Maddog Manufacturing Open for 2024

[Jmarc]

AHHHHHHHHHH RIGHT , your back ..This time my favorite was THE BEAR, the BEAR ,have I said the BEAR and of course ..the 32 or 36 rocker arms... keep them coming never have anought !

[Mark Deliduka]

Thank you Jean-Marc! The Bear is indeed coming along nicely.

 

The bogies on the Ratte will be done slowly but steadily....

[Jmarc]

CCCCCCCCCOOL, keep it up .. Slower it better my wife say..but  never have anough ....GO,GO,GOOOOOOOOOO

[Mark Deliduka]

It's been a pretty good couple weeks and so we have enough for a new tour. This one will be a bit shorter but there is still lots to see. So, make your way to the trams and all aboard!

 

In our first stop in the Hangar, we have a number of projects moving forward, including another troublesome model like the Concorde, but that is further in. First we have progress on this Israeli S-199. We completed the wing assembly which consisted of ten parts and dry ft that sub-assembly to the fuselage:

 

 

Since it fit so well, we added the cockpit from underneath; after adding the instrument panel first, and then cemented everything in place. The canopy was added here too:

 

 

Since masking the canopy was so difficult, even on the plane, it was removed and paper towel was used to mask the interior so that the base color could be applied. It was then glossed for decals after the paint had dried:

 

 

Finally here in the last bay we have the troublesome B-66 Destroyer. After multiple spraying, sanding, stripping, spraying etc. I finally decided to just move on. The silver coat was good enough so it was polished and decals were applied:

 

 

That is it for this short tour of the Hangar, now on to the Shipyards where small progress was done in our workshops building the weapons for the PT-15 MTB. Here is the second of the 20mm guns for this boat; the first had been built before:

 

 

We also completed the torpedo tubes (mostly); one part went missing. I intend to build these with one set of tubes closed and the other set of tubes open and ready to fire:

 

 

 

That is all we have here for now. On to the Motor Pool where we've been working on a number of projects that need to be finished.

 

 

In this first bay of the Motor Pool,  we have the British Achilles tank destroyer. This will be the first one of these I ever built. It's a UM kit so another tough fight here. First the running gear was installed:

 

 

The kit included photo etch strips to bend into shape and cemented to the top of these bogies. Naturally, as with all UM kits of Shermans and Sherman variants, these photo etch parts go AWOL no matter how hard I try to keep them from disappearing! So this time I wasn't waiting to find them; I have too many UM Shermans sitting incomplete because I'm waiting to find these parts! I figured I'd try plastic styrene strip. It was more difficult that I expected but I forged ahead, starting with getting a basic bend done and then cementing them to the bogies:

 

 

When these were dry, they were bent over and the other ends cemented down. Once they held, I added the upper run of track to push them down:

 

 

You can see they look very misshapen, not at all like they were supposed to be. But they are ON, and with enough paint and weathering, they will be darn near impossible to see. Hey it was an experiment that partially succeeded, I don't know if I'll try it again, but the opening there is possible. While that sat and simmered, the turret was completed with all but the ready ammunition:

 

 

By then, the tracks were dry enough so I completed the track runs for both sides:

 

 

All that is really needed now is the oversized bolts to be added to the turret and upper hull and this is ready for paint:

 

 

In the next bay we have the Egyptian Su-100 assault gun. This kit provided resin parts to replicate a vehicle used by the Egyptians, so they were added to this. The full run of tracks were added as well:

 

 

It's amazing; this model is from the same company as the Shermans and yet it goes together so much better than any of their Sherman kits! Anyway, this was got it's tan base coat and later a gloss coat to ready it for decals:

 

 

Following this is the Syrian StuG III completed and ready for paint after I added the track runs to this:

 

 

Because of all that photo etch, this was primed with a black primer to hopefully seal all that Zimm so the brass color doesn't shine through and that the base paint holds:

 

 

Sinister looking vehicle right? Where's that Haunted Tank?!!

