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Maddog Manufacturing 2020 Production Line


Mark Deliduka

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Hello all and welcome to the Grand Re-opening of Maddog Manufacturing in 2020. I had a pretty good end of year which has set me up to make even more progress this year. So come on in and enjoy the tours!

I'll start with a reminder of what I finished the last year with still on the bench:

What_sontheBench_1-1-2020_I.jpg

Today I managed to find some time so I sat down to get some of these moving. This is the results, starting with my aircraft.  

The little Russian glider was still mocking me so I re-sanded down the seam I'd filled again for the fourth time. It still wasn't as smooth as I wanted but I'm tired of dealing with it. I shot another coat of green on this bird:

WIP_Russian_Glider_IX.jpg

Later when it was dry, I went back and shot the second camouflage color on it. I free-handed this paint work with my Sotar 20/20 airbrush:

WIP_Russian_Glider_X.jpg

Moving on, I also decided to shoot the final green color on my Israeli Sufa since it was already masked and ready for it:

WIP_Israeli_F-16I_Sufa_XVII.jpg

After that, I completed the masking so I could shoot the underside of this jet:

WIP_Israeli_F-16I_Sufa_XVIIa.jpg

After shooting the grey, I forgot to take a pic before I masked off the nose and shot the gunship grey on it. So, here's the underside, with the nose still masked off and painted:

WIP_Israeli_F-16I_Sufa_XVIIb.jpg

After all of that was done and dry, I removed all the tape and Silly Putty. I'm gonna need to do some touch ups but I'm happy with where this is now:

WIP_Israeli_F-16I_Sufa_XVIIc.jpg

That's all I got done with my aircraft for now. Let's look at the progress I made on my armor and vehicles.

 


Since I had already masked my BMP-3 Early with Silly Putty when I masked the Sufa, I shot the next color on:

WIP_Russian_BMP_3_Early_VIIIb.jpg

After that dried, I masked that second color and then shot the third one on:

WIP_Russian_BMP_3_Early_VIIIc.jpg

After that was dry enough, I removed everything to see how it looked. I'm happy; there's not too much to touch up on this:

WIP_Russian_BMP_3_Early_VIIId.jpg

WIP_Russian_BMP_3_Early_VIIIe.jpg

Since the T-15 Armata was also masked; I shot the second color on that one too:

WIP_Russian_T-15_Armata_VIIIa.jpg

Later it got covered and the third color shot on:

WIP_Russian_T-15_Armata_VIIIb.jpg

And once again, when it was dry, I removed everything to find only a tiny amount of touch up needed. This looks pretty awesome in this scheme:

WIP_Russian_T-15_Armata_VIIIc.jpg

WIP_Russian_T-15_Armata_VIIId.jpg

Now on to my big trucks. First off, the AA-60 fire tender still had issues with the white on the sides so I re-shot it. That is drying now; no need to take pics again. Meanwhile, I decided to modulate the color on the big trucks that will be all one solid color. First was the MAZ tank transporter:

WIP_Russian_MAZ_Tractor_Trailer_VI.jpg

Next was the KZKT Iskandar:

WIP_Russian_KZMT_Iskandar_K_VIII.jpg

Then I shot the KZKT Heavy Cargo Truck:

WIP_Russian_KZMT_Heavy_Cargo_Truck_VIII.

And finally, the MAZ Heavy Cargo Truck:

WIP_Russian_MAZ_Heavy_Cargo_Truck_VII.jp

The last two models had some measure of camouflage on them, only two colors each. First off the Bereg Coastal Defense Gun got it's second tan color. I free-handed this camouflage on this and the Baikal Command Truck still with my Sotar 20/20 airbrush since it would have taken too much tape and Silly Putty to mask off all that green. I should have shot the tan first, then masked that and shot the green. Oh well, I did it in reverse instead and here's how the Bereg looks:

WIP_Bereg_Coastal_Defese_Gun_X.jpg

WIP_Bereg_Coastal_Defese_Gun_XI.jpg

And finally I camouflaged the Baikal; but it only needed the second tan color on the command cabin so I modulated the drivers cabin:

WIP_Russian_MAZ_Command_Post_IX.jpg

WIP_Russian_MAZ_Command_Post_X.jpg

 

And that is all I managed to get done on this; the first building day of the new year. Thanks all for looking in, as always; comments are welcome.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks to some spare time and another Hobby Day weekend I managed to get a good amount of progress done. Several of these are actually at the paint stage now. Without further ado, let the Maddog Manufacturing tour begin....

We'll start in the aircraft division where I worked on the Gotha Go-242.

First off, I painted the pilots and the rest of the cockpit that can be seen. I then installed it along with a lot of nose weight in the front:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_V.jpg

Next, I was going to add the main cargo bay floor, but I saw this great looking molded in detail. I had to paint it. Once it was dry, I installed in inside the fuselage half:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_VII.jpg

Next I assembled the rear cargo bay door, adding the hinges to it as well:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_VI.jpg

All that was left was to close it all up:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_VIII.jpg

The rear door does open. I like that:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_IX.jpg

After that, I added the wings and assembled the empennage to complete most of the structure of this plane:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_X.jpg

Here you can see the rear door does still open:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_Xa.jpg

Despite my best efforts I still had some steps and gaps to fill, so I pulled out the Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill everything in. My jar was quite thick, but I still laid in on well:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_Xb.jpg

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_Xc.jpg

 

Now moving on to my armor and vehicle division....

I was looking for something simple and easy to build after all those difficult Big Trucks, so I pulled out my Modelcollect V-1 Launch Ramp. How hard could that be? It was actually pretty simple, but I still had some issues getting the bracing to sit right:

WIP_German_V-1_Launch_Ramps_I.jpg

Later I'll do the V-1 bombs.

Another fast and relatively easy build was a Christmas present given to me by my AMPS club. This is the V-2 rocket from Condor and I'd built one before. However, the first one went onto my Mittraelerwagen as a load so now I'm going to do this one on the launch pad. It went together fast and well, although I had a few broken and short-shot pieces on the launch pad that I left off:

WIP_German_V-2_Rocket__I.jpg

I added more fast and easy builds that also add to my Japanese modern forces. These are the two JGSDF Light Armored Vehicles that I started up. First I did the suspensions and undercarriages:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_I_.jpg

Yes, they gave me two models in the kit.

Next was the interiors. They had you build them in a tub like the 1/24 scale car guys do and then install them on the chassis:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_II_.jpg

Next I built one of the upper bodies for these. It was a fast and easy build. I did leave off a few parts that I know will break when I try to close these over the chassis and interiors:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_III_.jp

I also left off the windows as they go on from the outside so it's easier to paint these without them and add the windows later. I also decided to differentiate between the two by having the upper hatch closed on one and open on the other:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_IV_.jpg


Yeah, those are ready for paint now. I just have to find out what color the interior is now.

