-
Modelers Alliance has updated the forum software on our website. We have migrated all post, content and user accounts but we could not migrate the passwords.
This requires that you manually reset your password.
Please click here, http://modelersalliance.org/forums/login to go to logon page and use the "Forgot your Password" option.
Maddog Manufacturing 2020 Production
- Thread starter Duke Maddog
- Start date
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Sherman!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Bruce! You seem to have gone way back in time. The two models you mentioned have been finished for some time now. I will look forward to seeing your digital camouflaged BMP.
Thanks again for the awesome reply.
Thanks again for the awesome reply.
Brokeneagle
Master at Arms
your a machine man.......where do you put them all and how do you stay so motivated?
Ian
Ian
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thank you Ian! I put them all in one bedroom of a two-bedroom condo. Pics attached. As for the motivation; sometimes it's hard to stay motivated; especially when too many kits lose too many parts or sub-assemblies. Having different subjects going at the same time though, does help keep things fresh.
Of course, these pics were taken when I still had all my armor out on display. Now it is all in tubs since the shelves you see are just as full as you see here, without all the armor. I have no place left to place my armor out. Just so you know, some of these pics are almost a decade old. Someday I'll have to take updated pics...
Of course, these pics were taken when I still had all my armor out on display. Now it is all in tubs since the shelves you see are just as full as you see here, without all the armor. I have no place left to place my armor out. Just so you know, some of these pics are almost a decade old. Someday I'll have to take updated pics...
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Well it's been a tough couple weeks, tougher than usual for me, but I've managed to get a good amount done in my hobby room. It has helped me a lot to keep my sanity and not blow my brains out!
I'll start with the work I've been doing on my aircraft. It's mostly been sanding and filling, sanding and filling, sanding and filling... and more sanding and filling... ad nauseum. This is the A-400 which has so many issues with the canopy fit that I've had to really glop on the Mr. Surfacer 500:
You can see where I had to also fill a lot of sink marks as well. I've been sanding that quite a bit lately and it's starting to look like an aircraft now.
I've also been working on the C-54, but since I'm still sanding and filling and sanding that, there's not much to show.
By the way, did I mention I was doing a lot of sanding and filling?
What I can show is the work I did on the An-124. First off, I wanted to test fit the landing gear bays in the openings of the fuselage but when I pulled them down from where I had them stored, I noticed that one side was missing some pieces off a couple of the landing gear. How they went missing is beyond me! See if you can find the two and a half missing pieces:
Oh well, they won't be seen once I get the gear bay doors on and this thing is sitting on the landing gear. Speaking of which, the gear bays fit into the openings quite well once I got them sanded and shaped a bit:
These fit so snug and tight that I won't even need to glue them in; they are staying in place very nicely:
I did notice the step in the fuselage from the resin coating on the fiberglass that was also evident on the top. So, I taped both sides of the step and proceeded to sand it smooth. That went faster than expected:
Even though you can't tell from that pic, I assure you that is now very smooth!
Later I hope to finish the gear doors and then figure out how to get the cockpit and the canopy attached. After that I'll be adding the wings and tail feathers to this bird and then it's paint time! Wow, that will be quite the thrill to get that far! I better stock up on paint.....
Okay, moving on to my armor, I've got a huge update there since I've been trying to focus on getting a lot of my vehicles finished. I'll start with the BTR-3K that I've been working on.
It has the funky turret that is already tough to comprehend. However with the difficult instructions, it was even more tough! I spent a couple hours just gluing in, and then tearing out and re-gluing these twelve parts four or five times before I figured out how each of them went together and fit in the turret up to this point:
I left the tweezers there to give you an idea of the sizes of everything I've been working on. After that assembly, I jumped ahead and assembled the rocket pods and launching station. There are six pieces in each assembly. The one in front is upside down:
Then I glued them to the main frame above:
Next I needed to add the photo-etch before I could go any further. So, the first parts went on okay as you can see here:
You can also see where I added the smoke dischargers to the base of the turret.
The second box was etched wrong so I folded it wrong. Naturally when I tried to reverse the folds, it all fell apart. This is my attempt to glue it back together:
That didn't actually work but I eventually got that whole thing to glue in it's place after another few hours of fighting it.
Then part 14 fell and disappeared as I was trying to test fit it. It's not a small piece but despite my best efforts and a couple flashlights; I could not find it anywhere. So, I resorted to sheet styrene. I pulled out some very thin stock and placed it under the photo-etch fret and cut out the shape of the part using it as a template:
Later I added that to the back of the turret. Mehinks it is a spent shell capture basket:
Okay, I'd had enough of that so it all got set aside to dry. I next did something simple.
