Mark Deliduka

Greetings everyone. I had a little time to work on some models today, but not enough to finish anything yet. I still figured I'd show some progress pics to keep you all up to date. I'll start with some of my most recent models I started. This first in is my Dragon Sdkfz 251 with the Pak36 mounted on it. I didn't get as much done on it as I wanted, but I was able to get some paint on the roadwheels and in the interior a little: My PST KV I is coming along. I have the basecoat on and a clearcoat for decals and a wash: My two little ACE guns are almost finished. I have them painted and clearcoated for washes. All that's left after that is weathering. My Russian F-22 76mm gun: My 75mm Pak50: This time I added a No. 11 Exacto blade for a size reference so you all can see how small this gun is. My Pattons all have their decals on and a dark wash done. All except for the Marine one. I gave a black wash to the tank, but on the reactive armor I'm going to give it a dark brown wash. I have to get some; that's why I didn't get the reactive armor on my Marine tank washed yet. Here they are, starting with the German one: Next is mt M-60 with Dozer blade: Now my Italian M-60 with reactive armor: And finally, my Marine Corps M-60: That's all my work done on my armor so far. Now here's a couple of my helicopters that I got decals on. This is my Mi-1 Hoplite: I realized when I was putting on the decals that I needed to still paint the underside a light sky blue. I'll do that after the decals dry overnight. Then all I have to do is fix the main rotor, add it to the model and this bird is done! This is my Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight: I was really loving these decals! They went on so well and stayed on! This was actually fun to decal! All that's left on this is a little bit of touchup paint, adding the last few detail parts and placing the rotors on and it'll be finished. Well, I appreciate any and all comments guys. Thanks all for looking in.

Mandie, good to know you more. It's also great to hear of a woman building models too. maybe someday we can meet. Meanwhile, I'd love to see pics of your work. Congrats on the wedding; the family that models together, stays together! LOL! See you around the Forums.

Hey Mike! Glad to meet you and glad to know of another modeler in Southern California. Hopefully I'll meet you at an Orangecon or other contest. See you around the Forums....

Keith, great story! Glad to finally know you better, although I am one who doesn't know Dem Brudders except through their writings. I hope someday you'll be able to come to an Orangecon, but hopefully I'll see you at the 2010 Nats. Or even sooner if you come visit family here; my Military base is open.

Thank you Keith. Just pop me an E-mail or PM next time you're gonna be in town. There's no admission fee to my Military Base. :D ;)

Welcome Alex. Glad to have you here. I also like modern armor even though I build all mine in 1/72 scale. I would love to see pics of your work someday. See you around the Forums.

Hi Brian! Welcome to the Forums and to IPMS USA. I am glad to see another ship builder here and hope to see pics of your work. I love building ships as well. Waqy to go Jack! I believe I have about 90% of the Japanese Navy on my shelves now! Yeah, I know how it is!

Cool. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

I was just going to message you today but then I saw this post. I'm sorry. I couldn't find anything in my spares box. I thought for sure I had something since I'd built some Soviet-made aircraft in different markings of air forces that had removed them. I'd also recommend Dave's suggestion too. It does sounds like it would work much better. Again, I'm sorry I couldn't help.

Thanks Jack and Kieth. Jack, I got 11 more projects working with 8 nearing completion in another day or so. They're coming sir! Kieth, thank you for the compliment. Don't worry, I've been called worse! :D :o I do hope you enjoy the rambling story.

Well, I'm moving right along here. I have six models at the clearcoat and decal stage. Here are the pics showing my latest progress. I'll start with my helicopters. This is my MI-1 Hoplite all ready for clearcoat and decals: All I have to do is fix the main rotor again and add it to this model afterward. Then I'll be able to call this one done. My Ch-46 Sea Knight is also ready for clearcoat and decals: After that, there are a couple of small detail parts to add and this one will be finished as well. Also, the main canopy is still dry fit on. That's why there is a seam there. On my CH-53 I got the basecoat on. Next is the camo pattern: It's coming along a little slower but I expect to have it done almost at the same time as the others. Now on to my armor. With the difficult camo patterns that two of my M-60's needed, I decided to concentrate on them today. Here they are all ready for clearcoat and decals. First is my M-48 for my German Army: The top is only dry fit on. I'll be able to remove it to install the tracks. Now my M-60 Dozer tank. This is with the full camo pattern on it: Next is my Italian M-60 with the reactive armor on it: And finally, my Marine Corps M-60 with reactive armor: Now, I know the Marine Corps tank is not an accurate camo pattern. Nor is the different color on the Italian tank's reactive armor correct. I got the idea for the Marine Corps tank because I have an AAVP7 with sand-colored ERA panels over a three-tone camo pattern already built. Since that looked so cool on the AAVP7, I decided to apply the same color scheme to this tank. It does look pretty cool, even if it ain't accurate. I sure like it this way! Same with the Italian one. I wanted to break up the monotonous one color with something different. Anyway, that's how these bad boys are gonna be finished. Now, while waiting for the different colors on the multi-colored camo patterns to dry, I figured I'd keep busy with a couple of quickie builds. And what's quicker than a 1/72 scale artillery piece? Not much, so I pulled a couple of them out and went to work. By the time I finished all the camo patterns, these two little gems were fully assembled. Here they are. This is my ACE 1/72 scale Russian F-22 76mm Field gun: And this is my ACE 1/72 scale 7.5cm PAK 50 anti-tank gun: By the way, that last little gun is only about 2 inches long or so. Fun stuff!! That's all I was able to get done so far. Maybe this weekend I can get some of these completed. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in and comments are welcome.

