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Maddog Manufacturing 2018 Production
- Thread starter Duke Maddog
- Start date
Flyingbabydoc
Well-known member
Mark, that is most impressive! So many models and such good Quality all at the same time... Mind boggling. I admire your capacity. 
I really hope your Treatment is going well. Anytime you want to talk about that, just PM me.
Now on to weathering those planes...
Cheers
Alex
I really hope your Treatment is going well. Anytime you want to talk about that, just PM me.
Now on to weathering those planes...
Cheers
Alex
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Frank! I'm trying to do well while still getting something completed. Slowly getting there....
Thanks Alex! Treatment is actually done; it was done on June 8th. The past month has been me dealing with the debilitating side effects. I'm recovering well according to my Doc whom I saw yesterday. He still wants me to take it easy though. The good news: I dropped 20 pounds. As for weathering my aircraft, I confess I don't know how to do it effectively so I usually don't. Especially jets; they almost always seem to be well maintained.
Thanks again for the awesome comments guys. I'll try to get more pics posted, but my wife is on vacation so we have a lot to do.
Thanks Alex! Treatment is actually done; it was done on June 8th. The past month has been me dealing with the debilitating side effects. I'm recovering well according to my Doc whom I saw yesterday. He still wants me to take it easy though. The good news: I dropped 20 pounds. As for weathering my aircraft, I confess I don't know how to do it effectively so I usually don't. Especially jets; they almost always seem to be well maintained.
Thanks again for the awesome comments guys. I'll try to get more pics posted, but my wife is on vacation so we have a lot to do.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Okay, now I finally have a bit of time to get some progress posted. It's been Decal Week at Maddog Manufacturing, as it's been too hot to shoot paint.
Here's my aircraft first...
I pulled out the decals for the Boeing 737 and got two thirds of them on. I had a lot of issues, especially since they were so delicate and broke quite a bit, despite my coating them with a couple coats of Liquid Decal Film. You can see where some parts shattered and the seams where they broke. Hey, they are ancient Aurora decals so I went into this with expectations that this would happen. Still, I tried to get these as close to perfect as possible, but I'm gonna have to settle for this as it is. Later I'll try to touch these up with paint:
Later I'll get the other side on when I have finished shooting another gloss coat on this to seal these in.
Moving on, I got the decals on my two Italian aircraft. The F-16 was the easiest:
Then I got the decals on the Italian Harrier:
Now I got my two Italian aircraft approaching the finish line....
Next up were a couple helicopters I added decals to. This first helicopter had a total of six (6!) decals just on the nose. These were the first three that I added:
You can see where I had to punch the guns through the bottom one. The next two decals then went on over these:
Finally, the last decal was added to the top of the nose:
I went on to complete the decals for this helicopter, but apparently forgot to take the pics of the fully decaled bird. Next update.....
The second helicopter is my EH-101 Merlin that I finally added the interior decals to. There were a lot and I like how they look. First is the seatbelts and center console on the cockpit:
Then I added the main instrument panel to the front. It was tough getting it in there, but I succeeded:
Next up was the anti-submarine operator's panels and the seatbelts for their chairs as well as the passenger chairs:
Finally, here's an overhead shot of the whole interior:
Now I've already added the windows to the fuselage halves and now I can close this up inside. Yes, I will leave some of the doors open to show some of this incredible interior.
Moving on to my armor, I managed to get some brush painting done on my RAF Airfield vehicles. It was easier to brush paint the darker camo pattern on these instead of masking and spraying.
First the Tilly:
Then the Bedford tanker:
On the rest of my vehicles I got all of the decals done. I now have at least three armor/vehicle models approaching the finish line.
First off, I got the decals on my German M-109. They aren't accurate as I had to steal them from an old decal sheet from an M-113 APC model I'd built a couple decades ago. I'd lost the decal sheet to this model and; instead of trying to contact Revell of Germany during their transition, or search forever trying to find them, I just moved on as best I could. I'm so tired of being delayed by such crappy, avoidable setbacks!
Here it is looking acceptable enough:
Next I added the decals to the German MAN truck. They only went on the front and back:
I already fixed that decal that silvered....
Finally the British Vauxhall ambulance got all the decals applied to this model:
That is now ready for the final detail parts and painting do be done. I might even have a few of these ready for Phoenix!
That's as far as I got so far this week. Next week might be a non-working week as I'll be heading out to the San Diego Comicon for almost all next week. I'm so glad it's all been paid for already! After I get back from that, I will try to dedicate some time to finishing off all these that are so close to being done.
Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.
Here's my aircraft first...
I pulled out the decals for the Boeing 737 and got two thirds of them on. I had a lot of issues, especially since they were so delicate and broke quite a bit, despite my coating them with a couple coats of Liquid Decal Film. You can see where some parts shattered and the seams where they broke. Hey, they are ancient Aurora decals so I went into this with expectations that this would happen. Still, I tried to get these as close to perfect as possible, but I'm gonna have to settle for this as it is. Later I'll try to touch these up with paint:
Later I'll get the other side on when I have finished shooting another gloss coat on this to seal these in.
Moving on, I got the decals on my two Italian aircraft. The F-16 was the easiest:
Then I got the decals on the Italian Harrier:
Now I got my two Italian aircraft approaching the finish line....
Next up were a couple helicopters I added decals to. This first helicopter had a total of six (6!) decals just on the nose. These were the first three that I added:
You can see where I had to punch the guns through the bottom one. The next two decals then went on over these:
Finally, the last decal was added to the top of the nose:
I went on to complete the decals for this helicopter, but apparently forgot to take the pics of the fully decaled bird. Next update.....