On my 1/35th scale Patton, I took the time to re-spray a light coat of OD over the overly bright modulation I did before. I think it looks far better now; even though this pic doesn't show it too well:
I then airbrushed black over the tracks for this in preparation for adding them to the tank:
Okay, that is all that will fit on this post. The rest will follow in the next one so stay tuned and give me about ten-fifteen minutes to type up the rest of this...
I'll start with the work I've been doing on my aircraft. It's mostly been sanding and filling, sanding and filling, sanding and filling... and more sanding and filling... ad nauseum. This is the A-400 which has so many issues with the canopy fit that I've had to really glop on the Mr. Surfacer 500:
You can see where I had to also fill a lot of sink marks as well. I've been sanding that quite a bit lately and it's starting to look like an aircraft now.
I've also been working on the C-54, but since I'm still sanding and filling and sanding that, there's not much to show.
By the way, did I mention I was doing a lot of sanding and filling?
What I can show is the work I did on the An-124. First off, I wanted to test fit the landing gear bays in the openings of the fuselage but when I pulled them down from where I had them stored, I noticed that one side was missing some pieces off a couple of the landing gear. How they went missing is beyond me! See if you can find the two and a half missing pieces:
Oh well, they won't be seen once I get the gear bay doors on and this thing is sitting on the landing gear. Speaking of which, the gear bays fit into the openings quite well once I got them sanded and shaped a bit:
These fit so snug and tight that I won't even need to glue them in; they are staying in place very nicely:
I did notice the step in the fuselage from the resin coating on the fiberglass that was also evident on the top. So, I taped both sides of the step and proceeded to sand it smooth. That went faster than expected:
Even though you can't tell from that pic, I assure you that is now very smooth!
Later I hope to finish the gear doors and then figure out how to get the cockpit and the canopy attached. After that I'll be adding the wings and tail feathers to this bird and then it's paint time! Wow, that will be quite the thrill to get that far! I better stock up on paint.....
Okay, moving on to my armor, I've got a huge update there since I've been trying to focus on getting a lot of my vehicles finished. I'll start with the BTR-3K that I've been working on.
It has the funky turret that is already tough to comprehend. However with the difficult instructions, it was even more tough! I spent a couple hours just gluing in, and then tearing out and re-gluing these twelve parts four or five times before I figured out how each of them went together and fit in the turret up to this point:
I left the tweezers there to give you an idea of the sizes of everything I've been working on. After that assembly, I jumped ahead and assembled the rocket pods and launching station. There are six pieces in each assembly. The one in front is upside down:
Then I glued them to the main frame above:
Next I needed to add the photo-etch before I could go any further. So, the first parts went on okay as you can see here:
You can also see where I added the smoke dischargers to the base of the turret.
The second box was etched wrong so I folded it wrong. Naturally when I tried to reverse the folds, it all fell apart. This is my attempt to glue it back together:
That didn't actually work but I eventually got that whole thing to glue in it's place after another few hours of fighting it.
Then part 14 fell and disappeared as I was trying to test fit it. It's not a small piece but despite my best efforts and a couple flashlights; I could not find it anywhere. So, I resorted to sheet styrene. I pulled out some very thin stock and placed it under the photo-etch fret and cut out the shape of the part using it as a template:
Later I added that to the back of the turret. Mehinks it is a spent shell capture basket:
Okay, I'd had enough of that so it all got set aside to dry. I next did something simple.
On my 1/35th scale Patton, I took the time to re-spray a light coat of OD over the overly bright modulation I did before. I think it looks far better now; even though this pic doesn't show it too well:
I then airbrushed black over the tracks for this in preparation for adding them to the tank:
Okay, that is all that will fit on this post. The rest will follow in the next one so stay tuned and give me about ten-fifteen minutes to type up the rest of this...
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Okay, here's Part Two, or Finally got Paint Shot!
Yes, these next models are all the ones painted. I'll start first with the Churchill Mk II AVRE. I just finished up all the detail parts and got it fully to the paint stage:
Later I shot it with the closest equivalent to the greenish brown color these had... according to the instruction sheet:
Once that dried, I shot the model with a clear gloss in preparation for the decals:
I'm not sure what that hinky pattern is on the side of the turret; possibly a loit of sanding dust left behind. I'll see what I can do to fix that.
