Maddog Manufacturing 2020 Production

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Bob!

Thanks Paul! Yeah, the Antonov is coming along, but the more I work on the main fuselage and wings, the harder it's getting due to lack of room! LOL!

 

[Frank]

Keep em coming Mark.
I am waiting for the AN to be done.
That is a monster of a kit.
Armor is looking good.
C-54 will be silver?, with MATS markings?

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Frank. The An-124 had a setback, It was knocked off the paint table (which was the only spot big enough to place it!) and the two outer engines broke off. I bought some JB Weld to try and see if that will hold them better. Then we'll see about starting to paint that monster....

Thanks for the compliments on the armor. Hoping to get some decals placed soon. Gotta find the sheet for the Japanese tank transporter now...

Yes, C-54 will be silver under white like my C-118. Not really looking forward to doing that scheme, but I like it so I will try again on it. Besides, that way it matches the C-118.

 

[Frank]

Hard landing only damaged the engines. GOOD.
Any new panel lines, cracks? BAD.
JB will do the trick.
You will find the decals.
Liken the silver under white.
Those late 50's early 60's schemes where the best.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Frank. Fortunately, no new cracks or dings or new panel lines. Just the engines and yeah, I'm looking forward to getting some JB weld on those.

Still looking for the Japanese tank transporter decals but it's a large sheet so shouldn't be hard to find.

I agree, those silver under white schemes are so attractive and well worth the attempt to get right. Hopefully this turns out better than the C-118 since that one was good practice.

Stay tuned.

 

[Gator]

Looking good Mark.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Kenny; I'm thrilled you stopped in. Mojo has crashed so no real progress this week. Hopefully things pick up soon. I want to finish my next five armor before October.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Despite recent issues in life, I managed to slowly get some progress worth showing. I'll start with the An-124 and then continue in the second post with the rest of my armor progress.

Okay, first off: Hallelujah! I found the second forward landing gear strut and promptly added the wheels to it:

After that, I started to tape off the contact areas on the ends of the wings and tail surfaces.

Horizontal stabilizers:

Wings:

And the fuselage:

Now they are all ready for paint; at least in the masking department. Still, in order to paint the fuselage, I'll need to close up the nose. In order to do that, I have to glue the cockpit into place; then the canopy shroud, and then close up the nose. These are the preparations I made to do all that. First; the cockpit was glued in using the JB weld shown:

That didn't work. So, I pulled the already loose cockpit out and decided to add a strip of styrene to the underside of the cockpit sub-assembly:

Once that was dry I added some JB Weld to the 'wings' and then clamped them to the insides of the fuselage:

That is still setting now. Afterward, I added some extra reinforcing strips to the sides of the nose to help hold it in place once glued:

That should hold it better than the butt joint they call for in the instructions.

Oh, and in the middle of all that, I still had to re-glue another engine pod that fell off for the third time. I had glued it with JB Weld twice and I still found it on the ground two days after I'd glued it before. Hopefully the third time is the charm.


Okay, since there are a ton of armor pics and these posts don't allow more than 20 pics per post, I'll end this here and we can board the other tram leading to the armor/vehicle division.....

End of Part One.

 

[Duke Maddog]

And now for Part Two of this tour. Remember to keep all hands and feet inside the tram as we pass through.

So, first in the lineup is the Churchill Mk III AVRE. All I really did here was to apply the decals and add the tracks to this:

And the same for the Churchill Mk IV:

Both of those have since been shot with a dullcoat. Yep, after weathering these, they will be done!

After that, I decided to work on a Shelf Queen that has been languishing for a couple years while I tried to score another HVSS Sherman kit. Since I got one from the stash sale, it was time to pull it out and get my M-51 Isherman moving again!

As a reminder, this plate was missing; pinged off into the Netherworld years ago:

I then installed the last one and then added the idlers and some other detail parts to the hull:

Now I should be able to add the bogies and the drive sprockets to this and then get it painted.

Next up on the tour is the Japanese Type 73 tank transporter. I added the decals to this as well:

I then installed all the wheels on this:

So, I then looked at the instructions and noticed the deck of the trailer needed to be painted. So, I masked off and painted the black wooden planks first:

When that was dry, I masked again and added the white guidelines to the sides:

This really looks pretty cool this way!

Next on the tour is my problem project. This HEMMTT tank transporter has been broken and rebuilt at least three times! The first thing to go wrong was the clearcoat wrinkled! So, I shaved off the raised wrinkles and re-painted this:

After that I stole a trailer hitch plate from another kit and installed it in the back:

Two days after that happened, I found the original in a spot on the floor that I had looked at at least seventeen times before while searching for this and other lost parts! Needless to say, that is now in my parts box!

This was decaled along with the rest of the models. You can see them just below the angry-looking headlights:

Later I added the wheels to this whole model. The marble strip this is sitting on was used to insure all tires touched the ground:

I've since had to repair two of those wheels.... twice each!


Okay, since I have lot more to show, we'll take a break here for a bit and resume in the next post. Feel free to visit the snack bar and gift shop while you wait.

End of Part II...

 

[Duke Maddog]

And finally, the last item on our tour. If you please re-board the tram, we'll be on our way.

This last one is the M-1070 tank transporter and trailer. While decaling everything else, I also decaled this:

Yeah, that decal is crooked. Nothing I can do about it now. I never did expect this to be an award winning model; I just wanted to build it for my collection. Moving on...