The second helicopter is my EH-101 Merlin that I finally added the interior decals to. There were a lot and I like how they look. First is the seatbelts and center console on the cockpit:
Then I added the main instrument panel to the front. It was tough getting it in there, but I succeeded:
Next up was the anti-submarine operator's panels and the seatbelts for their chairs as well as the passenger chairs:
Finally, here's an overhead shot of the whole interior:
Now I've already added the windows to the fuselage halves and now I can close this up inside. Yes, I will leave some of the doors open to show some of this incredible interior.
Moving on to my armor, I managed to get some brush painting done on my RAF Airfield vehicles. It was easier to brush paint the darker camo pattern on these instead of masking and spraying.
First the Tilly:
Then the Bedford tanker:
On the rest of my vehicles I got all of the decals done. I now have at least three armor/vehicle models approaching the finish line.
First off, I got the decals on my German M-109. They aren't accurate as I had to steal them from an old decal sheet from an M-113 APC model I'd built a couple decades ago. I'd lost the decal sheet to this model and; instead of trying to contact Revell of Germany during their transition, or search forever trying to find them, I just moved on as best I could. I'm so tired of being delayed by such crappy, avoidable setbacks!
Here it is looking acceptable enough:
Next I added the decals to the German MAN truck. They only went on the front and back:
I already fixed that decal that silvered....
Finally the British Vauxhall ambulance got all the decals applied to this model:
That is now ready for the final detail parts and painting do be done. I might even have a few of these ready for Phoenix!
That's as far as I got so far this week. Next week might be a non-working week as I'll be heading out to the San Diego Comicon for almost all next week. I'm so glad it's all been paid for already! After I get back from that, I will try to dedicate some time to finishing off all these that are so close to being done.
Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Well, it has been quite some time since I've had the chance to update this, much less build anything. With Comicon and the IPMS Nationals as well as other issues, I barely had any time to do anything until recently. When I finally got some time, I went full bore to try and finally finish all these models that were inches from being done.
Here is that update now. I'll start with the aircraft, or rather, my helicopters.
This is my Marine AH-1G that I've been trying to finish. When I picked it up to put the final parts on (weapons load) everything started to fall apart once again! See here:
What you don't see is one of the skids also came off, but I'd already glued it back on. Then all these parts came off as I was putting the last weapon pod on. The main rotor broke and the main disk that holds it to the fuselage disappeared. So, I used an old T-34 idler wheel to replace it. It was the right size and so I sanded the bevel into it before drilling it out. Here it is partially sanded, showing the bevel I was adding:
Here is the beveled hole it is supposed to go into:
Needless to say, I got it repaired, added all the weapons pods to this and now it is finished.
I also fixed the ruined skid on the British Gazelle but didn't get pics. It is now finished as well.
One other helicopter I worked on was my EH-101 Merlin. I finally added all the bits and bobs that I could that would not break off during handling (if I'm careful!). This bird is now ready for paint once I mask off all the windows and canopy:
Moving along, I painted the interior of the Italian Falcon's wheel wells and prepared the wings for the weapons pylons:
Later I added the landing gear and let it dry:
Then I added the pylons:
Finally, I added the wheels to the landing gear:
Finally, I added the ordinance and when it was dry, I moved this to the finished shelf.
I had also added the ordinance to the Italian Harrier and it is sitting on the shelf next to the Falcon.
Finally, I managed to get more done on the two F-14 Tomcats I was working on for a review. I started by removing all the Silly Putty from the wheel wells of both aircraft. I'm only showing one aircraft here:
Next I added the landing gear and wheels:
On the F-14B I also added the weapons pylons and targeting pod on the underside along with the landing gear:
Later I added the landing gear doors to both of these and set everything aside to dry while I went to work on the ordinance. As mentioned, these did not come in the kit but the instructions mentioned using their aftermarket weapons sets. I pulled out two sets I had, one air-to-air, one air-to ground. I started on the air-to-air weapons first:
The Sparrows and Sidewinders:
The Phoenixes:
After painting them up. I had a full weapons load out for the F-14A:
I had also pulled out the air-to-ground ordinance and chose four Mk 84 2000lb bombs for the F-14B. After painting them up, I had my load out ready:
Once these all went on the Tomcats, I was able to declare them finished.
Moving along to my armor, I was able to get four of them done. This is the progress I was able to show on three of them. The fourth one was so close all I had to do was touch up and weather it, so I didn't shoot pics of it in progress.
I'll start with my German MAN truck. I installed the wheels on this. I had also removed the window masking early so it went back on so I could shoot the dullcoat on it:
Later, I dullcoated this and then weathered it. I was finally able to call this one done.
Moving on, I also added the outer road wheels to the German M-109:
I had then added a couple extra missing parts to this:
After this, I dullcoated this and added the tools and tow cables before weathering it. Now it sits on my shelves.
Next up, I worked some more on my British Churchill since it has been giving me problems. The bar broke out again so I had to reinstall it with a more reinforced box. Here it is all roughed out so far:
Since this kept popping out of the track, I decided it was time to add some slots to the base of this track:
Later, I refined the box and got it ready to put back on the model:
Now it is installed with a plate underneath which keeps it inside the track and allows it to move properly:
Now to move on and get this finished....
Finally, I was able to finish my British Vauxhall Ambulance. First I added the wheels and other additional parts I forgot earlier:
Next I painted the details and newest parts and then dullcoated this:
Now for the great Mystery of Life: I have no idea why those decals remain silvered. I punctured them with a brand new Exacto blade, added a half gallon of Micro Sol and let it dry. When that didn't work, I punctured them again and used a half gallon of Solvaset this time. They are still silvered for some unknown reason. I'm stumped....
