Maddog Manufacturing 2025 Grand Re-Opening

[Duke Maddog]

Happy New Year! After a nice relaxing Holiday season for all my "elves", all of them are back as Maddog Manufacturing is reopening for 2025 in a pretty big way. So, if everyone is ready, we can board the trams and start the tour. We'll start with the Hangar as usual, showing first the projects that did not get finished last year.

Remember to keep hands and feet inside at all times as we head on into the Hangar.....



Here in this first bay we have this F15C Eagle just waiting for cockpit masking and paint:

Another one in the next bay is waiting on paint, this is the Italian MB326K Impala:

In the next bay is the Boeing 727, mostly ready for further assembly but the kit gave resin landing gear parts and about a third of them are missing. I'm still trying to find the missing parts or source some new landing gear to replace them:

In these next two bays are the two B-2 Stealth Bombers that I've been working on:

A ton more filling and sanding are necessary on those two!

In this next bay is a bagged kit I got so I decided to get started on it. This is the 1/72 scale Heller F-84G Thunderjet in French Markings. Cockpit and nose intake were first built:

The next thing would have been cementing everything inside the fuselage and closing it up, but I still need to add 2grams of weight, so that will wait till I find my supply of weights. Meanwhile I cemented the wings together at least:

And finally in this last booth we have one I started recently, it was packed in the Mystery Box we had on our last Distressed Kit Auction. This is the 1/72 scale Hasegawa Jake on a Catapult. I started with the catapult:

Later moved on to the engine:

The rest of it fell together quite well:

It's bigger than I expected, but it's gonna look good:

That completes the tour of the Hangar, now on to the Shipyards to see what's on the slipways....



Here in the Shipyards, our first slip contains the HMS Westminster frigate, mostly just waiting for the extensive photo etch to be applied:

Next to it are two of the Butler Class destroyer escorts that came two to a box. Decals are missing so I'll need to source numbers from my spares box. Meanwhile, I did what I could to paint them up. Here is the first attempt at paint:

While that was drying, we laid the keel for the second DE, getting it to the paint stage:

That one then got painted up, starting with the decks:

Once they were properly painted up, I added all the final detail parts:

In these next two bays, the keels were laid down for two of the four Fletcher Class destroyers and built up to the paint stage:

One is an early, the other a late variant. Again, I already have both a Fletcher and a Sullivans already built; I'll need to source numbers for additional ships in this class for these.

In the next bay I have the Marine LCAC under construction. The pilot house was completed, the last of the superstructure assemblies that needed to be done:

Here's a shot of this monster ready for paint:

That concludes this part of the tour of the Shipyards, now we see what's happening in the Motor Pool in the next post....

 

[Duke Maddog]

Here in the Motor Pool, there's a lot that's been happening. Production has ramped up quite a bit here. We will start this time with some of the newest projects started so that more can be worked on when some of the models closest to completion get done.

In this first bay we have an M3 White scout car that I got from the Distressed kit Auction in December. It was mostly built already but some parts still needed installation. However, I went ahead and added the wheels and then the decals:

Later the seats went in. I still have to source some driver and shotgun seats though:

In the next bay is another Canadian vehicle; this one is a fuel truck on a Chevy CWT chassis:

You can see in that pic, I started with the wrong chassis so I needed to remove everything and rebuild this on the correct chassis which is longer. You can see the better fit here:

Speaking of fuel trucks, this next bay has a German one under construction. First of course is the chassis:

Then I built up the fuel tank:

Next I started with the cab interior and got it ready for paint:

Here it is pretty much ready for paint and then final assembly:

The next bay has another German subject, a Schwimmwagen that I'd started some time ago. I finally got a camouflage pattern painted on it, then applied a gloss coat and decals:

Next to this is the SdKfz 9 with the crane that had been giving me so much trouble. The cab fenders just weren't sitting right, and the hood over the engine did not fit right. So, some disassembly was done and some 'gentle' persuasion was applied to correct the sit of the fenders:

Once that was done, the hood was reattached so it sits better as well. Then the tracks were added and a camouflage pattern was applied:

I will be so glad when that is done!

