Maddog Manufacturing Production in 2019

[Duke Maddog]

Well, this is a very short update as I have had no time and/or energy to get anything done lately. During the few times I had the time and energy and motivation to work in my Hobby Room, I did get this much done.

Starting with my aircraft, I got the decals done on the F-6 Hellcat. The decals are wrinkled due to Solvaset, I haven't checked them lately to see if they smoothed out yet:

Then I found the engine that had fallen down and disappeared briefly. During that time, all the exhaust pipes had broken off and disappeared:

Man, if it ain't one thing it's another with this kit!


Okay, by this time I was fed up so I moved on to my armor. I pulled out a simple and easy kit to start with. This was also chosen because my AMPS club is having an artillery group build all scales, so I chose this one to start with:

I started with the two base parts of the launcher, as well as the launching arm:

On the bottom of the base parts were these two gaps. I added strip styrene in the gaps to seal them:

Later I'll sand those smooth before painting. Then I started the missile itself:

That was enough of that for the day. The next model I pulled out was another Aerosan for the Treasure Train game I hope to be doing in September. I got this far before I got tired of it too:

I then decided to do something that was not short run. I pulled out the Takom 1/72 scale Russian tractors set and got started on them. First was the chassis, of course. This is the chassis for the one I'll call Tractor A until I figure out which is which:

Next I did the chassis for the Tractor B. Here it is next to the Tractor A chassis:

Tractor A chassis is at the top. Tractor B has a short bed on it so I snipped the parts for that and assembled the bed:

Here the bed sits dry-fit to the chassis to see how it fits:

After that I couldn't raise the mojo to work on anything else so I just snipped spare parts from excess scrap sprue and sorted the parts into my compartmented parts bins for the next couple hours.

So, that's all for today. We have rain coming for the next couple days and so I'll hopefully be able to get something done in my hobby room during that time, even it it means starting some of my latest acquisitions.

Stay tuned, hopefully more to come soon. Thanks for looking in.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, here's my latest update, mostly on work I managed to get done at Hobby Day this past weekend.

I'll start by posting the pic that was wrong in the previous post. Here is what the truck bed and chassis look like dry-fit together:

Anyway, moving on from there, I pulled out my Dark Green and started to shoot just about everything that needs it. After it dried, I neglected to shoot pics; instead I went straight to a lighter green and started to modulate the green on all the single color vehicles.


Before I get to that, I'll start with the aircraft I was working on. As I looked over the Israeli Sufa, I noticed a few more gaps and seams that needed filling. Out came the Vallejo acrylic putty and into the seams it went. You may not be able to see the newest seams I filled but now they are all done:

Now I think this is ready for paint. I'll have to mask off the canopy first and then shoot it with a primer to actually see what might still need to be filled.

Moving on, I started the AH-1 given to me by Frank. First was the cockpit:

Later I did the engine and transmission cover since closing up the main fuselage requires weight in the nose to keep this bird on it's skids. I didn't have any at the time so I just went ahead with the engine and tranny cover:

Moving on to my armor; I decided to start a couple new projects. One was the IBG Hungarian Toldi II tank that has been sitting for awhile. I started by assembling the lower hull and the wheels. I didn't shoot a pic of the wheels, but here is the hull:

Then because I didn't want to deal with the suspension, I went forward in the instructions and assembled the turret:

My next started project was another IBG model; this time it is the Diamond T wrecker that I've waited so long to get. First was the chassis which was surprisingly easy to do given that there was so much assembly required:

Next was the lovely, well-detailed engine that will unfortunately be covered up. But it looks great before it gets hidden:

Finally, I started the cab; but I only did the front part of it since I still need to detail paint inside the cab before I close it all up:

Now I can show all the painting I did on all this armor. I'll start with the Wrecker cab since I just posted the previous assembly. Here it is painted and semi-poorly modulated:

Next I modulated the Russian BREM vehicle. It didn't turn out anything like I was hoping. I seem to be finding it difficult to adjust my air pressure properly. Oh well, at least I had a lot of practice today, starting with this:

Subsequent washes and weathering will probably blend that in better. One can only hope.

I then shot the cab and front fender of the first Russian tractor:

Followed by the cab, fender and tractor bed of the second tractor:

I then basecoated and modulated the SA-6 Gainful:

Finally, I decided I needed to finish up another short run kit that I'd had sitting for awhile. The Soviet SG-122 got the second run of tracks on the other side, as well as the side armor protecting the gun. I also added some more filler to several seams that I found again:

Man that model is crude!

Next I assembled the gun. The front plate broke as I was pressing it into place, so I tried to get it sanded as smooth as possible after fixing it again. There was a lot of other areas that needed sanding as well. I then drilled out the gun barrel too, although it is not easily seen in this pic:

Here is the whole thing all assembled and ready for paint so far:

And finally, I basecoated this and modulated the green on this as well:

I find it amusing that the best modulation was done on the crappiest kit! Oh well, story of my life....

Last but not least, I also shot a base coat of dark brown on the IBG Japanese Chi Nu tank. I'm probably going backwards putting the darkest color first, but I started with it. These are the Mr. Color paints specifically for Japanese armor by the way. It's kind of hard to tell in this pic, but this is painted I assure you:

And that covers everything I got done on Hobby Day weekend and the rest of this week. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[lupanzer]

Dear Duke.

Amazing production, as always ... you´re a man of the one million of kits :geek

Luiz.

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Duke Maddog]

Dear Duke.

Amazing production, as always ... you´re a man of the one million of kits :geek

Luiz.

Thanks Luiz! You're semi-close: I have managed to finish a little over 1500 right now.... hyeah :drinks

Thanks Pup! I shall as much as I can.