Anyway, that Ambulance is also sitting on my finished shelf.
There you have it, my modeling work from the last week and a half. My final progress that allowed me to finish another ten models this past week. Feel free to check them out in their respective sub-forums. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.
Here is that update now. I'll start with the aircraft, or rather, my helicopters.
This is my Marine AH-1G that I've been trying to finish. When I picked it up to put the final parts on (weapons load) everything started to fall apart once again! See here:
What you don't see is one of the skids also came off, but I'd already glued it back on. Then all these parts came off as I was putting the last weapon pod on. The main rotor broke and the main disk that holds it to the fuselage disappeared. So, I used an old T-34 idler wheel to replace it. It was the right size and so I sanded the bevel into it before drilling it out. Here it is partially sanded, showing the bevel I was adding:
Here is the beveled hole it is supposed to go into:
Needless to say, I got it repaired, added all the weapons pods to this and now it is finished.
I also fixed the ruined skid on the British Gazelle but didn't get pics. It is now finished as well.
One other helicopter I worked on was my EH-101 Merlin. I finally added all the bits and bobs that I could that would not break off during handling (if I'm careful!). This bird is now ready for paint once I mask off all the windows and canopy:
Moving along, I painted the interior of the Italian Falcon's wheel wells and prepared the wings for the weapons pylons:
Later I added the landing gear and let it dry:
Then I added the pylons:
Finally, I added the wheels to the landing gear:
Finally, I added the ordinance and when it was dry, I moved this to the finished shelf.
I had also added the ordinance to the Italian Harrier and it is sitting on the shelf next to the Falcon.
Finally, I managed to get more done on the two F-14 Tomcats I was working on for a review. I started by removing all the Silly Putty from the wheel wells of both aircraft. I'm only showing one aircraft here:
Next I added the landing gear and wheels:
On the F-14B I also added the weapons pylons and targeting pod on the underside along with the landing gear:
Later I added the landing gear doors to both of these and set everything aside to dry while I went to work on the ordinance. As mentioned, these did not come in the kit but the instructions mentioned using their aftermarket weapons sets. I pulled out two sets I had, one air-to-air, one air-to ground. I started on the air-to-air weapons first:
The Sparrows and Sidewinders:
The Phoenixes:
After painting them up. I had a full weapons load out for the F-14A:
I had also pulled out the air-to-ground ordinance and chose four Mk 84 2000lb bombs for the F-14B. After painting them up, I had my load out ready:
Once these all went on the Tomcats, I was able to declare them finished.
Moving along to my armor, I was able to get four of them done. This is the progress I was able to show on three of them. The fourth one was so close all I had to do was touch up and weather it, so I didn't shoot pics of it in progress.
I'll start with my German MAN truck. I installed the wheels on this. I had also removed the window masking early so it went back on so I could shoot the dullcoat on it:
Later, I dullcoated this and then weathered it. I was finally able to call this one done.
Moving on, I also added the outer road wheels to the German M-109:
I had then added a couple extra missing parts to this:
After this, I dullcoated this and added the tools and tow cables before weathering it. Now it sits on my shelves.
Next up, I worked some more on my British Churchill since it has been giving me problems. The bar broke out again so I had to reinstall it with a more reinforced box. Here it is all roughed out so far:
Since this kept popping out of the track, I decided it was time to add some slots to the base of this track:
Later, I refined the box and got it ready to put back on the model:
Now it is installed with a plate underneath which keeps it inside the track and allows it to move properly:
Now to move on and get this finished....
Finally, I was able to finish my British Vauxhall Ambulance. First I added the wheels and other additional parts I forgot earlier:
Next I painted the details and newest parts and then dullcoated this:
Now for the great Mystery of Life: I have no idea why those decals remain silvered. I punctured them with a brand new Exacto blade, added a half gallon of Micro Sol and let it dry. When that didn't work, I punctured them again and used a half gallon of Solvaset this time. They are still silvered for some unknown reason. I'm stumped....
Anyway, that Ambulance is also sitting on my finished shelf.
There you have it, my modeling work from the last week and a half. My final progress that allowed me to finish another ten models this past week. Feel free to check them out in their respective sub-forums. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Okay, all this past week and a half, I've been dealing with the extreme pain of a pinched nerve in my back between my shoulder blades. It has all but incapacitated me; making my left arm numb and making it uncomfortable for me to sit; lying down is painful, and driving extremely dangerous due to not being able to turn my head to the left. Not to mention the heavy doses of pain meds I'm taking just to get through a day. I have been seeing a Dr. and chiropractor to get this fixed and it's helping a little, but I really messed myself up! That being said, amazingly enough I am able to work on models without too much discomfort; in fact the combination of meds and modeling almost lets me forget I have this pain... till I try to turn my head again. So I've been spending a lot of time on the bench when I'm not sleeping or watching movies. Here is the result of this past week's work. Let's go to my Hobby Room.
Sylvester was standing guard as I worked all this week:
To start with, I wanted something fast, easy and uncomplicated to get myself back into this since this pain started. That's when I noticed this truck from my Mystery Box haul:
It is the Revell snap together truck we used to get for the Make-n-Takes at the Fullerton Airport. The first thing I did when I pulled everything out of the bag was to paint the console LED screen and then dry-brush the rest of the console to bring out the detail:
Five minutes of blissful building later, I had this:
You can see I even did a black wash in certain areas where the detail was recessed enough, and I lightly dry-brushed the front of the grill in chrome to bring out the grid pattern. Sylvester took a break from guarding the door to check out my work. He also approves:
No I didn't paint the body first. I did polish it afterward though. You'll notice that there is no left hand rear view mirror. That's because this kit only came with two right side mirrors. What do do....