Moving on to the next bay we got started on a more simple project, this is the Heller AMX-13 light tank. I have two more of these in the stash somewhere; I got a second one to make Israeli and the third was going to lose it's turret to a Sherman to make the Egyptian modded Sherman.

The hull was completed first; the wheels will go on later:

Later the turret was done and mocked up on this:

That is an odd duck; it's about time I had one in my collection....

Another French subject was started in the next bay. It's one of my Secret Santa gifts, an ACE French VBL with the anti-tank Milan rockets. The lower hull was started, and that's about as far as I got on this:

In this next bay is a Japanese anti-ship missile truck, which makes sense for an Island nation. This is so cool. Assembly had already started last year, but this was more or less completed to the paint stage in the past week or so:

It's made so the missile tubes can be elevated:

Later on, a base coat and camouflage pattern was added:

Recently while going through the stash, I found a Dragon Jagdpanzer IV L70, so that got started ASAP when I found it. This is going to be made Syrian so that I'm that much closer to my goal of building all the WWII German equipment in Syrian service. Here it is in the next bay over all mocked up:

Another long term shelf queen was brought out to the next bay where some adjustments were made and the tracks added. This is my Sherman recovery vehicle (M35? TRV) which has been sitting far too long. With additional parts being raided from other unbuildable UM Sherman kits, I'm getting this closer to being done:

In this next bay, I decided to start an IBG Italian Ro truck.I have two; one has a gun on the back and the other is a cargo truck. I opted to start the gun truck first, starting with the engine and gearbox(?):

There are 17 parts in the engine alone. Seventeen....parts:

Next the chassis had to be assembled practically from scratch. All the parts were provided, but they all needed to be built:

That's another 12 parts. And here they are all put together, sans engine.... so far:

After that I jumped ahead to assemble the gun for this:

In these last few bays are the main battle tanks I'd been working on last year. Didn't have the time to bring them over the finish line last year, but these will probably be the first ones for this year. This first bay has the British Challenger I Mk.3 already camouflaged:

Later the gloss was added and decals applied. You can barely tell, but they are on there:

Next up is the Australian M1A1 Abrams, all camouflaged as well:

That one got the gloss and decal treatment too:

Finally, there's the Canadian Leopard 2A6M. It got camouflaged as well:

Gloss and decals followed, as with the other two:

Again, hard to see those decals. They get harder to see when the cage armor is applied. This is mocked up right now:

That will get dulled and weathered before the cage armor is more permanently applied. That completes the tour of the Motor Pool for now.



Oh, you thought we were done? Oh no, we are heading out now to the Space Port....

Out in our Space Port, we still have work being done on the Millennium Falcon. Recently the side docking bays were completed:

Later the quad gun mounts and seats were built up:

Here they are closed up:

This isn't the last. Out in our back lot we have a Blacksmith shop going up next to the Lumber Mill. The basic walls are up now:

Later the forge got started:

And finally, while going through the stash again; I found this Faller kit of a car dealership so I figured that was a fun project to add to the back lot here. I started with the showroom first:

The roof was then built and dry-fit on top so I can paint inside:

Just for fun, I added some of my civilian vehicles inside as show cars:

They won't be permanent; I was just having some fun.


Now that concludes this tour of Maddog Manufacturing on this Grand Opening day. Thank you all for taking the tour and remember: comments are always welcome.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

You have more going on than I have on my shelf of doom. Who makes the B2 kit Mark?

 

[razordws]

Were those Bitler class destroyers from Skywave?

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Paul! The B-2 kits are both Testor's kits. I had built one before ages ago, but it was stolen out of USC's Air Force ROTC display case. Now I'm building two: one will have the original it decals, the other will have the IPMS Nationals set.