These Fujimi kits are so much fun so I pulled out two more to do. Of course, they came in the same box, but they have two versions inside. So, I started the next ones, these being the Type 99 Self Propelled Artillery. Here's the turret for one of them:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_I_.jpg

That took all of four minutes to build. The hull took an even shorter time:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_II_.jpg

Here you can see how incredibly long that gun is:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_III_.jpg

Finally, about 20 minutes later, I got all the wheels and tracks on both of these. Now they are almost ready for paint, after adding a few more hatches and other detail parts:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_IV_.jpg

Next I did the Fujimi JGSDF Anti-aircraft artillery. I started with the turrets like before:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_I_.jpg

These two I differentiated by adding two different styles of smoke dischargers to the sides of these turrets:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_II_.jpg

These look great on the hulls that were easily built in another four minutes or so:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_III_.jpg

I ran out of time at the end of Hobby Day before I could complete the tracks, but that will go fast. Fujimi has an outstanding system for roadwheels and tracks.

Finally, another fast and easy model to build. This is the Trumpeter M-1117 Guardian that I'd been wanting for awhile. I started with the suspension:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_I.jpg

It looks complicated, but it was fast and easy to do. Next I built the upper hull and turret, adding most of the detail parts except what would break with handling during painting:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_II.jpg

After about five minutes getting the above results, this little beastie is ready for paint.

 


Finally, after all that, I decided to start back on something that I'd had sitting for awhile. I also wanted to do something different so I pulled out my languishing Coke van to try and move forward on it. First thing I noticed was the chassis did not fit well under the body so I had to do some minor mods to this to get it to fit right. You can't see them too well in this pic, but it does fit much better now:

WIP_Coke_Delivery_Van_V.jpg

Next I noticed that several vital parts were missing on this, in particular the engine covers, front grill and the gear shift mechanism. Thank goodness I had a second kit to steal these extra parts from so I could finish this! I pulled the gear shift mechanism out and added it to the interior and then assembled and installed the engine cover and grill to the front of the model. I also added the seat:

WIP_Coke_Delivery_Van_VI.jpg


Now I'm going to paint this beastie and finally get it done.


 

 

That's all I have for now, thanks all for looking in, comments are always welcome.

 

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I'm not worthy!

A couple of quextions:

1 - Is the Coke Van 1/72th? If so, who makes it?

2 - Given the clay-boundaries you use to mask the aircraft camo, I kinda expect to see a softer edge between colors. Is it just so fine that the pix don't show it? Or is the hard edge intended?

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Thanks Bob! I think you are worthy; my work is simple and OOB.

 

First question: the Coke van is actually 1/24 scale, made by AMT if I recall. I would love to do one in 1/72 scale but finding a vehicle like this in that scale is beyond difficult. I just like the look of this van and the Coke logos so I'm building it.

Second question: It is possible to do a softer edge camouflage with the Silly Putty, but that involved lifting the edge and spraying from a different angle to allow overspray under the lifted edge. I just laid it down as thin as possible without thinning it too much and then shot straight down, giving me a harder edge. Yes, it was planned. All Israeli aircraft that I've seen had a hard edge camouflage. I have attempted a softer edge before but I'm not that good at it. Still need more practice on a paint mule.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I had a rather large and lengthy update to post here but when I tried to open the SD card with my pics, I couldn't do it. Looks like that old card finally gave up the ghost in a catastrophic failure. So, I went out and bought more SD cards and a new reader so now I'm starting all over camera wise. When I got home, I went in and shot pics of my latest progress, most of which is many steps ahead of what I was hoping to show. So this will be a much shorter update showing where I am to date.

 

So let's begin this tour.....

Aircraft first, again; mostly because I have only a few.

First up is my German helicopter. I had painted a basecoat of dark grey and then masked it with Silly Putty. Those pics were lost in the crash. Once it was masked, I shot it with the second camouflage color Olive Drab:

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VI.jpg

That's where that is so far. Next I worked on my Gotha Go-244. I added the landing gear and then masked all the windows; after having sanded the whole thing smooth. Here she is standing on her own three feet:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_XI.jpg

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_XII.jpg

Next thing I need to do is find a nice light blue to shoot the underside of this; and then finish the painting after.


Moving on to my armor, here's a little beastie I started and got painted very quickly since I don't seem to have pics of this in my WIP folder, which means they are probably lost in the crash. Here's my M-274 Mule, already painted and waiting for additional details:

WIP_US_M-274_Mule_I.jpg

Next, here are three more little vehicles that I don't think I posted yet; which I started a few days ago. These are the Fujimi 1/2-ton trucks for the JGSDF. There are three seat configurations on the interiors, so I made one of each. I built them, airbrushed the exteriors, and yesterday I painted the interiors:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_I.jpg

Two of those trucks will have tilts over them, so I assembled and painted one to see how it was going to look. Here it is painted; I haven't test fit it to the vehicle yet:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_II.jpg

Disregard the dust on top; it's already gone.

After that, I painted the base coat on the M-1117 Guardian, the first of her three-color camouflage:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_III.jpg

More pics that were lost showed my masking and painting of the two JGSDF light armored vehicles exterior bodies. I masked them with the Silly Putty and shot the second color. Here they are after I removed the Silly Putty:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_V_.jpg

Later, when I was painting the interiors of the three half-ton trucks, I also painted the interiors of these trucks:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_VI_.jpg

Later on, I test-fit one of the exterior bodies to one of the interiors to see how much could be seen:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_VII_.jp

While that was drying, I masked my JGSDF Self propelled anti-aircraft guns with Silly Putty and shot the second color. The pics of the things masked before I shot them were lost in the crash, but here they are after I shot the paint and removed the Silly Putty:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_IV_.jpg

After that, I also masked and shot the JGSDF Self Propelled Artillery guns; as before, the pics of them masked and shot were lost. Here they are all painted and Silly Putty removed:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_V_.jpg

And that is where I am now to date. Hopefully I'll get more done this weekend. Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I updated this. I have a lot of pics to show. Thanks to everyone telling me to stay home, I've been doing a lot of work in the Hobby Room. So, you've been warned, this is gonna be a long and tedious one! I hope I don't bore you too badly....


Here's the results of all my latest work, starting with my aircraft...


On my Gotha Go-244, I shot a light blue underneath the plane, hitting all underside and vertical surfaces possible:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_XIII.jpg

It looks more stark than it is, but I am still hoping it'll tone down a bit later on.

After that dried, I masked off the underside as much as possible to prepare for upper surface painting:

WIP_German_Gothat_Go-242_XIV.jpg

That was harder than expected. I hope to get some paint shot this coming week.

Next, I masked off the German helicopter with Silly Putty and shot the second color:

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VII.jpg

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VIIa.jpg

Later, when that was dry; more masking and then the third color. I didn't have a medium green so I improvised:

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VIIb.jpg

Once all that was dry, off came the Silly Putty and here she is in all her three-tone glory:

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VIIc.jpg

WIP_German_UH-1_Huey_Hog_VIId.jpg

You can see how well the Micro Crystal Clear worked for holding windows in. Yeah. I got them fixed later; this time with Gator Grip glue.