 

Base paint went on well and looks great so far I think. Then the gloss was applied for the decals:

 

 

Now I wish I knew how to build the spacial monut they made for the Italian SAFAT machine gun that they mounted on this. All the pics are too far away, fuzzy or both to get a clear view, and any search attempts to find it went every which way but where I wanted it to go.

 

That leads us to the last Syrian tank, the PzIV in the next bay. As you can see, about half of the tracks had been installed while I went looking for the same type to complete these track runs:

 

 

I wanted to replace those Godawful vynil tracks that came in this kit. Searching for the same type of track that was already on it resulted in enough to finish these track runs. The turret shurtzen went on as well:

 

 

Finally a base of tan was appplied and later the gloss for decals:

 

 

Last but not least, the Ratte had been creeping along as Rattes do, I now have four of 16 bogies completed:

 

 

And that completes our short tour for today. Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome!

 

 

 

 

[ghodges]

Nice progress Duke, as always!

You didn't say how you were trying to shape the plastic strips you showed but implied you weren't getting the results you wanted. I've found I can bend thin sheet strips like that around a paint brush handle. BUT, you don't just "bend" it.... you bend it to get a curvature started and then holding between your thumb and forefinger take the thinner end of the paint brush handle and using thumb pressure with the other hand PULL the handle along the length of the strip, causing it to curl tightly around the handle as you pull and (hopefully) imparting even greater curvature to the strip. It'll never curl up as tightly as the handle due to the "straight memory" of the plastic; but it might help you get tighter curls if needed. If you're doing this already... oh well. If not, hope this helps!

 

Gil 

[Ron Bell]

A while back, I obtained a couple of tin printers plates. (They were used before the days of Xerox, laser printers, etc.) They are thin sheets of a tin like metal about the size of a legal pad and can actually be cut with an Exacto, although it's the last thing that particular blade will ever do.  It's thin enough to be bent to just about any shape yet being metal is strong enough to hold that shape. Now, I know that you probably won't be able to find any of this stuff anymore (but if you do hoard all you can get.), but you can get very thin sheet brass and/or aluminum from K&S products. It may cost a bit more than plastic (or any PE product) but a little bit will last you a very long time if used for small parts such as your track return guides.

[Mark Deliduka]

Thank you Gil! I did something quite similar as you described. That was the best result I got; perhaps I didn't work it long enough.

Thank you Ron! Yes, some of that thin metal would help tremendously. I'll be on the lookout for it when I go shopping next.

[Jmarc]

AAAAAAAAAAAnother treat for the eye....Keep them coming !

[Mark Deliduka]

Thank you Jean-Marc!

[Jmarc]

Any time !

[Mark Deliduka]

Another couple weeks of work on the Hobby Room and at Hobby Days, and there's loads to show. It's time for another tour so all aboard the trams and remember to keep hands and feet inside at all times. 

 

Our first stop again is the Hangar. Our first bay shows the work done on the P-38 gifted to me by a friend and fellow IPMS member. Basic assembly was fast for such an old kit:

 

 

It was found to be a tail sitter so we added weight to the nose, hit it with Gator's Grip Glue and left it to dry:

 

 

The landing gear was then added and when dry, tested. More weight was needed inside:

 

 

The shiny you see is from the accelerator used to speed the CA glue. After that dried, we shot a neutral grey on the bottom since we were also using that color in the Shipyards:

 

 

Time to let that cure for a bit and so moving on to the next bay, we have decals applied to the Israeli S-199. I chose the least colorful version because it was the only one of these birds to score two air-to-air kills in the 1956 War:

 

 

In the next two bays, we have the two Tu-16 Badgers. All the hatches were installed and the bottom color re-sprayed:

 

 

This was later masked off and the base color for the two were sprayed. First the Iraqi Badger:

 

 

Followed by the Egyptian Badger:

 

 

We went back to the Iraqi Badger and free handed the blotches with the airbrush:

 

 

While that was drying, we went back to the Egyptian Badger and started on the more complicated pattern. First, out came the Silly Putty and rolls were laid down to cover the base coat I wanted to remain. The second colkor was then sprayed on:

 

 

That color was then covered up with the Silly Putty:

 

 

....and the third color was sprayed on:

 

 

When all that was dry, the Silly Putty was removed and this is the result:

 

 

Both these Badger birds are ready for gloss coat and decals now.