I took and cut off the post on one of the right side mirrors and re-shaped it slightly to fit on the left side:
After gluing it back together, put it on. It isn't an exact match to the right side, but it does pass muster for me:
I debated chroming the "Ford" logo on the front grill and back tailgate. I might still do that.
Now that I got all warmed up, it was time for some serious modeling....
Even though I was starting to get more serious, I still wanted something simple and easy. So, I pulled out this Italeri Train station I'd gotten some time back and got it all basically assembled:
There's still a lot of detail parts to add to this but the basic structure is done. This kit even comes with clear plastic for the windows.
Now it was time to move forward on some models that had been sitting for awhile. As I was re-arranging things from my marathon finishing session, I found this ancient MPC Mi-24 Hind I started some years back. I was going to make it Nigerian. So, I pulled it out and added all the extra detail parts to this that I could so it would be ready for paint:
The canopy got messed up from some paint and other substance spilling on it so I need to find another Hind model to nick a canopy from. Until then, I might just mask the open cockpit and still paint his anyway.
Moving along, I also worked on a British Type 42 destroyer that had been sitting for far too long. I finally added all the extra bits and bobs that I could:
After all that, I noticed that the main superstructure; when glued on, had a noticeable overhang on one side, and a slight one on the other side. I very carefully sanded this down smooth and added some acrylic putty to the seam:
Some time later after I got all the detail painting and touch ups done, this is ready for clearcoat and decals:
This next model is a commission build for a friend on another Forums. He sent me a Cyber Hobby 1/72 scale F-6 Hellcat and wants me to build this with the wings folded. I started with the cockpit first, naturally:
There are still some side walls to add to this but only after painting. Next I assembled the engine and mount. There is quiet a bit of detail in here:
Finally, since he wants this to be the night fighter version; I assembled the three parts for the radar dome:
Moving along from here to my armor, I got a considerable amount of progress done. In the vein of trying to move existing projects along, I added the decals to the RAF Vehicle set. First the Tilly:
Then the Bedford Tanker:
Next I added the decals to the Churchill bridgelayer:
Later, after I dullcoated this, I pulled the bride portion off and started to weather it. I used Tamiya weathering powders of mud, sand and light sand to spread across the top of the bridge with a wet brush. I got this result:
It's still a bit wet. Once it dries, I'll be wiping off a lot of that to represent dirt removed from vehicles passing over it. Then I'll dry brush this with steel afterward.
Now for the armor models I started.
This is the Soviet SG-122 I got in Phoenix. I figured it was a simple enough kit to build. I forgot it was Military Wheels! It was a bit of a challenge to say the least. I started with the assembly of the lower hull. Good start:
Then I added the upper hull and rear engine grills to this:
Still not too bad, despite poor instructions and very vague attachment indicators.
then I tried the upper casemate. That's when it got rough with me. After awhile, I beat this into submission:
Moving along, I decided I needed another easy model to work on. So why not two? I pulled out the Dragon Humvee twin set with the cargo truck and the steel-plated gun truck. I started on the upper interior first, then moved on to the chassis:
Once they were done, I assembled the second one. Here they are together:
The next assemblies is where the similarities on these diverge and so require different assembly steps.
Finally, I decided to build my Roden WWI gun, thinking it would be fairly simple. After all, it is only a gun right? But it's a Roden gun so it gave me a fight.
I started with the main carriage, getting most of the basic pieces on:
I then moved on and built the barrel:
While that was drying, I assembled the gun trailer. I forget what it's called... it'll come to me:
I then went back and added the gun trunnions and recoil track to the main carriage:
After that, I went to go look at the wheels. Oh joy! This kit gives one some vinyl tread plate for the main gun wheels! It's a Roden kit:
So, I pulled out my trusty Tire Glue to add this track to the wheels:
The best way to do this was to glue half of it to the wheels, then wrap it around the rest of the way when the first half was dry:
Man, what a pain! While they were drying, I tried to add more detail parts to the main gun carriage and trunnions. Notice the ling thin piece number 16E and where it is supposed to go. Now notice the piece 16E I added to the gun. Notice how it is far to long:
It's a Roden kit.
Piece 16E did not make it onto this model.
Getting back to the wheels, you'll notice that the vinyl parts do not stretch all the way around. They stop just short:
It's a Roden kit.
I'll figure something out later about what to do with that. Meanwhile, I added the wheels to this to see how it looks so far:
Not bad, despite the ill-fitting parts and the crappy vinyl parts. Here it is with it hooked up to the trailer:
This beastie will be hand painted... too many easily broken details all over this to mask and spray.
And for fun, I hooked that up to the FWD 3-ton ammunition carrier that would normally have pulled this in the war:
Well that completes my update for this week. Thanks all for looking in. Comments are welcome.
Sylvester was standing guard as I worked all this week:
To start with, I wanted something fast, easy and uncomplicated to get myself back into this since this pain started. That's when I noticed this truck from my Mystery Box haul:
It is the Revell snap together truck we used to get for the Make-n-Takes at the Fullerton Airport. The first thing I did when I pulled everything out of the bag was to paint the console LED screen and then dry-brush the rest of the console to bring out the detail:
Five minutes of blissful building later, I had this:
You can see I even did a black wash in certain areas where the detail was recessed enough, and I lightly dry-brushed the front of the grill in chrome to bring out the grid pattern. Sylvester took a break from guarding the door to check out my work. He also approves:
No I didn't paint the body first. I did polish it afterward though. You'll notice that there is no left hand rear view mirror. That's because this kit only came with two right side mirrors. What do do....