Hmmm, I'll have to save the pics and see if I can scratch it in 1/72 scale.

Thanks Mark! I appreciate it very much. I should have some more pics up soon.

Ken, I'm glad to see this. It's great getting to know you better. Someday I do hope to meet you in person. We are certainly close enough.

Thanks Dave! I may go back to doing that since everyone on the LEM calls me 'Maddog Manufacturing'! I got that idea from a guy who does cars and shoots his in progress shoots in a model garage with several figures standing in it as if they were working on the cars. More pics forthcoming. Also, a suggestion: Instead of hitting the "REPLY button on my post, go to the bottom and hit FAST REPLY. That way you won't be adding all the text and pics from my post to your reply. Thanks again for your comment. I do appreciate it and I am always glad to see you reply.

Thanks Gil. When my wife and I were looking for a new place to live, she wanted a two bedroom place. One bedroom for us, and one for my Hobby so that she could close the door and never see it again. That's how I managed to get my own hobby room.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Thanks Matt, good to know you.

Thanks Clare, on both counts. As for pics of my hobby room, here is the most recent ones I took about four or five years ago. They are on my Photobucket account: My Hobby Room These were the best I pould do, and as you can see, I didn't get to dust too many of them before I took these pics. Also, since these were taken I've completed about 250+ models between then and now. I guess it's time to get some more pics. Thanks again!

Well, I'm already slowly working on the Tamiya Enterprise carrier so I'm halfway there kit-wise. All I'd need is a 1/350 scale starship Enterprise.

Hello all. I am the Duke and I'm addicted to plastic models (Hi Duke!) My real name is Mark Deliduka. I am currently self employed as a handyman carpenter/home repair specialist in partnership with another guy from my church. I live in Southern California with my wife of 19 years, no kids. Our 19th anniversary was this past July 14th. Before I started working on my own, I was a restaurant manager for several different chains for about 15 years. I finally got tired of the politics and other unmentionable issues and started out on my own. My mother was the one who got me started in building models. She used to build models when she was a kid. We were living in Newport News Virginia. One day when I was six and annoying the bejesus out of her, she gave me a battleship and two aircraft carriers she had built as a child to play with. Of course I broke them and went and demanded (as only a six-year-old can do!) that she fix them. She told me to fix them myself and so I got some Elmer's and spent hours fixing these models. She was so worried at how quiet I was that she came looking for me. She also realized that this was something that would hold my interest more than anything else so she always encouraged me all my childhood. That's what got me started. What really hooked me was when a new kid moved in down the street from us. We were living in Florida by this time. He had over a hundred models and they were painted! He taught me how to paint, and how to build better models. He was also the one that opened my eyes to the beauty of a collection that is all in one consistent scale. That is why I only build 1/72 scale aircraft and armor (and structures). If I could have built all my ships in one scale that would have been nice too, but as it is, the model companies didn't want to cooperate. I did try to keep some measure of consistency where I could. We even wargamed our collections too, developing our own rule sets. I guess that is how I manged to teach myself how to build so fast. I needed to have some more models for the next wargame! Decades later, I have over 450 models finished and I am living in California where I meet my wife. She likes all my models, until she finds out I'm still building. Later when I make some money building models, she stops bugging me about them. During the next 10 years I build about 400 models more. Then I get a job in a Hobby Store. I'm 38 years old before I even know there are clubs out there for model builders! I had some of my work on display at the hobby shop. One guy who's a member of Orange County IPMS sees it and tells me about the club and suggests I come to a meeting. After a couple months, I finally make it to a meeting. I got a special award on my third night for bringing the most models in one night: 54! After thew first one though, I wanted to sign up right away, but my wife didn't want to put out for membership if I was not going to be going enough times to justify it. I attended a year's worth of meetings as a guest before she finally let me sign up in IPMS Orange County. In IPMS, I've only held one office: Orange County IPMS Contest Director in 2007. As of now in the year 2009, I have successfully completed over 1100 models which I still have in my hobby room. They number about 650+ armor models in 1/72 scale, 360+ aircraft in 1/72 scale, about 50+ helicopters in 1/72 scale, and ships in a range of scales. Most are in 1/700 scale, but some vary from 1/285 (Calypso) to 1/720 scale. I also have two Sci-Fi models built, (and Eagle One transporter and a Babylon 5 space station) as well as four cars and 12 buildings, two bunkers and a Secret Stronghold. All buildings and bunkers and such are in HO or 1/72 scale. Someday, I'll put some of those buildings and such on a base. In addition to all that, I have another 11 models under construction on my work bench. Over the years I've lost a few: 19 to irreparable breakage from moving (my old man was Air Force) and seven to theft. I've built and given away two models, and built four others for commission work. If anyone ever wishes to see my entire collection, my door is always open. (except when the A/C is on! ) I've already rendered all but a few speechless here on the Forums with my link to my Webshots page showing my entire Braille Scale Army in photos broken down by countries. And that is the Duke's story. My apologies for rambling on like this. I didn't mean to bore anyone.