I also had done the same with the Mk IV AVRE, getting it fully to the paint stage first:
When I shot the Mk III I also shot this one:
Of course, I followed it with the gloss clearcoat when I do the previous tank:
Looks a little grainy. I'll be shooting another coat on that one later,
Moving on, I finally also completed the Japanese tank transporter in preparation for paint:
They made this model so you could also tip the cab to see the engine:
Next was the paint. I shot it with a deep green used by the JGSDF:
Later this got glossed as well:
While still on tank transporters, I moved on to my other American ones. I brought the HEMMTT Tractor all the way to the paint stage. The only thing missing are a couple detail parts that will go on last and the big honkin' cylinder thing that is supposed to go on the side. I know I built it; it's somewhere on the desk but I am not waiting to find it! I started the paint and whenever that thing shows up again, I'll add it to the model:
These were going to be three-tone NATO patterns so I started with the black first, adding the spots to where they are supposed to go. Later I'll add the Silly Putty over that, paint the brown, then more Silly Putty and finally the green.
Here's the HEMMTT tractor trailer with the first shots of black:
Later I did the same thing with the M-1070 tractor. Another friend who built this model suggested adding some wire or thread to the cable drums before closing them up, so I did, I used silver thread here and you can see the glue was still wet:
Here they are both completed and closed up:
Finally this tractor was completed enough to start shooting paint. Again, I'll have to wait till that axle assembly shows up and add it when it does, Until then, I'm not waiting; this truck is getting done:
And here it is with the first coat of black squiggles:
Okay, that's all for this big update. I'm hoping to get these all done by November... not that there's any shows happening to show them. Still, I have more models I want to start but want to clear these first.
Thanks again for looking in, comments are always welcome.
Yes, these next models are all the ones painted. I'll start first with the Churchill Mk II AVRE. I just finished up all the detail parts and got it fully to the paint stage:
Later I shot it with the closest equivalent to the greenish brown color these had... according to the instruction sheet:
Once that dried, I shot the model with a clear gloss in preparation for the decals:
I'm not sure what that hinky pattern is on the side of the turret; possibly a loit of sanding dust left behind. I'll see what I can do to fix that.
I also had done the same with the Mk IV AVRE, getting it fully to the paint stage first:
When I shot the Mk III I also shot this one:
Of course, I followed it with the gloss clearcoat when I do the previous tank:
Looks a little grainy. I'll be shooting another coat on that one later,
Moving on, I finally also completed the Japanese tank transporter in preparation for paint:
They made this model so you could also tip the cab to see the engine:
Next was the paint. I shot it with a deep green used by the JGSDF:
Later this got glossed as well:
While still on tank transporters, I moved on to my other American ones. I brought the HEMMTT Tractor all the way to the paint stage. The only thing missing are a couple detail parts that will go on last and the big honkin' cylinder thing that is supposed to go on the side. I know I built it; it's somewhere on the desk but I am not waiting to find it! I started the paint and whenever that thing shows up again, I'll add it to the model:
These were going to be three-tone NATO patterns so I started with the black first, adding the spots to where they are supposed to go. Later I'll add the Silly Putty over that, paint the brown, then more Silly Putty and finally the green.
Here's the HEMMTT tractor trailer with the first shots of black:
Later I did the same thing with the M-1070 tractor. Another friend who built this model suggested adding some wire or thread to the cable drums before closing them up, so I did, I used silver thread here and you can see the glue was still wet:
Here they are both completed and closed up:
Finally this tractor was completed enough to start shooting paint. Again, I'll have to wait till that axle assembly shows up and add it when it does, Until then, I'm not waiting; this truck is getting done:
And here it is with the first coat of black squiggles:
Okay, that's all for this big update. I'm hoping to get these all done by November... not that there's any shows happening to show them. Still, I have more models I want to start but want to clear these first.
Thanks again for looking in, comments are always welcome.
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Looking good Mark!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thanks Paul! I'm so glad that I got all this done. I actually feel like I made progress this time! LOL!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Thank you Frank! Yeah, the ceiling is full, but I think I can do some re-arranging to make room for those two and the A-400 Grizzly as well. The hardest part will be finding the joists so I can hang the heavier ones without fear of them crashing to the floor.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Yep. It happened once with my An-12 Cub after an earthquake once. The model fell and broke into two pieces. Got it fixed up though, and it's back on the ceiling... this time hanging from a joist-reinforced hook.
Bruce, thanks! I'm trying to keep it going. Hopefully I'll have more to show soon.
Stay tuned guys!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Here's a small update showing everything done in the past week. I'll start with my aircraft as usual.