I took and cut off the post on one of the right side mirrors and re-shaped it slightly to fit on the left side:
After gluing it back together, put it on. It isn't an exact match to the right side, but it does pass muster for me:
I debated chroming the "Ford" logo on the front grill and back tailgate. I might still do that.
Now that I got all warmed up, it was time for some serious modeling....
Even though I was starting to get more serious, I still wanted something simple and easy. So, I pulled out this Italeri Train station I'd gotten some time back and got it all basically assembled:
There's still a lot of detail parts to add to this but the basic structure is done. This kit even comes with clear plastic for the windows.
Now it was time to move forward on some models that had been sitting for awhile. As I was re-arranging things from my marathon finishing session, I found this ancient MPC Mi-24 Hind I started some years back. I was going to make it Nigerian. So, I pulled it out and added all the extra detail parts to this that I could so it would be ready for paint:
The canopy got messed up from some paint and other substance spilling on it so I need to find another Hind model to nick a canopy from. Until then, I might just mask the open cockpit and still paint his anyway.
Moving along, I also worked on a British Type 42 destroyer that had been sitting for far too long. I finally added all the extra bits and bobs that I could:
After all that, I noticed that the main superstructure; when glued on, had a noticeable overhang on one side, and a slight one on the other side. I very carefully sanded this down smooth and added some acrylic putty to the seam:
Some time later after I got all the detail painting and touch ups done, this is ready for clearcoat and decals:
This next model is a commission build for a friend on another Forums. He sent me a Cyber Hobby 1/72 scale F-6 Hellcat and wants me to build this with the wings folded. I started with the cockpit first, naturally:
There are still some side walls to add to this but only after painting. Next I assembled the engine and mount. There is quiet a bit of detail in here:
Finally, since he wants this to be the night fighter version; I assembled the three parts for the radar dome:
Moving along from here to my armor, I got a considerable amount of progress done. In the vein of trying to move existing projects along, I added the decals to the RAF Vehicle set. First the Tilly:
Then the Bedford Tanker:
Next I added the decals to the Churchill bridgelayer:
Later, after I dullcoated this, I pulled the bride portion off and started to weather it. I used Tamiya weathering powders of mud, sand and light sand to spread across the top of the bridge with a wet brush. I got this result:
It's still a bit wet. Once it dries, I'll be wiping off a lot of that to represent dirt removed from vehicles passing over it. Then I'll dry brush this with steel afterward.
Now for the armor models I started.
This is the Soviet SG-122 I got in Phoenix. I figured it was a simple enough kit to build. I forgot it was Military Wheels! It was a bit of a challenge to say the least. I started with the assembly of the lower hull. Good start:
Then I added the upper hull and rear engine grills to this:
Still not too bad, despite poor instructions and very vague attachment indicators.
then I tried the upper casemate. That's when it got rough with me. After awhile, I beat this into submission:
Moving along, I decided I needed another easy model to work on. So why not two? I pulled out the Dragon Humvee twin set with the cargo truck and the steel-plated gun truck. I started on the upper interior first, then moved on to the chassis:
Once they were done, I assembled the second one. Here they are together:
The next assemblies is where the similarities on these diverge and so require different assembly steps.
Finally, I decided to build my Roden WWI gun, thinking it would be fairly simple. After all, it is only a gun right? But it's a Roden gun so it gave me a fight.
I started with the main carriage, getting most of the basic pieces on:
I then moved on and built the barrel:
While that was drying, I assembled the gun trailer. I forget what it's called... it'll come to me:
I then went back and added the gun trunnions and recoil track to the main carriage:
After that, I went to go look at the wheels. Oh joy! This kit gives one some vinyl tread plate for the main gun wheels! It's a Roden kit:
So, I pulled out my trusty Tire Glue to add this track to the wheels:
The best way to do this was to glue half of it to the wheels, then wrap it around the rest of the way when the first half was dry:
Man, what a pain! While they were drying, I tried to add more detail parts to the main gun carriage and trunnions. Notice the ling thin piece number 16E and where it is supposed to go. Now notice the piece 16E I added to the gun. Notice how it is far to long:
It's a Roden kit.
Piece 16E did not make it onto this model.
Getting back to the wheels, you'll notice that the vinyl parts do not stretch all the way around. They stop just short:
It's a Roden kit.
I'll figure something out later about what to do with that. Meanwhile, I added the wheels to this to see how it looks so far:
Not bad, despite the ill-fitting parts and the crappy vinyl parts. Here it is with it hooked up to the trailer:
This beastie will be hand painted... too many easily broken details all over this to mask and spray.
And for fun, I hooked that up to the FWD 3-ton ammunition carrier that would normally have pulled this in the war:
Well that completes my update for this week. Thanks all for looking in. Comments are welcome.
You have my interest in the Tram station 
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Bob! I need to get that and my Berlin House painted. I also have a church to build; I should get on that.
Thank you Frank! I agree, anything to escape this pain. On the upside, I'm getting a lot done and making up for all the time lost when I stagnated earlier.
Thank you Frank! I agree, anything to escape this pain. On the upside, I'm getting a lot done and making up for all the time lost when I stagnated earlier.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Here's another small update showing my latest work from the past three or four days now. Thank God for this great Hobby keeping me distracted through my ordeal!
I'll start with the Churchill bridgelayer tank. I finished the weathering on the bridging section now. It's kind of hard to see well here but I'm happy with the result:
That tank is now finished, so I moved on.