I realized I still hadn't added the ramps to the back of the trailer. Fixed that and started to paint them in this pic:

Next it was time for some fun! I assembled all the wheels for the trailer. You can see them all here with one of the trailer axles:

I then painted the hubs:

Here they are all installed under the trailer:

Using an adjustable clamp, I then clamped this to the marble slab to insure all wheels touched:

After that, installing the wheels on the tractor was easy:

I then started to assemble the P/E rear view mirrors using Gator Grip Glue:

While those are drying, I installed all the final detail parts to the tractor:

Here she is all assembled wearing her new shoes:

The two wheels on the trailer deck are the last two wheels I'll have to add once I find that lost axle assembly.


Well, that completes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. I hope you enjoyed it. Comments are always welcome. Thanks for riding with us!

 

[sharkman]

Wow, that's a lot of wheels Mark, 20 per side!

Looks like the landing gear from the Antonov!

 

[helios]

Nice progress Mark. Glad somebody has been getting some benchtime in. I've been stuck at work for the past few weeks. All the OT I've been working though has lead to a couple unnecessary purchases.

 

[paddy]

You really are becoming the armour king Having been off the scene for a few years i am absolutely amazed at how your builds have progressed. Your vehicle camo is excellent

 

[moon puppy]

All the OT I've been working though has lead to a couple unnecessary purchases.

Wish I could, still paying for my knee..

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Sharkman! Yeah, it did remind me a bit of the Antonov's wheels. However, these went on much better and they don't float like I expect a few of the Antonov wheels to do!

Thanks Chris! It did feel good to finally make progress. I'd been hindered from working on these too, for far different reasons. I'm glad I finally made some progress worth posting. Be glad you've got income. I haven't worked since this whole thing began.

Thanks Paddy! Sometimes I do think I'm getting better but then a kit like the HEMMTT or the M-1070 comes along and reminds me I'm still quite the novice. I am helped with the camouflage by the use of Silly Putty which I love to use. Thanks also for the title of armor king; I think I'll have earned it once the two churchills and the three tank transporters are done.

Pup I just wish I could work!

 

[SA Dave]

Quite amazing Tank Tractor mate.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Dave! The next time you see it that will be finished.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well, now that I reached my latest milestone, I decided it was time to get caught up on a few shelf queens while also starting some easy assembly models and a couple others on my list to start. More on that later. Before that, I tried to move forward on more of my aircraft, but I only kept going back to the An-124 to the exclusion of all other aircraft. So, here is the progress I made on that monster.

To start with, I painted the main landing gear bays and the forward landing gear, following the directions as closely as possible:

Later I added the folding landing doors on the main gear bays. Afterward I realized that I hadn't painted them so in this pic you can see the start of my masking them for paint. The larger doors lay flat on the other side of the main gear bays; I'll add them once I install these on the fuselage:

Here they are fully masked...

And painted...

And here are the two main landing gear bays all completed, even with the wheels already installed:

Previously I had added the nose weights to the inside of the nose cone. They had been drying for two days and so now it was time to finally cement that nose cone onto the fuselage:

You can't see it here, but on the other side and the front of the cockpit clear part there are huge gaps. I proceeded to pull out my Tamiya white putty and fill them in:

By the way, that fuselage is leaning against my desk since I have nowhere else to keep it.

Later on I'll be sanding that down and then I can rescribe missing panel lines. Then this part will be ready for paint! Finally!

Speaking of paint; I was able to paint the wings and tail surfaces. They are grey on the version I'm doing, so I shot them with three coats of grey and then a shot of gloss. The gloss actually came out semi-gloss which I like better:

Later I'll mask off and paint the metallic sections of those engines. And that completes the update on that massive plane. Now for some of those shelf queens I mentioned before.

First up is my M-51 Isherman conversion. I finally moved ahead and got the main bogies on as well as the drive sprockets. I also glued together the DS tracks for this:

Now all I have to do is add the headlights, taillights, and brush guards to this and I can paint it.

Next up is a 1/24 scale 1929 Coke Delivery Van I started some months back. Maybe a year now.... Anyway, I was having trouble getting this painted because the red would not go down right. I decided I was going to assemble the main body of the van so I could paint it altogether:

Here it is dry-fit on the lower body/floor:

Now I'll shoot the red all over this and later I'll remove the upper body and paint all the interior details. Maybe then I'll be able to get this finished!

And now for a couple easy-build models from Trumpeter that I started to keep the mojo flowing. This is the lower hull of the Russian BTR-70 Early version. That took ten minutes to build:

Fifteen minutes later and I finished the upper hull and turret with all the bits. Here they are cemented onto the lower hull:

Now it's ready for paint. Since that was so easy, I also started the Trumpeter BTR-70 Late version. The lower hull assembly was the same so I didn't shoot pics of that. After twenty or twenty-five more minutes, here is the late version all assembled and ready for paint now:

And now to show that these are indeed two separate BTR's here's the shot of them side by side, the early version is in the front:

Finally, the most recent model I started was the D-9 Dozer that came with my M-1070 tank transporter. I didn't get too far with it so far, but it's already looking pretty good. First was the main body assembly:

Then I built the tracks and running gear. Man, Takom did it right! Take a look at how great these look:

If you look closely, I did have to sand away the mold seam down the middle of those assemblies. Easy peasy!

Here are the track assemblies dry-fit to the main body:

And that's as far as I got this week. Hopefully this trend continues; I want to get more of these done!

Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[moon puppy]

Man that's a lot of airplane. You go Mark!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Bob! It certainly is!