After that, I pulled out my Israeli F-16 I Sufa and started the decals on it. I got most of the walk lines and other detail stencils on the top and bottom:

WIP_Israeli_F-16I_Sufa_XVIII.jpg

I then let that sit and dry. I plan on clearcoating that again and then applying the remaining decals.

Moving on, I decided to answer the siren song of the C-54 that had been singing to me to start. Thanks to another friend working on this, that singing became louder so down it came. Naturally, I started with the pilots' seats:

WIP_C-54_Skymaster_I.jpg

Yeah, they are that small, and four pieces each...

Next was the cockpit that they sit in. This was fairly easy:

WIP_C-54_Skymaster_II.jpg

Later I dry fit the seats in place to see if they would hamper my attempts to paint this later. They would so they didn't get glued in here:

WIP_C-54_Skymaster_III.jpg

Next I assembled all the secondary cabin nooks behind the cockpit and added them to the floor of the rear cabin:

WIP_C-54_Skymaster_IV.jpg

Yeah, after careful review, I won't be painting any of that given that none of it will be seen through the windows. I won't be assembling all the troop seats in the main cabin either as this will be all closed up. Still, I had to dry-fit the assembled cockpit to the rear cabin assembly:

WIP_C-54_Skymaster_V.jpg

That's all I got done on that. The next model I pulled out was an even bigger plane, the A-400 Grizzly used in Europe. Mine has the option to make it a German bird so that is what I'll make it. After all, my Germans are my largest force right now!

I started once again with the cockpit as before:

WIP_A-400_Grizzly_I.jpg

This model also has a full interior enclosed in an interior shell just like the C-54 does. Here's one half of it here:

WIP_A-400_Grizzly_II.jpg

As this bird will be all closed up as well, I won't be painting that interior. Next I assembled the tail, only dry-fitting the horizontal surfaces. You can see how big that is too:

WIP_A-400_Grizzly_III.jpg

I then assembled all these greeblies which go on the underside of the wing:

WIP_A-400_Grizzly_IV.jpg

And here is the wing I'll be adding those to. Check out the wingspan:

WIP_A-400_Grizzly_V.jpg

I already added those fences to the underside of the wing; they'll be seen in the next update.

Moving on, I then started my monster of a kit, the An-124; first assembling the cockpit:

WIP_Russian_An-124_Condor_I.jpg

Fortunately, that is all the interior this model has. However, I do have to assemble all the wheels. Here is the first ones after assembly:

WIP_Russian_An-124_Condor_II.jpg

Now, each of those outer circles are the wheel halves. The inner, smaller circles are the hubs that go inside those circles. You can see the lower wheel halves with the hubs installed. Here are all the wheel halves on that sprue already done:

WIP_Russian_An-124_Condor_III.jpg

That's four wheels. Sixteen more to go....

I decided that was enough so I moved on to assemble the main landing gear wells:

WIP_Russian_An-124_Condor_IV.jpg

That was harder than expected, but they are done. That's as far as I got on that plane. In fact, that was enough on all planes for now, so I started on my armor.

 


On the bench I had about ten small scale armor models that were within spitting distance of being done. Time to bring them over the finish line.


My first one was my US M-1117 Guardian. I had a base coat on it so I decided to brush paint the second of three camo colors:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_IV.jpg

Later, I did the second color and a number of details:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_V.jpg

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_Va.jpg

After all that was dry, and before I added the wheels; I shot some dirt weathering on the underside and in the wheel wells:

WIP_US_M-1117_Guardian_VI.jpg

After that, I added the wheels, decals, detail parts and finished the weathering. This little car is done now.

Next, I worked on the three half-ton trucks for my JGSDF. I started out by painting all the wheels on the sprues:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_III.jpg

After that, I added the windows and other detail parts to these trucks, thereby showing the variants that are available:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_IVa.jpg

From back to front these are a light scout, liaison and cargo trucks.

When I dirtied up the M-1117,  I also dirtied up these underneath and in the wheel wells:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_V.jpg

Even though it’s not that visible here, I also dirtied up the cargo bed of the one truck:

WIP_JGDF_Half-ton_Trucks_Va.jpg

Next I worked on the two Light Armored Vehicles, completing the camouflage pattern and removing the Silly Putty, and then adding the detail parts to them:

 WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_IX_.jpg

I then painted the wheels and tires like I did with the half ton trucks:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_VIII_.j

Later I dirtied up the bottom and wheel wells of these two:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_X_.jpg

After that came the clear coat and decals on these:

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_XI_.jpg

WIP_JGSDF_Light_Armored_Vehicles_XII_.jp

Afterward came dull coat, weathering and details to finish these off.

Next are the two Type 87 anti-aircraft vehicles. I also shot the second camouflage color and then removed the Silly Putty:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_IV_~0.jpg

Later I painted the guns and radar on these:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_V_.jpg

When that dried, I shot the clear coat on these for decals:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_VI_.jpg

And finally decals:

WIP_JGSDF_Anti-aircraft_guns_VII_.jpg

Afterward was the dull coat, detail painting and weathering to finish these off.

Finally, I shot the final color on the camouflage pattern for the Two Type 99 Self Propelled Guns. After Silly Putty was removed they looked thusly:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_V_~0.jpg

Afterward, I glossed them like the others:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_VI_.jpg

And then the decals went on:

WIP_JGSDF_Type_99_SP_Artillery_VII_.jpg

Once they were dry, I dull coated them, added details and then weathered these two to finish them off.

So, I was able to get these last ten vehicles finished on Saturday afternoon. Later on I’ll try to get those finished pic posted. Until then, enjoy the tour; if it isn’t too boring. At least I gave you all something to do while staying at home to avoid the beer virus! LOL!

Thanks again for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Okay, here's an update. They are currently importing the photos into the new MA Gallery and once that is done, they'll apply the SSL# so I can hotlink from their gallery. Until then, I have opened a Postimage account and I will now post my latest progress I've made during this latest few weeks of self-quarantine. This is a test to see if these pics show up.

 

That reminds me of a joke: During period of lockdown there will be a pretty good baby boom about nine months from now. In 2033 and later years they will all be known as the "quaranteens"! LOL!

 

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled program here.

 

I'll be starting with my aircraft. Some of these may be repeats; if so I apologize, I just forgot where I left off.