I found another Shelf Queen when rummaging around the Hobby Room. This is a little ACE kit of a Japanese Kurogane pickup truck that I'd started a couple years ago and then stopped because I thought a vital piece was missing. Another Shelf Queen that was shelved due to missing parts....
Turns out, I was mis-reading the instruction sheet and the 'missing' part had been there the whole time. So, I went back to work on it. I started out by finishing the chassis and suspension:
That was fairly easy, although getting the axles to line up was a bit tough.
Next I moved on to the cab. Not too bad:
I then built the bed and then test fit the parts of the cab to see how it would fit since early ACE kits are notorious for poor fit. This one is no exception. In fact, it is even worse than many ACE kits I've done before:
Yeah, that's gonna take a lot of work. But I want this Shelf Queen finished so I painted the interior to prepare for the eventual fight to close this up:
I still need to touch up a few things inside and then add the windows and then I'll be able to move on.
Since I had already completed the other two vehicles in my RAF Support Vehicles set, I completed the last one here. This is the little motorcycle that came in the set. Yes, I did have to build it; there were three pieces to assemble after all:
After some touch up painting here, I was able to call that one done.
Next, I worked on the F-6 Hellcat commission build. I got the instrument panel painted up using a lightened flat black for the panel itself, then I painted the dials with a Metallic black to simulate glass covered dials:
I then painted up the entire cockpit and installed the instrument panel:
This kit came with photo-etch seatbelts that I'll need to paint and install next. I then assembled the wings; using the linkages for folded ones:
Afterward I assembled the center section that attaches to the fuselage. Here it is with the assembled wings:
You'll note that one linkage is white; while test fitting the wings to the center section I broke one off which then disappeared. Strip styrene to the rescue!
Here is one of the wings test fit in place. It does look good:
Finally, I can't post an update without showing the engine. I got it all painted up and ready to install. I also ran it for a bit to test it and it purrs like a kitten. LOL! The pics don't do it justice here:
Finally, the Maddog Manufacturing Shipyards laid down three more ships since I needed a break from aircraft and armor. This first one is the hull for a 1/700 scale Liberty ship, the USS Bootes:
In the next slipway over, we laid down the hull for a 1/700 scale WWII Japanese fleet oiler:
Finally, in my larger slipway used for carriers and battleships, we laid down a new Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force aircraft carrier; or as they call it, an aircraft carrying through-deck escort cruiser. This is a review kit of the 1/700 scale DDH Izumo being reviewed on another Forums. The first part of the assembly involved assembling the hull. This kit gives you some strong bulkhead pieces to keep the hull in the proper shape. I also added the bow plate, the stern, and the side hanger deck elevator and door to make this hull complete:
The fit of this kit is exquisite! No seams at all; everything seemed to just 'snap' into place. A few extremely minor ridges occurred but that is easily fixed with a few swipes of the sanding stick:
This is one exceptionally well engineered kit with incredible detail.
Following this, I added the flight deck to the hull. On the tops of the support bulkheads, there are nubs that need to remain; do not sand them off. They correspond with holes on the underside of the flight deck which keeps this piece perfectly lined up with the hull. I glued this in place and it had no seams or fit issues whatsoever:
You can see here the excellent fit; I left a small bead of glue there to sand down later to eliminate any seam this might have. I didn't even need to clamp this:
Next up, I started the island superstructure. It has two sections that need to be assembled. Here are the two of them assembled and lined up. Again, exquisite fit with no issues to speak of:
Here she is with the island dry-fit to the deck. This was after about a half hours' work assembling this:
This is a much bigger ship than I imagined, considerably larger than their Osumi class of LST/through-deck destroyers. Just to show you, I shot a pic of the Izumo next to the hull of the Japanese fleet oiler to show you the massive size of this ship:
And that completes this week's update so far. Today is Hobby Day so I'll be getting more done later on. Until then, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.
I'll start with the Churchill bridgelayer tank. I finished the weathering on the bridging section now. It's kind of hard to see well here but I'm happy with the result:
That tank is now finished, so I moved on.
I found another Shelf Queen when rummaging around the Hobby Room. This is a little ACE kit of a Japanese Kurogane pickup truck that I'd started a couple years ago and then stopped because I thought a vital piece was missing. Another Shelf Queen that was shelved due to missing parts....
Turns out, I was mis-reading the instruction sheet and the 'missing' part had been there the whole time. So, I went back to work on it. I started out by finishing the chassis and suspension:
That was fairly easy, although getting the axles to line up was a bit tough.
Next I moved on to the cab. Not too bad:
I then built the bed and then test fit the parts of the cab to see how it would fit since early ACE kits are notorious for poor fit. This one is no exception. In fact, it is even worse than many ACE kits I've done before:
Yeah, that's gonna take a lot of work. But I want this Shelf Queen finished so I painted the interior to prepare for the eventual fight to close this up:
I still need to touch up a few things inside and then add the windows and then I'll be able to move on.
Since I had already completed the other two vehicles in my RAF Support Vehicles set, I completed the last one here. This is the little motorcycle that came in the set. Yes, I did have to build it; there were three pieces to assemble after all:
After some touch up painting here, I was able to call that one done.
Next, I worked on the F-6 Hellcat commission build. I got the instrument panel painted up using a lightened flat black for the panel itself, then I painted the dials with a Metallic black to simulate glass covered dials:
I then painted up the entire cockpit and installed the instrument panel:
This kit came with photo-etch seatbelts that I'll need to paint and install next. I then assembled the wings; using the linkages for folded ones:
Afterward I assembled the center section that attaches to the fuselage. Here it is with the assembled wings:
You'll note that one linkage is white; while test fitting the wings to the center section I broke one off which then disappeared. Strip styrene to the rescue!