Thank you Dave! Yes, they are Skywave. The Fletchers are also Pitroad/Skywave green box kits.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well, it's a new month and time for another short tour. This one will be focusing on the Motor Pool since that has been where almost all the work has been happening. The rest of the plant is being re-organized and therefore nothing else has been able to happen. So, all aboard the trams and let's go see what's happening.


The first bay of the Motor Pool has the French AMX 13 tank which has now been painted:

After some more detail painting and a glosscoat this was then decaled:

Once we find a glue that will hold the tracks together, we'll add them and then weather and finish this tank.

In the next bay is another French vehicle that we've been working on. This is the little VBL scout car sporting a Milan anti-tank missile launcher. When seen last, it had the basic chassis built up. Now we were able to add the suspension:

The interior and sides were then added:

After the interior was painted, the top was installed and some additional detail parts were cemented into place:

The Milan launcher was pretty delicate but fairly easy to build:

A base coat was then added:

Later the camouflage pattern and detail parts were painted and a gloss coat applied. Once dry, the decals were added:

That's all we have on that one, now to see what's in the next bay. Here is the German SdKfz 9 with the crane that has finally been rigged. I had to improvise since a vital part went missing ( as usual!) so this is how I rigged it:

Moving on from there we have another Shelf Queen that is finally progressed now that parts had been found. This is the M35 TRV after it finally got the crane parts:

Later this was painted a base olive drab:

Now to source some decals since they've disappeared and then we'll have this ready for finishing....finally!

In this next bay we have the Syrian Jagdpanzer IV that has been painted, glossed and decaled. The top is just fitted on:

Later we removed the top to add and paint the tracks. The hubs had been added to the wheels too:

Moving to the next bay, here is an Iranian Chieftain tank that i finally got around to starting. The basic hull was built first:

Then the bogies, wheels, and upper hull were added:

After that, the turret was started:

That was as far as I got on that. I then restarted work on this Italian truck in the next bay again. The engine and some additional parts had been added to the chassis:

While that was drying, I started on the 100mm gun that sits in the back of this truck:

Later the cab was built up:

'
Sometime after that, there was a glue spill and this is the result:

That had me thinking I wasn't going to be able to finish this, but I decided to just say eff it and move on. The cab was installed and the hood (or bonnet for those across the Pond) was built up:

The truck bed was then built up:

I decided to dry fit the gun to see how it looks:

Once I was satisfied the bed had dried sufficiently, I added it to the chassis:

The gun was then installed in place:

'
Since I could not figure out how to make that damage look like something done in battle; I decided to try my hand at restoring this cab. It was a basic job that started with sanding off the blob and then trying to carve out a new door. I then shaved some sprue pieces to make the door lining, door handle and grab handle. It ain't perfect but from three feet away it should look good enough under paint:

Compare to the other side and you'll see how crude that work is:

But at least I'll be able to finish it now. Moving on, we have this next bay holding one of two HEMMTT tractor trailers; this first one is the Patriot truck. The chassis was started first:

I really like how Trumpeter did these chassis assemblies.

Engine, engine cover and additional chassis parts were then added:

Next we built the basic trailer where the Patriot launching system will sit:

Here they are mocked up so far:

In the next bay is the second HEMMT truck and trailer. Here is the chassis built up for that one:

The cab interior was built and then added to the chassis:

The remaining engine cover, platform and detail parts were then installed:

Next I built the AN/TPY radar trailer; it went so fast and easy that I forgot to take pics. Here you can see it as it's mocked up with the tractor chassis:

Finally, in this last bay, we returned to the P.1000 Ratte. The tracks had been giving me fits trying to get them to stay on and stay tight. I also realized they did not give me enough links to complete all six tracks. So, I went to work gluing on the track runs as tight as I could make them which was a towering effort all it's own. I finally, (or so I thought) got one side done:

I then completed the other side, and added the top hull to the lower one to see how it looked:

Note the soldier on the top to denote scale. The tracks were on, but later when I transported this home to paint, several links came loose.

Meanwhile, here's a couple pics to show how this 1/72 scale monstrosity looks next to a 1/72 scale German Fuel Truck.... and the soldier on top as well:

Definitely gonna need a whole lot more fuel trucks!