 

Okay, first one in the tour is the C-54 Skymaster. I started by assembling the seats. Yes; there is four pieces per seat:

 

WIP-C-54-Skymaster-I.jpg

 

Here is the rest of the cockpit sans seats:

 

WIP-C-54-Skymaster-II.jpg

 

I added the seats here to see how they fit:

 

WIP-C-54-Skymaster-III.jpg

 

But wait! There's more.... Here's the pilot rest area and such behind the cockpit which won't be seen so won't be painted:

 

WIP-C-54-Skymaster-IV.jpg

 

WIP-C-54-Skymaster-V.jpg

 

 

That's as far as I got on that. The next one in our tour is the Airbus A-400 Grizzly transport. I started with the cockpit again; a fairly easy build:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-I.jpg

 

I then added the clear parts to the outer fuselage sides:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-II.jpg

 

After that I built the components for the tail and dry-fit them together:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-III.jpg

 

Next were some wing fillets that had to be glued together:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-IV.jpg

 

I then finally put the three wing parts together:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-V.jpg

 

After painting the cockpit, I assembled all the remaining interior parts together to get further along on this. Here is the interior cockpit and cargo bay floor enclosed inside the inner fuselage halves:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VI.jpg

 

Check out this interior... it's the last time it's going to be sen as I'm closing this bird right up. That's why it isn't painted:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIa.jpg

 

This is how the interior fuselage tube fits inside the outer fuselage. It's only dry-fit into place so I can see what issues I'll have:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIb.jpg

 

Finally, after dry-fitting this all together, I found out how many issues I'm going to have. I also can see how big this monster is:

 

WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIc.jpg

 

 

Okay, that is enough of that. The next one I tried to move forward on was my Shinmeiwa float plane. I did manage to get the main fuselage together with the cockpit cemented inside. I then also dry-fit the assembled wings and the tail to see how this bird was going to look:

 

WIP-Japanese-Shinmeiwa-VIIa.jpg

 

One major issue was found when I taped the lower tub under the forward part of the fuselage assembly. Not sure how I'm going to fix this yet so this bird went back on the shelf for now:

 

WIP-Japanese-Shinmeiwa-VIIb.jpg

 

After all that, I started the decals on my Israeli Sufa; starting with the stencils and walkway stripes. They are a bit difficult to see on this but here's where I'm at so far:

 

WIP-Israeli-F-16-I-Sufa-XVIII.jpg

 

I'm not sure if I posted this or not; or whether you were able to see this before, but I also finished shooting all the paint on the helicopter, making this now complete and ready for clearcoat:

 

WIP-German-UH-1-Huey-Hog-VIId.jpg

 

I also shot the bottom color on the Gotha; it looks pretty bright in this pic, but I think it will tone down some later:

 

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XIII.jpg

 

Later I masked that off to prepare for the upper dark grey color:

 

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XIV.jpg

 

Hopefully I'll be able to spray that soon. Meanwhile, during all this, I've been working on the Russian AN-124 Condor, starting with the cockpit:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-I.jpg

 

Yes, this massive bird is in 1/72 scale and yes I'm building it. I started afterward with some of the wheels. Each main wheel; of which there are 20; is four pieces each. Here were the first ones I started by adding the hubs to the center of the tires:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-II.jpg

 

The first four wheels and hubs are done:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-III.jpg

 

Later I assembled the shells of the main landing gear bays. These parts are all in regular injection molded plastic so they are easily assembled with plastic glue. That's why I'm doing these first:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-IV.jpg

 

Next I started on one of the engines. This is only the rear part of it right here and that assembly has five parts to it:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Va.jpg

 

Here are the remaining parts to finish this engine, some of which are already added to the rear section:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Vb.jpg

 

This is how they are all supposed to fit inside... in theory:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Vc.jpg

 

This is reality; even after extensive reseating of parts and sanding down of all interior parts:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Vd.jpg

 

Finally after three days of sanding and refitting; I managed to get this closed up enough to add the pylon to it:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Ve.jpg

 

That was just one engine! Man, this is gonna be a long build!

 

So, I continued on, assembling most of the wing fillets and some additional pylons. Most all the halved parts had to be sanded on the join edges before glue was applied in order to get them to fit properly. You can see the second engine clamped together in this pic too:

 

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Vf.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, after all that, here is the progress I made on my military vehicles. Since I had finished ten of them recently, it was time to get started on some more. I had wanted to add a few more Abrams and a Paladin to the force so they got started. I also had two tank transporters to build for a tank transporter group build on the Missing Lynx Braille Scale Forums so I also started them.

 

 

Let's start with the M-109A6 Paladin. I started with the lower hull of course. I had to add all these torsion bars and try to get them lined up properly. What a pain! I think I got close enough:

 

WIP-M-109-A6-Paladin-I.jpg

 

Next I decided to try and assemble the turret. Of course I also wanted to make the gun elevate too and I had an idea. So I pulled out the parts only to find this:

 

WIP-M-109-A6-Paladin-II.jpg

 

That's right: part E-14 is completely missing! Well, I have two additional kits of this very same model (one is going to be made Israeli) so I have a spare kit to cannibalize for this additional part. I just have to find it in the stash. Until then, I moved on...

 

I have two Flyhawk Abrams in the stash to make an Abrams SEP. One will have a mine roller on it; the other without. I also have the Tiger Models Abrams that I'll be making a SEP TUSK I Abrams.

 

Here's the SEP Abrams started here. I had to do the torsion bars again. This is getting tiresome! I'm hoping I got the, all lined up well enough:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-I.jpg

 

Next was the gun assembly, fairly straightforward:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-II.jpg

 

I then added the sides to the upper hull. There's more to add to this but it is started:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-III.jpg

 

Here is the upper hull sitting on the lower hull. Looks good so far:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-IV.jpg

 

Later I added the turret to see how it's coming along:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-V.jpg

 

Moving along, I started the Tiger Model SEP TUSK I Abrams. This time I started with the gun. This is the "three gold leaf" kit that has everything, including this metal gun. I had to add three resin parts and three photo-etch parts to this gun. A fourth resin part goes on later:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-II.jpg

 

Next was the lower hull again. This time, Tiger Models made the suspension and roadwheels exceptionally easy to assemble:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-I.jpg

 

Next I did the upper hull, adding a few of the detail pieces and the side skirts:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-IV.jpg

 

Finally, I got started on the turret. There was a lot of P/E to add, and I've only done about a third of the detail parts to this:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-III.jpg

 

Finally, here's a shot of this thing all dry-fit together on the upper hull:

 

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-V.jpg

 

 

 

Finally on to the two tank transporters. This first one is the HEMMTT tractor with the trailer. I did something a bit different on these two tank transporters: I started the trailers first. Here's the HEMMTT trailer mostly assembled up to the wheels:

 

WIP-HEMMTT-Tank-Transporter-I.jpg

 

Next I did the cab; adding the windows and assembling the interior:

 

WIP-HEMMTT-Tank-Transporter-II.jpg

 

Next up was the chassis. Here it is after two steps; just before assembling the engine:

 

WIP-HEMMTT-Tank-Transporter-III.jpg

 

WIP-HEMMTT-Tank-Transporter-IV.jpg

 

 

After this I started on the trailer for the M-1070. I got most of the main part assembled. The center part is only dry-fit; I have some linkages to add inside first before gluing that down:

 

WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-I.jpg

 

Now, when I started the neck portion of the trailer; the first piece I cut off broke right away:

 

WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-II.jpg

 

Later, after assembly, you couldn't see the break, so all worked out in the end. Here is the trailer with all three major assemblies waiting for completion:

 

WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-III.jpg

 

And that is where I have stopped so far. I hope I didn't bore you with this huge update. Take care now and thanks for looking in; comments are welcome.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Now for an another update. Here's my latest progress over the course of this past week of self isolation.
 