Here is one of the wings test fit in place. It does look good:
Finally, I can't post an update without showing the engine. I got it all painted up and ready to install. I also ran it for a bit to test it and it purrs like a kitten. LOL! The pics don't do it justice here:
Finally, the Maddog Manufacturing Shipyards laid down three more ships since I needed a break from aircraft and armor. This first one is the hull for a 1/700 scale Liberty ship, the USS Bootes:
In the next slipway over, we laid down the hull for a 1/700 scale WWII Japanese fleet oiler:
Finally, in my larger slipway used for carriers and battleships, we laid down a new Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force aircraft carrier; or as they call it, an aircraft carrying through-deck escort cruiser. This is a review kit of the 1/700 scale DDH Izumo being reviewed on another Forums. The first part of the assembly involved assembling the hull. This kit gives you some strong bulkhead pieces to keep the hull in the proper shape. I also added the bow plate, the stern, and the side hanger deck elevator and door to make this hull complete:
The fit of this kit is exquisite! No seams at all; everything seemed to just 'snap' into place. A few extremely minor ridges occurred but that is easily fixed with a few swipes of the sanding stick:
This is one exceptionally well engineered kit with incredible detail.
Following this, I added the flight deck to the hull. On the tops of the support bulkheads, there are nubs that need to remain; do not sand them off. They correspond with holes on the underside of the flight deck which keeps this piece perfectly lined up with the hull. I glued this in place and it had no seams or fit issues whatsoever:
You can see here the excellent fit; I left a small bead of glue there to sand down later to eliminate any seam this might have. I didn't even need to clamp this:
Next up, I started the island superstructure. It has two sections that need to be assembled. Here are the two of them assembled and lined up. Again, exquisite fit with no issues to speak of:
Here she is with the island dry-fit to the deck. This was after about a half hours' work assembling this:
This is a much bigger ship than I imagined, considerably larger than their Osumi class of LST/through-deck destroyers. Just to show you, I shot a pic of the Izumo next to the hull of the Japanese fleet oiler to show you the massive size of this ship:
And that completes this week's update so far. Today is Hobby Day so I'll be getting more done later on. Until then, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks guys! I hope to have more done soon. Stay tuned.
Mark unless you're going to present that Hellcat with the wings stowed I would forget the linkage and glue the wings together, you never can get those working wings to look snug up and correct if they swing.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Iambrb! I'm just trying to keep busy while trying to recover from this back spasm. I can barely do anything at all, but working on the bench is easy and actually helps me forget the pain.
Yeah, Sylvester is a beautiful cat. Amazingly enough, he doesn't need all that much brushing. I do try to brush him once in a while, but he doesn't like it and attacks the brush. He's such a great cat too; I love how he 'stations' himself by the door as if guarding it.
Thanks Bob. Yeah, the guy I'm building this for wants them folded. Otherwise, I would have done exactly that. Great minds think alike!
Thanks again for the great comments guys!
jknaus
Administrator
Looking good Mark. It sucks with the pinched nerve. I fully understand that though having degenerative disk disease in my neck and lower back. I'm on some good stuff but still need t-3s to take the edge off. If you have a recliner try sleeping in that with the back half way. Thats how I sleep now as I cant sleep in a bed. Take care of your self and hope you get fixed up soon.
James
James
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks James! I appreciate the compliment. Yeah, my doc just put me on a stronger nerve pain med; hopefully it'll help with my chiropractic appointments. I've been sleeping partially sitting up in some reclining office chairs (the big ones) and it helps somewhat. Man, I just want this over with!
Thanks Kenny! Yeah, this is my first time encountering those types of guns on a Hellcat too.
Stay tuned. More to come....
Thanks Kenny! Yeah, this is my first time encountering those types of guns on a Hellcat too.
Stay tuned. More to come....
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Okay, here is another small update for this week. I managed to get this work done over the past three days.... in between meds-induced naps.
I'll start with my aircraft. For something different, I started my Israeli F-16I Sufa since I've been wanting that in my collection for awhile.
Of course, I started with the cockpit. It was fairly un-detailed, but I'll have decal instrument panels and pilots inside so....
Next I assembled the air intake:
Once that was dry, I installed it on the lower fuselage:
While looking for more sub-assemblies to do, I found the dorsal hump and built that. There are still a few detail parts to add to this though before it is done:
Here it is dry-fit to the upper fuselage for now:
That was as far as I went on that. Next I went to the commission build to get more done on it.
Starting out, I added the photo etch seat belts to the seat, starting with the lap belts first; then the shoulder belts:
You can see the shoulder belts are all over the place. I glued the top of them to the seat with Gator Grip Glue and waited till they dried. Once everything was dry, I took a semi-rounded rod and pressed them into the seat:
They aren't laying the best, but in this scale, it's tough to see anyway. Once these dried further, I painted them up:
Once that was done, I finished the cockpit assembly...