On the C-54, I masked off all the windows on the fuselage using my new Vallejo liquid mask. Looks good so far, even though it's tough to see in these pics:
Next I completed all the flaps for the wings and tail feathers. Not all are installed just yet:
After that I decided to dry-fit the wings and tail on the fuselage. Tail looks good, but the wings have some space issues that I'll have to deal with:
My next project was the A-400 Grizzly. I also masked off the fuselage windows on this as well with the Vallejo mask:
I then started on the landing gear bays. I'll have to paint some interior and find some clear parts before I can go further here:
I then built the propellers. Simple enough:
I then snap-fit the wings and tail on this one to both test the weight I'll need for the nose; as well as see what fit issues I'll have on the wings:
Moving on from there, I finally got all the parts on the landing gear bays for the AN-124 Condor. I then started assembling the main gear bay doors:
Here are all the main landing gear bays and doors ready to install on the fuselage. I need to paint everything first before I add them in:
After that I wanted to see what it was going to take to mount the cockpit inside this thing. First thing I needed to do was to cut out a section of the nose. Using the scriber and knife shown, I was able to do that:
Later I test fit the cockpit inside the main fuselage as indicated by the instructions. I'm gonna have a bit more cutting to do; as well as filling later on when this all goes together:
You can see why I didn't paint anything behind the pilot's seats...
After that I masked off the windows on the main cockpit canopy:
That's all I got on my aircraft. Next is my armor; which got a little done. Most if it was tedious, like the masking on the HEMMTT tank transporter and trailer with Silly Putty:
I also masked off the M-1070 and trailer at the same time:
You can see in that pic that I still have plenty of Silly Putty on hand....
Here's the trailer. It was a bit more difficult to mask than the HEMMTT trailer:
After that I moved ahead on the BTR-3K, finally getting the turret completed:
What an ordeal that was! I also finished most of the detail parts on the main hull in preparation for paint:
Time to shoot some paint on this Bad Boy, and possibly see about adding the digi-camo decals later:
That's all for this small update. Stay tuned for more later and thanks for looking in on this one. Comments are always welcome.
On the C-54, I masked off all the windows on the fuselage using my new Vallejo liquid mask. Looks good so far, even though it's tough to see in these pics:
Next I completed all the flaps for the wings and tail feathers. Not all are installed just yet:
After that I decided to dry-fit the wings and tail on the fuselage. Tail looks good, but the wings have some space issues that I'll have to deal with:
My next project was the A-400 Grizzly. I also masked off the fuselage windows on this as well with the Vallejo mask:
I then started on the landing gear bays. I'll have to paint some interior and find some clear parts before I can go further here:
I then built the propellers. Simple enough:
I then snap-fit the wings and tail on this one to both test the weight I'll need for the nose; as well as see what fit issues I'll have on the wings:
Moving on from there, I finally got all the parts on the landing gear bays for the AN-124 Condor. I then started assembling the main gear bay doors:
Here are all the main landing gear bays and doors ready to install on the fuselage. I need to paint everything first before I add them in:
After that I wanted to see what it was going to take to mount the cockpit inside this thing. First thing I needed to do was to cut out a section of the nose. Using the scriber and knife shown, I was able to do that:
Later I test fit the cockpit inside the main fuselage as indicated by the instructions. I'm gonna have a bit more cutting to do; as well as filling later on when this all goes together:
You can see why I didn't paint anything behind the pilot's seats...
After that I masked off the windows on the main cockpit canopy:
That's all I got on my aircraft. Next is my armor; which got a little done. Most if it was tedious, like the masking on the HEMMTT tank transporter and trailer with Silly Putty:
I also masked off the M-1070 and trailer at the same time:
You can see in that pic that I still have plenty of Silly Putty on hand....
Here's the trailer. It was a bit more difficult to mask than the HEMMTT trailer:
After that I moved ahead on the BTR-3K, finally getting the turret completed:
What an ordeal that was! I also finished most of the detail parts on the main hull in preparation for paint:
Time to shoot some paint on this Bad Boy, and possibly see about adding the digi-camo decals later:
That's all for this small update. Stay tuned for more later and thanks for looking in on this one. Comments are always welcome.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Okay, here it is a week later and I actually have something to show for it. This is another small update for this week.
First, I painted the propellers for the A-400 in basic black:
And that's all I did on that plane. I guess I was too interested in moving forward on the An-124 instead because I kept going back to it. To wit: While chatting on the phone with someone, I picked up the one wing and started dry fitting the wing fences and engine pods, mostly to see what kind of adjustments I was going to need to do to make them fit:
Well, I took some time to make whatever adjustments were needed and the next day, I found myself pulling out my two-part epoxy and gluing them all down. I started with the wing fences first as two of them on each wing needed to be fit under the rear of the engine pods:
You can see just how big those wings are. They are overhanging my workspace by half!