Starting with my aircraft, you can see that I added the closed doors to the outer fuselage of the C-54:
 
WIP-C-54-Skymaster-VI.jpg
 
Next I painted the cockpit and instrument panel. They aren't the best but this will hardly be seen through the windows once this is closed up:
 
WIP-C-54-Skymaster-VII.jpg
 
WIP-C-54-Skymaster-VIIa.jpg
 
Finally, I closed everything up inside the interior tube:
 
WIP-C-54-Skymaster-VIII.jpg
 
After that I went to work on the Airbus A-400. They give you the interior of the engine intakes to build first:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VII.jpg
 
They fit inside the engine nacelles like so:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIIa.jpg
 
Then I closed them up inside:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIIb.jpg
 
Here are all four nacelles mostly assembled:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIIc.jpg
 
Afterward I had to add the front part after assembling them around the propeller shafts. Here are the finished engines:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIId.jpg
 
Since they were done, I decided to add these all to the wing:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-VIII.jpg
 
This beastie is about ready to finish up and prepare for painting:
 
WIP-A-400-Grizzly-IX.jpg
 
 
The next model I made progress on was my German Gotha Go-243. I painted the dark grey color first:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XV.jpg
 
I then masked off the dark grey for the second, lighter grey:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVa.jpg
 
I shot the lighter grey and then let this dry for a bit:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVb.jpg
 
After this dried, I removed the tape and then added some additional tape to the areas that I didn't want overspray on when I shot the mottles onto the sides of this plane:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVc.jpg
 
I then loaded my Sotar 20/20 with the lighter grey again and finished mottling the sides of this plane. Not bad if I do say so myself:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVd.jpg
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVe.jpg
 
Here it is with all masking removed and sitting on her three feet. Next up for this is to mask and paint the main canopy and then clear coat this for decals. Speaking of masking the canopy, I did manage to get that done but gave up working on this further:
 
WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVI.jpg
 
While I had the paint booth going for this Gotha; I figured I'd find a few other models that needed some paint. The only ones I found were rockets so I pulled them out to paint. First was my German V-2 rocket that got a basecoat of dark brown; the first of the three color camouflage I'm doing on this:
 
WIP-German-V-2-Rocket-III.jpg
 
Then I shot a white primer color on the Mercury Redstone:
 
WIP-Mercury-Redstone-IVc.jpg
 
Followed by the same white primer on the Convair Atlas:
 
WIP-Convair-Atlas-IIe.jpg
 
I'd been sanding and polishing the Atlas and Redstone for what seems like forever now; this primer should help me see if the finish is smooth enough now for final painting. I doubt it but at least I'll know how much further I have to go.
 
That is all I have so far on my aircraft... and spacecraft too. Now on to my armor...
 
 
I made a small amount of progress on my armor. Here's what I did starting withe the M-1 Abrams SEP. I built the racks that go on the sides and in the back of the turret. These were extremely fiddly to assemble:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-VI.jpg
 
While the turret racks were drying, I assembled the main TC's hatch and cupola:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-VII.jpg
 
I then added most of the rest of the detail parts to the turret:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-VIII.jpg
 
Here it is all dry fit together before I added the turret baskets:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-IX.jpg
 
Later when the turret baskets were dry enough, I added them on to the turret. Here it is all together:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-X.jpg
 
Most of it is still dry fit. I have much more to do including adding the P/E to this tank. Speaking of P/E. I added some of it to the Abrams SEP TUSK I when I installed the turret racks on that one:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-VII.jpg
 
Those baskets were a lot easier to assemble. Next I added all the TUSK shielding around the TC's and gunner's cupolas, along with additional detail parts on the turret. Here it is sitting on the main hull:
 
WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-VI.jpg
 
That one is getting close to paint soon.
 
The last one I got any real progress on was my tank transporter. For this model I assembled the linkages and added them beneath the trailer. You can see that somehow one of the linkages got broken. I didn't do that amazing enough; that happened before I got to this step. Anyway, it's built and won't be seen once this is complete:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-IV.jpg
 
After that I added the neck to the front of this. The trailer is now done except for the half-million wheels that go below it:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-V.jpg
 
When that got done, I decided to start with the cab. When I unpacked it, I found this break where the X-acto blade is pointing:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-VI.jpg
 
The other side was also damaged, but only bent. I'd been trying to get it straight but it will have to be forced into the proper position with glue when I'm ready. You can see it where the X-acto is pointing again:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-VIa.jpg
 
I moved on and added the interior. This is as far as I got before painting:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-VIb.jpg
 
Later I added the P/E screen to the upper roof when I added the top. I then dry it this to the cab to see how it is going to look:
 
WIP-M-1070-Tank-Transporter-VIc.jpg
 
Well, that's all I have to show for this week. Hopefully I'll have something done soon.
 
Stay tuned, and thanks for looking in. Comments are welcome.
 
 
 
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  • 2 weeks later...

After another week worth of work, here's another update. It's kinda small compared to many I've done, but I do feel that I got a lot done. It feels great to see progress.

First off, here is a preview of the main landing gear for the AN-124 Condor. I did one complete one without wheels, and started a second on. The finished one contains 10 parts, not including the wheels. I have to make ten of these:

WIP-Russian-An-124-Condor-Vg.jpg

I also completed a third engine, but I think I mentioned that before. Okay, enough of that....

Next up, I'll show the progress on my three aircraft that are so close to the finish line right now.

To start; I got the decals on the German Huey. These were tough as they had to conform to many curves and recesses. I think I managed to get them looking good enough:

WIP-German-UH-1-Huey-Hog-VIII.jpg

Yes, the tail ones silvered. I fixed that later after taking these pics.

Yes, for some reason my gloss spray fogged the side windows. Fortunately, I still have the set from the kit I've been cannibalizing to complete this one. The nose decal gave me the most difficulty; but then again, I might have put it on over some masking tape:

WIP-German-UH-1-Huey-Hog-VIIIa.jpg

Later on I masked the pilot's door window hoping it would not be fogged, but I couldn't save it. Despite that, the dullcoat went on well. I was even surprised that the decals sucked down so well over the detail underneath:

WIP-German-UH-1-Huey-Hog-IX.jpg


Next, I added the last decals onto the Israeli Sufa:

WIP-Israeli-F-16-I-Sufa-XIX.jpg

...and then shot the dullcoat over it:

WIP-Israeli-F-16-I-Sufa-XX.jpg

I then removed the masking from the tail feathers and the canopy. Now all I need to do is add the final details, the landing gear, the underwing stores, and then detail paint the last parts to finish this off.

Finally, I added the decals to the German Gotha Go-244:

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVIII.jpg

They curled, despite using both Micro-sol and Solvaset. This one eye was so bad I had to paint it on. Not very well; but then I was contending with an engine nacelle in the way:

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XIXa.jpg

You can also see I painted the wheels on this.