...and then installed it inside the fuselage:
Finally, I assembled the tail wheel, added it to the fuselage half and closed everything up. Then I cemented the center wing section to the underside of this model and added the horizontal stabilizers. I also dry-fit the engine to the front to see how it fit:
Just for fun, I dry fit the wings and the cowl to this to see how it was coming along, as well as check the fit of all these parts:
Looking over the model later; I decided to take my acrylic putty and fill in the small gaps on the ends of the wings that I couldn't glue shut, even with clamps:
I also had a few very minor seams on the center wing section to fill:
Furthermore, while looking over the sprues, I encountered these parts and for the life of me I could not figure out how they fit on the model:
The instruction sheet was as clear as mud about the placement; if it was to be believed, the part on the right was supposed to be glued on one end with a very fragile join to the center wing section and the other end was supposed to swing in the wind as there was nothing to connect it to. I tried as much as I could to figure it out, even looking at reference pics but could not come up with a solution. Therefore, these parts were not added to the model. As they are in the underside, they wouldn't be well seen anyway. I don't know what else to do about it. Finally I moved on and assembled the center drop tank:
Now this model is ready to mask and paint.
Moving on to my armor, I added the glazing to the windows on the Japanese pickup truck:
Now I can fight this beast to get it together.
Next, I started the interior of the Humvee gun truck. I assembled the "basket" that goes in the bed:
It fits well inside, as seen here where it is dry fit in place. The box in front of it fell over when I shifted this to shoot the pic:
Next I added the extra parts to the suspension and chassis. I then dry-fit the whole thing together to see how it fit:
I added the same parts to the chassis of the troop carrying Humvee as well:
Now I have to find the 'tilt' for this so I can finish it.
Here are both of these Humvees almost ready for paint:
After this, I decided to start another model for a Group Build on the Missing Lynx forums. This is the PST ZIS-5 fire truck. I started with the simplified suspension:
From there I moved on to assemble the cab, leaving the roof off so I can add the windows later and paint the interior:
I set that aside to dry and assembled the water tank next:
Then I built the hose reel:
Later I'll put all these together and get this painted.
Speaking of getting something ready for paint, I went back to my shipyards and finished adding all the superstructure and some additional bits and bobs to my Liberty ship to get it ready for paint. Here it is sans gantries and cranes; I'll add them later when there's less danger of breaking them off:
Furthermore, I also added the superstructure to my Japanese Fleet Oiler:
I then moved on and added some additional deck pieces and the stack to complete this ship some more and have it ready for paint:
Well, that completes my small update for the past few days. Hopefully I'll get more done soon. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.
I'll start with my aircraft. For something different, I started my Israeli F-16I Sufa since I've been wanting that in my collection for awhile.
Of course, I started with the cockpit. It was fairly un-detailed, but I'll have decal instrument panels and pilots inside so....
Next I assembled the air intake:
Once that was dry, I installed it on the lower fuselage:
While looking for more sub-assemblies to do, I found the dorsal hump and built that. There are still a few detail parts to add to this though before it is done:
Here it is dry-fit to the upper fuselage for now:
That was as far as I went on that. Next I went to the commission build to get more done on it.
Starting out, I added the photo etch seat belts to the seat, starting with the lap belts first; then the shoulder belts:
You can see the shoulder belts are all over the place. I glued the top of them to the seat with Gator Grip Glue and waited till they dried. Once everything was dry, I took a semi-rounded rod and pressed them into the seat:
They aren't laying the best, but in this scale, it's tough to see anyway. Once these dried further, I painted them up:
Once that was done, I finished the cockpit assembly...
...and then installed it inside the fuselage:
Finally, I assembled the tail wheel, added it to the fuselage half and closed everything up. Then I cemented the center wing section to the underside of this model and added the horizontal stabilizers. I also dry-fit the engine to the front to see how it fit:
Just for fun, I dry fit the wings and the cowl to this to see how it was coming along, as well as check the fit of all these parts:
Looking over the model later; I decided to take my acrylic putty and fill in the small gaps on the ends of the wings that I couldn't glue shut, even with clamps:
I also had a few very minor seams on the center wing section to fill:
Furthermore, while looking over the sprues, I encountered these parts and for the life of me I could not figure out how they fit on the model:
The instruction sheet was as clear as mud about the placement; if it was to be believed, the part on the right was supposed to be glued on one end with a very fragile join to the center wing section and the other end was supposed to swing in the wind as there was nothing to connect it to. I tried as much as I could to figure it out, even looking at reference pics but could not come up with a solution. Therefore, these parts were not added to the model. As they are in the underside, they wouldn't be well seen anyway. I don't know what else to do about it. Finally I moved on and assembled the center drop tank:
Now this model is ready to mask and paint.
Moving on to my armor, I added the glazing to the windows on the Japanese pickup truck:
Now I can fight this beast to get it together.
Next, I started the interior of the Humvee gun truck. I assembled the "basket" that goes in the bed:
It fits well inside, as seen here where it is dry fit in place. The box in front of it fell over when I shifted this to shoot the pic:
Next I added the extra parts to the suspension and chassis. I then dry-fit the whole thing together to see how it fit:
I added the same parts to the chassis of the troop carrying Humvee as well:
Now I have to find the 'tilt' for this so I can finish it.
Here are both of these Humvees almost ready for paint:
After this, I decided to start another model for a Group Build on the Missing Lynx forums. This is the PST ZIS-5 fire truck. I started with the simplified suspension:
From there I moved on to assemble the cab, leaving the roof off so I can add the windows later and paint the interior:
I set that aside to dry and assembled the water tank next:
Then I built the hose reel:
Later I'll put all these together and get this painted.
Speaking of getting something ready for paint, I went back to my shipyards and finished adding all the superstructure and some additional bits and bobs to my Liberty ship to get it ready for paint. Here it is sans gantries and cranes; I'll add them later when there's less danger of breaking them off:
Furthermore, I also added the superstructure to my Japanese Fleet Oiler:
I then moved on and added some additional deck pieces and the stack to complete this ship some more and have it ready for paint:
Well, that completes my small update for the past few days. Hopefully I'll get more done soon. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.