That's the tour of the Motor Pool for now, as we swing back around through the back lot, you'll see what we also started an HO scale gazebo for a Central Park train layout. First the base was done:

Then the roof was built, and the light that was included was added to the center of the roof:

Here it is all mocked up, ready for paint:

And that concludes the latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. Thank you all for stopping in and taking the tour. Comments are always welcome.

 

[Brokeneagle]

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Ian!

Here's another short tour of the Motor Pool, since we managed to only get a few things done this past week.

In the first bay we started a new project it's another IBG Chevy CWT truck. This one will be an RAF truck. The cab was built first:

Next the Chassis...

Finally the rear bed was built and went so fast, I didn't get progress pics. Here's the whole truck fully built and ready for paint:

In the next bay is the Iranian Chieftain. It got all the detail parts added to the rear hull:

The troublesome Italian 3Ro is in the next bay sporting it's camouflage paint:

After gloss coating it for decals, I realized the wheel hubs hadn't been painted, so I got them painted:

Then while looking at the instructions, I realized that four racks needed to be made for Jerry cans. Naturally they were photo etch:

Those will be painted and filled with the cans before installation. Then we'll get the decals on it.

Finally in this last bay, I got the patriot TEL completed and added to the trailer:

That is now ready for paint. That's it for the Motor Pool, as I mentioned, its a short tour. Still, we can check out the progress of the Gazebo on the back lot.

It got painted overall, and the deck and stairs got a wash of dark brown:

You can see I gave the railings some top rails of mahogany. The roof got painted next; it'll get a wash and drybrush treatment soon:

Naturally the underside of the roof needed painting too. I gave it mahogany joists and the slated roof got the same pant and wash as the main deck:

A few more touchups and effects and this will be done.

Thank you all for looking in and taking the tour. Comments are always welcome.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Here's a small update for this month, I haven't gotten much done due to my Hobby Room being in full upheaval as I try again to clear out old stuff and reorganize.

All this is once again all armor and vehicles. So here we go.....


First is my Patriot system that got a basecoat of green:

Then my HEMMTT with the radar trailer also got a basecoat, this time in Tan:

It's kind of hard to tell, but the color is consistent. Then I got started on a couple new models. First is the Armory Lance missile. I only got as far as this when I had to stop due to frustration with very tiny pieces. The very first piece I clipped from the sprue promptly fell on the floor and disappeared!! This is going to be a long tough fight:

I then moved on to something else; a model I've had for decades and decided it was finally time to build it. This is the Pegasus Hobbies German Maus. I started with the wheels, but only got them on the bogies so I didn't take any pics of that, The first pic here shows the work I did on the upper hull:

Then I built the turret:

And now it's starting to look like the rolling pillbox that it is:

Afterward, I got started on the THAAD. Here is the ever-familiar HEMMTT chassis:

I got the rest of it built up afterward:

While that was drying, I built up the missile tubes on the TEL:

Then I mocked everything up and shot the basecoat of tan on this too:

Finally, the last model I started was one I'd been putting off since it's a Tiger Model kit. They have outstanding detail, but the fit and size of several tiny pieces; along with vague instructions, make this beast a, real bear to build. This is the MRAP that I started by building the chassis first:

I then built the driver's cabin interior, sans steering wheel; they always pop off and disappear as I make my effort to close the cab:

The rear has a bit of an interior as well, so I might just be building this with the rear ramp down:

I then added the side walls to the whole thing:

It's not a bad interior; I might have to fill it out with a bit of stowage. Not much mind you; just enough to make it look a little busy in there:

Painting of the interior happened next, at least on the seats:

Finally, most of the hull parts were added to this to complete the bottom of it:

It doesn't show well here, but I painted the chassis and suspension; I should have turned this on it's side:

After some touch up and additions inside, this will be ready to close up.


That concludes this short tour, thank you for stopping in and as always, comments are welcome.