Later I shot the dark gray over the masked canopy:

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XIX.jpg

Now all I have to do is add that canopy and one other small window to this and it's finished. I'll even have the little Kubel that goes with this completed as well:

WIP-German-Gothat-Go-242-XVII.jpg



Speaking of vehicles, here is the latest on my armor I've been doing this week along with my aircraft.

I'll start with the 1/35th scale M-48 Patton. I don't remember what I'd posted before so here's the most recent work I did.

I think I left off with this pic of the Patton where the main hull and turrets were built up:

WIP-1-35-Patton-Group-Build-VI.jpg

Next I added the fenders and the turret bustle rack:

WIP-1-35-Patton-Group-Build-VII.jpg

Next I built the TC's cupola shown here dry-fit to the turret:

WIP-1-35-Patton-Group-Build-VIIa.jpg

Finally, I added the mantlet cover and the main gun to this. The mantlet is made from the DS Styrene so it is flexible, allowing the gun to move:

WIP-1-35-Patton-Group-Build-VIII.jpg

I'm calling this puppy ready for paint.

Now on to my smaller stuff....


On the Modeler's Haven Forums they are running a 1/72 scale Group Build. I decided to go with the M-109 A-nothing for my 1/72 scale Group Build subject. You can follow that in it's own thread as well. Here though, is the shot of the main hull all assembled:

WIP-MHO-M-109-Paladin-I.jpg

I then assembled the turret sans gun and mantlet:

WIP-MHO-M-109-Paladin-II.jpg

Here they are all together so far:

WIP-MHO-M-109-Paladin-III.jpg

I will later on be doing some carving and modifying the mantlet, frame and gun so that it will elevate. That is one of the more frustrating things about this Revell kit: they make you fix the gun in place. Hopefully I'll do a better job than I did on the German Paladin; live and learn.

Moving on, I started assembling the other M-1 Abrams SEP with the mine plow. Here's the upper and lower hull dry-fit together:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-I.jpg

Next came the turret:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-II.jpg

And to show that I'm not recycling pics of the first SEP Abrams, here they are side by side:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-IIa.jpg

I then started on the mine plow for this Abrams. Here are the main blades:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-III.jpg

There are 18 parts in that pic above, nine per side. Flyhawk really did these right!

Moving on, here's more of the mine plow:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-IIIa.jpg

Those skids are fully poseable too!

Here is the full mine plow almost done:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-IIIb.jpg

That thing is a model unto itself, and fully articulate as well! All I need to do is add the chain to it.

Next I had to make these ready for paint. That meant adding all the P/E screens and other parts to these. First the regular SEP Abrams:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-XI.jpg

Then the mine plow Abrams next to it:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-IV.jpg

BTW, the 'white' squares on the engine decks of these tanks are the P/E screens reflecting my bench worklight.

I then finished the P/E on the SEP TUSK I Abrams too:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-VIII.jpg

Then came the basecoats of dark green on all three of these. The M-1A2 Abrams SEP:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-XII.jpg

... The M-1 A2 Abrams SEP with mine plow:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-Mineplow-V.jpg

And the M-1A2 Abrams SEP TUSK I:

WIP-M-1-Abrams-SEP-TUSK-I-IX.jpg



And that is where I left off so far this week. More to come soon I hope. Stay tuned and thanks for looking in on this latest tour. Comments are always welcome.

 

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Excellent update Duke! Glad to see you in the saddle and riding pretty hard!

As for me....I'm working on ONE....granted, it's a handful, but still just ONE!

 

Gil :smiley16:

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Thanks Gil! I'm just trying to stay busy and finish up a few models that have been sitting around too long. I have several that are handfuls right now too so I know what you're going through!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I'm a bit late for this week's update, but then again I haven't gotten that much done in the Hobby Room given all that I had to do this past couple weeks and the drop in mojo it caused. This will be a small update, just so I can show that I'm still doing something in my Hobby Room besides staring at the walls when I'm in there...

 

I'll start my aircraft, of which there are two I worked on. One is the Japanese Val; an aircraft that I never had in my collection before. It's high time I rectified that and since one was in the huge box I was sent; I got started right away. This is the Fujimi kit that is very basic in detail, but still looks good when built. I started with the cockpit.... such as it is! Most basic:

 

full

 

Next I did the spatted landing gear... even more basic: it was too halves without a separate wheel in the spats. Hopefully I can make it look good enough with paint:

 

full

 

Next up was the engine and cowling. This was surprisingly more difficult than expected, but I got it done:

 

full

 

After that I did the propeller:

 

full

 

Finally, the wing tops were glued to the bottom wing half:

 

 full

 

Now all I have to do is paint these little subassemblies and then I can get it built. Hopefully next week. 

 

The only other aircraft I worked on was the Israeli F-16I Sufa. I just added all the final greeblies and touched up the paint. I also painted the burner can too. Now all I need to do is add the landing gear and the ordinance and this bird will be done:

 

full

 

While I was at it; I started the capsule on my Mercury Redstone rocket since the main body of it was all painted and clearcoated for decals. Here is the capsule with the escape system:

 

full

 

Later I added the lattice parts that hold the escape system to the capsule:

 

full

 

The ring at the bottom of the escape tower is just dry fit on the capsule making it removable for ease of painting. I might be able to shoot these soon. 

 

 

Moving on to my armor; I only worked on a couple little kits. This first one is the little Kubelwagen that comes with the German Gotha G-244 transport. I simply clearcoated it and added the decals:

 

full

 

full

 

Now I just need to dullcoat this and then weather it a bit. I don't know that I'll weather this much as it's supposed to be a staff car being transported in an aircraft, but I will dust it up a little. Meanwhile I went to work on another kit that I had been putting off working on.

 

I pulled out my M-109, knowing I had a lot of effort to put into that model to make the gun elevate, so it was time to stop putting it off. I made the necessary cuts, and then fashioned a couple braces to trap the gun mantlet so it would elevate. Trap it how? I added a piece of sprue to the back of the mantlet as you can see:

 

full

 

Here it is all assembled, minus the mantlet. I was able to bend that enough to get the mantlet in place:

 

full

 

Success! I was able to get that mantlet to elevate. Of course, I ran into another issue, the top of the mantlet cover doesn't look right at full elevation as you can see in the following two pics:

 

full

 

full

 

Oh well, I'm not going to worry about it now. I may change it later but for now I'm happy with how this elevates.

 

Later on I added the roadwheels and assorted other detail parts to the hull. Here is the whole model all assembled to that point:

 

full

 

 

Well that completes this short update for this week at least. I'm hoping I can get more done this weekend if possible. 

 

Stay tuned, more to come. And for those who did stop in to comment, I thank you very much, comments are always welcome.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, despite the obstacles and other issues during this week I managed to get a surprising amount of work done on the workbench. This is my semi-weekly update showing my latest progress. So, sit right down and buckle in; this tour of Maddog Manufacturing is about to begin. 