Anyway, on with the parade of progress.... I managed to get some significant progress on eight models, while also sanding and filling on two more. I didn't take pics of the two that I sanded and filled; there really isn't much to see there. Here's the eight models I did get progress on, starting with my Armor. They's all Pattons. This is my German M-48 A2 that I got the main basecoat on. The instruction sheet said to mix some olive green and grey, so I chose something from Humbrol that looked close to what that would look like. Anyway, this is the color I'm going with: It's actually a bit more green than these photos show. I was shooting under fluorescent lights. Next, I got my basecoat on my M-60 Dozer tank: I'm going to do the MERDC camo next before I detail it. The other two M-60 Pattons with the reactive armor now have all their roadwheels installed. Now all I have to do is finish the turrets and they'll be ready for paint: That's my armor for now. Next up are my Helicopters. I only really got some progress on two of the helicopters I'm working on. There was a lot of filling and sanding that still needs to be done to the CH-53. So, I went ahead and worked more on the other two helicopters. First is my Mi-1 Hoplite. It's up on it's wheels, all the detail parts are installed, and it has it's basecoat on: The windows show a lot of glare because I'm still trying to buff out the scratches that happened when I tried to sand the seams on this front canopy. A little more and it should look good enough with a coat of Future on it. On the Sea Knight, I added the last few detail parts and then gave it a basecoat. The instructions said to use an 'engine gray'. Well, I pulled out my engine gray and it was dried up. So, I compared it to all my other grays to see what the closest color match was. It was Polly Scale Grimy Black! So that is what the basecoat on this model is: If this color ain't right, I expect some Marines to set me straight. This bird is going to my Marine Corps. That's all I have done on my helicopters. Okay now, on to my ships. I filled and sanded some seams, and then added a few detail parts to the destroyer. Then started painting everything. After painting everything, I lost one of the yardarms. Two steps forward, one step back. Story of my life: After seeing that come off, I just didn't want to deal with it. I moved on to my Charles de Gaulle. On the Charles de Gaulle, I filled some holes, sanded things down, and then shot a basecoat of gray over the hull to see where I needed to touch up. While that was drying, I finished assembling the island and filled and sanded some more gaps in that. When that was ready, I shot that in gray as well. Here it is with the first coat of gray: Kinda hard to see that it is painted. It looks the same as before in these pics, but I assure you it is painted. The red on the island is from my trying to sand some rough spots smooth with a red sanding stick.... Well, that is about all I got done for now. Time to head out to bed. I'll keep you posted on further progress. Thanks all for looking, comments are welcome.

Thanks everyone for the great comments! These kind of comments keep me motivated to build more. That's partially why I have so many working at once. Actually, I'll go one more than that. Here is my "factory"photo base; a pre-made display by Dragon for one of their prebuilt models. I sometimes use it as a backdrop to showcase some of my in progress armor builds when I get a wild impulse. The 'crew' (except for two) I painted myself. If you look closely, you'll see the motivational posters on the upper tier: Someday I'd like to build me my own larger, more detailed Factory photo base, along with a motorpool base to take pics of my models in. We'll see. Thanks again for the great compliments guys! Edit: All the above models in the factory pics had been finished for more than two years now. If you want to see the finished models let me know. I'll be happy to re-post them.

Thanks guys! I'm hoping to get a few of these finished fairly soon. I got lots to build so I can clear some space in the hobby room!

Well, thanks Mark.... I think :P I'ma just tellin' it like it is! LOL! Hey, I had to start somewhere when I decided to show my Works in Progress.... I'll bet it was an experience attaching a sling load to the -53. I'll try to get her done soon for you. Thanks again for the great comment! :D

And now for my ships. I'll start with a couple of sailing/steamships that I have had on the back burner for awhile as I try to find a few parts that got lost and then get them rigged. Glencoe Models Corsair II: Airfix models Great Western Paddle Steamer: Now for some more modern stuff..... This is my Dragon USS Porter Arleigh Burke class Flight II destroyer: Next, a recently started Trumpeter French battleship Richelieu: This last one is my French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle: And that completes everything that is currently in progress on my workbench Now you all know just what I'm working on. I'll be posting pics of the completed models on their respective Forums. Meanwhile, stay tuned to this place here for further updates on my work. Dennis, how's that for trailblazing?