The next day; after letting the wing fences dry overnight, I added the engine pods:
They are still drying there, later I'll have to do some filling and other repair work due to some issues with fit and my not paying enough attention to what I was doing till too late. Meanwhile, I decided to finish the nose section as well. I needed to cut two sections out of the bottom for the nose landing gear. I did that and then proceeded to glue in the nose gear 'bay'... such as it is:
This is all you can see of it from the other side. I guess there is no room for hanging gear doors, so this is what you get:
Hey, at least I don't have to worry about detailing it! LOL! Now all I need to do is find the missing nose gear strut so I can finish building it....
Oh, I also have to remember to put the ten pounds of nose weight in there so this will sit properly.
Now that the wings are done I can actually paint these and the tail feathers a light grey as called for in my chosen paint scheme. After all that work on this monster Russian, I was finally done with planes for a bit.
My armor update is coming up in the next post. We'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors.....
First, I painted the propellers for the A-400 in basic black:
And that's all I did on that plane. I guess I was too interested in moving forward on the An-124 instead because I kept going back to it. To wit: While chatting on the phone with someone, I picked up the one wing and started dry fitting the wing fences and engine pods, mostly to see what kind of adjustments I was going to need to do to make them fit:
Well, I took some time to make whatever adjustments were needed and the next day, I found myself pulling out my two-part epoxy and gluing them all down. I started with the wing fences first as two of them on each wing needed to be fit under the rear of the engine pods:
You can see just how big those wings are. They are overhanging my workspace by half!
The next day; after letting the wing fences dry overnight, I added the engine pods:
They are still drying there, later I'll have to do some filling and other repair work due to some issues with fit and my not paying enough attention to what I was doing till too late. Meanwhile, I decided to finish the nose section as well. I needed to cut two sections out of the bottom for the nose landing gear. I did that and then proceeded to glue in the nose gear 'bay'... such as it is:
This is all you can see of it from the other side. I guess there is no room for hanging gear doors, so this is what you get:
Hey, at least I don't have to worry about detailing it! LOL! Now all I need to do is find the missing nose gear strut so I can finish building it....
Oh, I also have to remember to put the ten pounds of nose weight in there so this will sit properly.
Now that the wings are done I can actually paint these and the tail feathers a light grey as called for in my chosen paint scheme. After all that work on this monster Russian, I was finally done with planes for a bit.
My armor update is coming up in the next post. We'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors.....
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
And we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. Here is my latest update on the armor I was working on alongside the aircraft seen above:
Back on Monday, it was actually cool enough to open my window to vent my airbrush. I jumped at the chance to finish the camouflage on the tank transporters. They were already masked with the Silly Putty so I loaded and shot the brown color onto the tractors and trailers.
First the tractors....
And then the trailers:
Then I moved and/or added more Silly Putty to cover the brown spots:
After that I shot the final green color on top:
A day later I peeled it all off and was pretty pleased with the results:
You can see I also lost the trailer hitch pad on the HEMMT tractor. Man, I cannot catch a break! Time to rob another kit for one!
There is still some additional painting and touch ups to be done, but these are getting very close to the clearcoat and decal steps. Finally!
Also, I shot a base coat of green on the BTR, but didn't shoot any pics of it. I'll try to remember to post them in the next update.
And that is a full account of my last week at the workbench. It ain't much, but I'm happy. Hopefully there'll be more to see next week.
Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.
Back on Monday, it was actually cool enough to open my window to vent my airbrush. I jumped at the chance to finish the camouflage on the tank transporters. They were already masked with the Silly Putty so I loaded and shot the brown color onto the tractors and trailers.
First the tractors....
And then the trailers:
Then I moved and/or added more Silly Putty to cover the brown spots:
After that I shot the final green color on top:
A day later I peeled it all off and was pretty pleased with the results:
You can see I also lost the trailer hitch pad on the HEMMT tractor. Man, I cannot catch a break! Time to rob another kit for one!
There is still some additional painting and touch ups to be done, but these are getting very close to the clearcoat and decal steps. Finally!
Also, I shot a base coat of green on the BTR, but didn't shoot any pics of it. I'll try to remember to post them in the next update.
And that is a full account of my last week at the workbench. It ain't much, but I'm happy. Hopefully there'll be more to see next week.
Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.
Looking good Mark.
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Looks like you are keeping busy Mark! That giant Antonov is coming along quite nicely.