 

 

I'll start in my aircraft hanger. I've been working on a couple rockets here as well as this one helicopter that has been giving me fits. To start with, I changed out the windows on the Huey's sliding doors. You can see the old fogged windows below the doors holding their new windows:

 

full

 

Next I added the missing pieces to the tail. Now I can add the tail rotor when I get it painted:

 

full

 

I went to replace the pilot's door window since it was also fogged, but I found that I didn't have the spares in the second kit. So I tried to clear that one up using very fine sanding pads (from 2800 to 20000) and then dipping in Future. No go. This was as good as I could get it so this will still be a poor rendition of this model, until I find a third kit I can cannibalize! Here it is installed again after all that week of sanding and buffing:

 

full

 

Finally, I moved ahead on this for once; building the main rotor. Afterward I'll be painting it:

 

full

 

Yes, I added the droop. 

 

Here is the whole thing up to this point. All that's left is detailing the replaced parts; painting and weathering the rotors and adding them in and then I can call this PITA done:

 

full

 

Moving on, I had to repair the top cone on the Redstone capsule since it broke when I tried cleaning the attachment point off. Here it is after I'd covered it with Mr. Surfacer 500, let it dry and then tried sanding it smooth:

 

full

 

Later I'll primer that and see how well I did....

 

Meanwhile the Convair Atlas was also calling my name. This beastie was another two-steps-forward; one-step-back kind of deal again. Here's the breakdown...

 

I started by filling the seams and slight gaps in the nose cone with Mr. Surfacer 500:

 

full

 

full

 

That's both sides filled. Later I sanded this down after that dried:

 

full

 

Afterward, I also noticed the tube going up the side had a few gaps in it that I filled with Vallejo acrylic putty:

 

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When that was dry enough, I shot some more white primer on this and let it dry. When it was dry, I looked it over and found a few more dimples and seams that needed correcting. So, I sanded some of them down and the rest I filled with Mr. Surfacer 500 again:

 

full

 

full

 

full

 

That's where I left off on that one. I was too tired of sanding anymore to get on it so I put that aside for next week. 

 

That completes this tour of the hanger, now on to my armory...

 

 

 

 

Here in the armory, I first went to work on my 1/35th scale Patton for the Tribute Build/AMPS Group Build. First I masked off all the vision ports in the cupola with Tamiya tape and Silly Putty so I could paint it:

 

full

 

Later when the airbrush came out, I shot this with the OD color:

 

full

 

Next I shot the hull. Lower first: 

 

full

 

The the upper hull:

 

full

 

They are attached, by the way....

 

Then I shot the turret:

 

full

 

Here's a shot of everything together:

 

full

 

After that I brush painted the mantlet cover with Field Drab. The DS plastic made it look gloss even after it dried:

 

full

 

That is where I left off on that. I'll do something about that mantlet cover later. I have a few ideas for trying to make it look more 'fabric' and dull.

 

 

Moving on to my next project, I started adding the (almost) final detail parts on the M-109. On the back of the turret, there are these four boxes that attach to the rear stowage baskets. They had these dimples on the ends that I had to sand down. Here are two of them already sanded beside the other two so you can see what I had to deal with:

 

full

 

After they were done, I added most of the rest of the parts to this so I could get started on painting it. Aside from a few parts that I know will break off during handling, painting and weathering; this beastie has everything it needs on it for paint:

 

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full

 

Finally, I decided to go ahead and hand paint the camouflage patterns on the two M-1  SEP Abrams since there were only three views on the paint pattern chart in the instructions: front, back and one side. Nothing for the other side or the top. By doing hand painting, I could at least freehand the hidden side and top. These two patterns are slightly different, but they are all based on the existing pattern from the instruction sheets. 

 

First is the M-1A2 Abrams SEP: 

 

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And here is the M-1 A2 Abrams SEP with the mine roller. The mine roller is only sitting in front of this at this time. I'll be adding it later when all the final work is done:

 

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The M-1A2 Abrams SEP TUSK I with be airbrushed as I already have the Silly Putty on it. Hopefully next week.

 

 

After that I looked around for something else to work on but nothing screamed at me so I put everything away. 

 

That concludes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping in and comments are always welcome.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well this week I have quite a large update. I gotta say though; it sure felt good to get all this progress done! 

 

I'll start with my two rockets. 

 

First off, I manage to get the exhaust nozzles painted on the Convair Atlas. I started with a flat black:

 

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Afterward I drybrushed both a dark metallic grey and a copper color to give it a burned look:

 

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It does look better in person. Later, after the white on the nose cone had dried sufficiently enough, I masked off the area I wanted to stay white:

 

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Once that was done, I shot a coat of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum over the rest:

 

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This bird is now ready for decals. Hopefully in the next couple days.

 

While that was drying somewhat and while I was already doing decals on my armor; I also pulled down the Mercury Redstone rocket. First I had removed all the masking covering the areas I'd painted black, and then added another coat of gloss:

 

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Next came the decals:

 

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Now all I have to do is add the photo-etch to the capsule and then paint and detail that. This bird is close to being done, hopefully withing the next few days. 

 

Moving on, I starting feeling a hankering to do an ACE kit. So, since my SoCal AMPS group was doing an online Halftrack Group Build; I decided to pull out a WWII French halftrack artillery tractor. I first started on the tracked running gear and got this far before realizing that the one main drive sprocket was missing:

 

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After searching for awhile that got put aside, but in both confidence and hope that I find it again; I continued to work on this model, building up the chassis and body:

 

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You can see by the rough assembly this is one of ACE's earlier kits before he started the digital design. Lots of cleanup to get that to fit like you see it. I still had some issues, as the steering wheel broke apart and part of it disappeared while trying to clean it up! So, I installed the half steering wheel in the drivers side; thinking that some intrepid mechanic had replaced it with an aircraft yoke when some idiot had messed up the original steering wheel:

 

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Makes for a good story.

 

Anyway, I still haven't found the drive sprocket so this is as far as I'll be going in this until it turns up:

 

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Moving on, I still wanted to do an ACE kit. So, during a SoCal AMPS ZOOM meeting/build night, I pulled out this little German Type 770 Cabriolet staff car that I'd started some time ago. I has already started the chassis, so I assembled the remaining undercarriage parts, axles and exhaust:

 

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Next I completed all of the seats:

 

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I then closed up the interior; adding any additional parts that were needed:

 

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That's when I realized I should have painted the interior walls since the instructions call for a "wood-grain" type of interior. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound; I completed the rest of the exterior body and engine cover as well as the rear roof section:

 

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After that, while looking through the instructions, it mentions one of the versions is for a restored vehicle in a museum that had been painted a dark green when it was restored. I thought, that would rock; especially since I had already started a different model Cabriolet similar to this one that will be all black. So in the interests of changing things up and having some variety, I shot this one with a lovely green shade:

 

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Don't  worry about the roughness; I'll be buffing this and then shooting a nice gloss coat over it. 

