underneath (especially at joints) and also tended to run easier. I got a more solid color with the flat with far less coats so that's why I did it that way. I would love to get one of those guns. Maybe when I get paid again, I might make the investment since I do have a few larger projects coming up. (Can anyone say Blackjack Bomber?) Thanks again for the great comments and suggestions. I'm taking copious notes!

This is brilliant work! Way to go! I also like the view of the engine from street view.

Thanks Ken! Yeah, it did kinda stand out at the Nats when they set up those new tables and moved everything. I am thrilled with this model.

Holy crap that is good! I could swear that when you are done that'll start up and run! Way to go! As for Austin, it's a bit far to travel for me since I live in Southern California. I'm still trying to recover from two trips in July/August; one of which was to the IPMS Nationals in Columbus. Good luck to you there though!

I may not have been posting much but I've been following this closely. Very well done on all counts. This is coming along very nicely.

Outstanding! Man that looks so realistic! Way to go!

Very nicely done! That is sitting very well there. Great job on the mufflers and exhaust system. Looking forward to seeing more.

Cool. I'd still like to see what he does if pics are available. Thanks.

They still are, although not so thick as fleas anymore. I still have seven of them within a 35 minute drive from my house.

Cool. I have a Great Western built but not rigged. I'd love to get a great Eastern to build next to it. I do hope your friend makes pics available so I can see his ship when it's done.

Thanks Rob. It shows too as I didn't have too many problems with the wings and engines and other former-Frog parts. It was the fuselage that was incredibly badly molded.

When it comes to worst kit in quality: anything by Maquette. I built two Maquette kits and like Robert Foster said: you build the parts and carve the model out of the resulting block of plastic. The C-75 I built had such massively thick flash on the edges of the fuselage halves that when I mated the two halves together; the spine looked like it was sporting a miniature Himalayan mountain range. I almost felt like I needed a belt sander to sand that down smooth. It is probably my worst built model as well; or ranks in the top five, but at least I now have a C-75 in my collection!

Of course! Why do you think I still ONLY build 1/72 scale?!! :gold-plane: :lol:

My first ever model I built was a 1/48 scale Aurora F-86 Sabre Dog kit. My mom ad I built it on our kitchen table soon after we moved to Florida. I was six and couldn't wait to "fly" it around the house. Naturally I broke it too badly to repair. Soon after we moved into our new house (which was still being built when we moved to Florida) My mom got me a 1/72 scale MPC Profile Series FW-190 D9 since she felt that 1/48 scale was "too complicated" for a child my age. ( I was 7) I still have that model even today: That was also the first model I painted.

I can answer some of this. Monogram made an F7F Tigercat in 1/72 scale; I built it. I'm not sure whether it's still in production, but there are kits still out there. The F86 E I believe is out there too; I just can't remember what company makes it. Possibly Hasegawa or Fujimi. I want to say that Frog or Hawk came out with the P-59 decades ago, but I can't be sure. I don't think anyone came out with a night fighter version of the P-38 in 1/72 scale. I doubt I helped very much, but maybe these suggestions and guesses will give you some lines of research to follow to be certain. I'm sure someone with more knowledge and sources will be along shortly to confirm my info or refute it.

Stunning work! I wish I could make mine look half that good! Well done!