 

The Bear also got some needed attention in the next bay. The bottom of the wings needed a "burnt iron" color applied to it and then a dark Sea Grey over everything not "burnt". So, we shot a dark metallic color on select areas and then masked them off to spray the sea grey. The lighter greys on the nose radome and select panels was also painted and then masked when dry. Then the Sea Grey was sprayed:

 

 

 

Now that all that is done, additional masking will be done so the final silver/alminum coat can be sprayed. Hopefully that will be soon. 

 

In this next bay is the start of a new aircraft model. It's an old Airfix 1/72 scale F-84F with Greek and Italian markings. This wil be an Italian bird for my Italian Air Force. The cockpit was done, just needs paint:

 

 

This final bay in the Hangar is another large model that I've been wanting to build for awhile, the Super G Constellation from Trans World Airlines. The cockit, wings and tail were all assembled:

 

 

That completes the Hangar portion of our tour, now on to the Shipyards....

 

 

 

Here in the Shipyards, we have a good bit of progress to show. In this first slipway, the Japanese PT-15 got the torpedo tubes installed finally:

 

 

While installing them, we realized that the deck was flexing too much and the superstructure/cabins would not stay snapped in place. Some reinforcement was then needed so thick styrene sprue posts were cut to fit and glued into place to allow the deck to be more solid:

 

 

 

Later the two cannons were added, the cabin again is just dry fit:

 

 

Since a lot of the torpedo tubes and the guns were not painted, more grey paint was shot on this boat:

 

 

Moving on to the next slipway, the Shangi-La got the first part of the deck painted:

 

 

This was then masked off to spray the blue-grey color next:

 

The next color was shot and  left to dry:

 

 

Finally all masking was removed:

 

 

This deck was ready to be installed on the hull. Naturally it took a bit of persuasion:

 

 

That isn't all! We opened another slipway and laid the keel for this next model. It's the Revell 1/72 scale Sunseeker Predator 108 luxury cabin cruiser:

 

 

And the final slipway was opened to lay the keel for the Mirage 1/400 scale German Tarantul-class missile boat "Hiddensee":

 

 

This was quick and easy to build so it got to the paint stage very fast:

 

 

And that completes this section of our Shipyards tour, now on to the Motor Pool....

 

 

 

 

The Motor Pool tour today has a good bit to show as well. In this first bay, we had to improvise with the British Achilles since the photo-etch set disappeared. With the help of a Dragon Sherman kit, and some strip styrene, we got this vehicle ready for paint:

 

 

The next bay shows the Egyptian Su-100 with it's base coat of paint:

 

 

Decals were applied next:

 

 

Additional detail painting was done after that:

 

 

That one is about ready to be finished off. 

 

The next bay we have to see is this one with the Syrian Panzer IV. Decals had gone on this one as well:

 

 

This and the Egyptian Su-100 got washes but they didn't show up well in these photos. After the decals and wash had dried, here is my attempt to scratch build a mount for the 12.7mm machine gun:

 

 

Later on, I found a 12.7 mm gun in my parts box and on it went:

 

 

I have to admit that just looks so cool! 

 

In the next bay, decals went on the Syrian StuG III:

 

 

In this next bay, we started this Trumpeter 1/72 scale BTR-70, which will be made into a Syrian BTR. Assembly for this went fast:

 

 

That completes our portion of the tour in the Motor Pool. 

 

However, here in our miscellaneous assembly yard out back, we started a 1/24 scale Lindbergh 1910 Model T Ford. I've always wanted one of these and everyone should have a model of the first mass produced car ever:

 

 

 

And that completes the whole tour, thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[Jmarc]

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWhat a treat !.... Thanks MARK  for the update and motivation !!!

[Mark Deliduka]

Thank you Jean-Marc and you're welcome!