 

Moving along from there; it was time to get a few more models across the finish line. I started with my M-109 Paladin which needed a little filler on the sides of the turret mantlet frame:

 

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After that I shot a coat of paint over this:

 

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Later I installed the tracks on this beastie:

 

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The outer road wheels have separate "tire" sections that I decided to put on afterward when the tracks had been installed and painted:

 

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After a shot of glosscoat, I added the decals; which went on exceptionally well:

 

https://modelersalliance.org/galleries/wip-mho-m-109-paladin-xi-jpg.123144/full[/IMG]

Then I dullcoated this, added the final detail parts and weathered it.

Now I had finished with the M-109 Paladin and so I moved on to something else. I had been told that the windows for the cab on the M-1070 were green tinted so I tried shooting a Tamiya Clear Green on the windows for the cab and the Dozer. This was the result of the first attempt:

 

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Yep! Way too dark! So, I took some 70% alchohol and a Q-tip and cleaned them off to try again. This is the second attempt:

 

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Still a bit dark for my tastes, but it'll do. I'm moving on.

 

So this brings me to my three Abrams tanks. To start with, I decided to add all the tracks and roadwheels to these tanks. Both Tiger Models and Flyhawk have some unique and interesting ways of getting tracks on their tanks. On the Flyhawk models which are the two SEP tanks; here is the process. First you add the rear roadwheels to the lower hull. They already have the top run of tracks attached. Then you put the outer road wheels on which have the bottom run already attached. You can see one side here installed and the other one that goes on the other side:

 

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Once that is done, you add the drive sprocket and idler wheel with the indy links and small runs; filling out the rest and completing the track.  And here it is with the tracks already completed:

 

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The next thing I did was to detail out the mine roller on the other SEP tank. Flyhawk gives you this tiny chain that you have to thread through four parts before you fasten it on each side to the anchor points underneath. Here is a shot of the chain installed with the extra that I had to cut off so you can see how tiny this chain is. Also, in this shot, the mine plow is down for use:

 

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And in this shot, the mine plow is locked up in the travel position:

 

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You can also see the control cable that Flyhawk gives in the kit as well. 

 

Now, since I'd been putting the tracks on the Flyhawk Abrams; I also did the same with this Tiger Models kit. In this kit; they have the tracks already molded together in shape; but cut in half lengthwise. One length has the teeth, the other does not. Here's how they are installed. First, you add the rear roadwheels:

 

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Then you add the rear track section; the one with the teeth over those road wheels. I painted my roadwheels after I added the track run:

 

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After that, you add the outer road wheels:

 

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Followed by the outer track run:

 

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Pop in the drive sprocket and you are done! Cool! 

 

After that it was time to camouflage this tank. I started by covering the green with the Silly Putty:

 

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Then I shot the brown color over this:

 

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Then I added more Silly Putty to cover the brown and then shot the 'lightened' black:

 

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After that I removed all the Silly Putty to check out the pattern:

 

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After that; the instructions call for painting all the TUSK I additions in a tan color so that is what I did:

 

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I really love the look of this tank in this paint scheme! It looks so cool!

 

Later, after I glossed this and added the decals; I added all the final detail parts to all the Abrams, especially this SEP TUSK tank. Check out the green windows:

 

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Finally, I added all the machine guns and other additional delicate parts. Here are all three of these Abrams before I touched up the paint, shot a dullcoat and then weathered these:

 

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These three Abrams and the Paladin will be posted in the competed Armor Forums so feel free to go check them out there after I get them posted. Until the next update, I want to express my appreciation for your support, motivation, comments and compliments. 

 

Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, it's been a slow week so there's only a small update this time. 

 

I did manage to get the photo etch on the Redstone capsule; these panels make it into the Friendship 7:

 

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Later I shot that black, even though it doesn't show well in this pic:

 

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Sorry about the blurriness in that pic; the camera had a difficult time focusing on that capsule. Now for a gloss coat and then decals. 

 

 

Moving on, I stopped working on the rocket to get going on the tank transporters I've had languishing while I worked on the Abrams and Paladin.

 

First off, I added more details to the HEMMTT tank transporter chassis. This was starting to take shape:

 

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After that, I built the engine and added it to the chassis, along with the exhaust and other platform framework:

 

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Once I got done with that, I assembled the cab for this truck. In the process of holding it together, I got some glue under my finger and smeared it all over the windscreen:

 

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Yeah, that looked really bad. So I disassembled the cab, removed the windscreen and went to work trying to fix it. After some persistent and constant sanding and polishing with ever higher grit levels (from 600 to 12000) I dipped it in Future to try and clear it even more. The final result isn't as great as I had hoped, but there's at least no sign of glue smear:

 

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Time to move on with that. Before I put it aside for the day, I dry-fit everything together that I had done:

 

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Moving on from there, I finally assembled the cab for the M-1070 tractor:

 

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After that, I wanted to build up the chassis and suspension to mount that cab on, so I built the first two axle sub-assemblies 'A' and 'B':

 

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Then I got called away so I put them both aside before I left. A couple days later, I return to start on this again and sub-assembly 'B' is gone! I tore the room apart for hours looking for it and finally gave up. I assembled the last two axle sub-assemblies 'C' and 'D' and cemented all three to the chassis frame. So now this will be the "light" version of this truck until I either find that sub-assembly or buy a whole new kit to replace it:

 

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Later I cut off the fenders to add to the chassis. One of them flat out broke when I tried cutting it off:

 

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It's like that hole on the left half was inside waiting for the any pressure to be applied so it could break! I glued it back together and added it to the chassis:

 

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Later I added Mr. Surfacer 500 to that crack, but not before this pic was taken. Here is the whole chassis with most of the extra parts added to it:

 

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Later I dry fit the cab to this to see how it would fit:

 

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It's gonna take some finagling, but it'll fit well. After that I can build the winch platform. Until then, I moved on and started the new Japanese Type 73 tank transporter. First was the chassis and engine which went together very fast and easy:

 

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There's still more detail parts to add to that,, but not before I get the cab mounted on it. So, I started the cab; building the interior first:

 

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Naturally I get everything done on this except the steering wheel. When I tried cutting that from the sprue, it tumbled down to the floor and disappeared. After another hour of frustrating search; I finally decided that it would not be noticeable enough once the cab was closed so to hell with it; I'm moving on! Life is too short and I have too many models to build to screw around with extra tiny pieces that refuse to stay on the table.

 

I then added the windows to the cab and popped the interior in to see if my premise was correct. It certainly does not show unless someone really looks hard:

 

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Onward we go from here to start assembly on the trailer:

 

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After that I was ready to get back to tanks. Since the Missing Lynx was running the Churchill Group Build, I pulled out two Churchills from Dragon to get started on. First was the Churchill III AVRE, starting with the turret:

 

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That petard mortar was a real pain to build, but I got it done. Then I added the five parts to the upper hull that are supposed to go on it and then added the turret for the pic:

 

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After that, I built the lower hull and roadwheels:

 

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Here's a test fit after all that was done:

 

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There's still a bit more to do on that, not least of which is to add the tracks. Until then, I started the Churchill IV AVRE; building the turret:

 

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By that time it was late so I stopped until I have more time to build later. Until then, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

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