 

[fledermaus]

Mark, you really have it going, I wish I could do so many models an as fast as you do, great job so far specially on the boosters

Abdin

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Abdin! You are very kind. I really wish I could finish these faster but things and life keep getting in the way.

Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[jknaus]

Way cool.
James

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks James! Glad to see you stop in.

 

[MM2CVS9]

Nice looking tractors. I might just try one of those instead of a floaty.

EJ

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks EJ! These are quite fun to build. I like where these are going so far.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, this is a small update, and an all armor one as well. I did get a lot done, so it's small in reference to the number of models I made progress on.

First off, I got my Russian SG-122 clearcoated and then washed with a brown wash. My picture taking still needs some work but with the limitations I have, I think you can see this well enough. Here's the vehicle all glossy and washed up:

Now this didn't come with any markings so I decided to rummage around in my decal stash and found some that would fit. I applied these on both sides while it was still glossy:

You can see I also painted the tracks. Later, I dullcoated this:

Now all that is left is to weather this and then I can call it done.

While I was glossing and washing things, I also glossed and washed the Russian BREM:

Interestingly enough, this one also did not come with markings so I just dullcoated it:

I'm just going to add the remaining detail bits and then weather this and call it done.

Moving along, I pulled out my Diamond T wrecker. I had started the painting on the cab as you see here:

Afterward, I painted the interior, even though this probably won't be seen after I close it up:

Next I added the front windscreen:

I might have to adjust those windows. While waiting for them to dry, I started the assembly of the back deck:

After that was done, I pulled out my Chi Nu and also painted the tracks along with the SG-122 and BREM:

You can't really tell that much in this pic. Anyway, if I was painting the tracks for this, it was time to move on the camouflage pattern. So, I pulled out my trusty Silly Putty and masked off where I wanted the brown to remain:

By this time it was too cold to airbrush so I need to wait for a warmer day. Hopefully soon.

Finally I got to the project that I made the most progress on. The two Russian tractors received some significant work. First off, I assembled all the axles for these tractors, after painting the wheel hubs. Here is one of the two identical sprues with the work I did:

When these were dry, I added them to the two chassis. Here's the first Tractor:

And the second tractor:

Next I assembled all the parts on the cabs, excluding the delicate fiddly parts that would break with handling. This included the windscreens, dash boards and steering wheels. The dash boards and steering wheels can't be seen in these pics. This is the cab for the second tractor with the bed; it is identical to the first one except for the headlights:

Here are the two cabs side by side:

Next I assembled the interiors....such as they were. I basically added the seats to the cab floor:

With the steering wheels and dash boards already added to the cab tops, you can see they "spared no expense" with these interiors! So I went and painted everything up inside; knowing it wouldn't be seen well, I didn't get fancy. Here it is while still wet:

Well after they were dry, the next thing to do was to cement the cabs to the floors and close everything up:

Then I added these cabs to their respective chassis, making sure the right cab went with the right chassis. I then added the two other assemblies which hide the empty engine compartment:

Unfortunately for me, I didn't notice that you can see right through the grills on the side of the trucks till too late. I don't know if I can fix that now, given that everything is already glued in place. Anyway, here is the two tractors from the rear:

Now with that bare plastic showing, I knew I had to mask the windows so I could re-shoot these models. Therefore, I tried a couple different masking agents. First, I found this liquid masking agent from Model Detailers... and liquid it sure is! It runs horribly, so you have to place the masked area horizontal to keep it from running off the area you want to mask. After that fiasco, I went with the Tamiya tape that I had other issues with. The Model Detailers stuff is the purple tint on the windows of the one cab:

That's as far as I got on all those so far. I have to wait for a warmer day to try and spray these later. I am happy with the progress so far though. Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome. Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[lupanzer]

Good job, Duke!

Luiz.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Luiz! Maybe soon I can airbrush these.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, everyone strap in tight for this tour of my manufacturing plant; this is going to be a long update; and it will be all armor and vehicles again. For some reason I have quite a mojo boost to finish a bunch of these; especially since I started a few simple and fast ones for a Light Vehicles Group Build on the Missing Lynx Braille Scale Forums.

Okay, I'll start with this first one. I'm building the Pershing II on a trailer with the MAN cab tractor, but the only thing I did on that model so far was the Pershing missile. I figured I'd get that out of the way first:

That's all I did on that one so far. I'll get more done on the tractor and trailer later. First, I'll continue on and work on these other models. Like the other missile vehicle I have going...

On my German SAM-6 Gainful, I painted the missiles in a pale green:

I then mounted them on the launcher to see how they look after the paint was dry. I like it so far:

Later I masked and painted the white nosecones:

I then added the decals to the vehicle and later dullcoated it after these pics were taken. All that's left now is to weather it and then I can call it done:

Moving on, I did some more assembly on the little Toldi II. I had held off since the torsion arms were so fiddly which would make the wheels almost impossible to line up. Still, I did my best:

After this was sufficiently dry, but not too dry; I added the roadwheels to it and tried hard to line them up straight as best I could:

It won't be any contest winner with those wonky wheels, but they are at least on there and I can then add the tracks later when everything dries.

While that was dying, I finished adding all the fiddly bits to the upper hull, except for the tools. Later on, when everything was dry(er) I posed the upper hull and turret on this little tank to see how it looks:

Pretty cool! It's certainly a tiny thing too. Now all it needs is tracks and then I can paint this.

Speaking of painting a tank; as you all know I had painted the basecoat on the Chi Nu and then I masked it with Silly Putty. I finally got a dry enough day to spray so I shot the second color on it. Here it is sporting the darker green color now:

Later I added more Silly Putty for the final color, a lighter green:

That will be sprayed when I get more time for the airbrush booth. Meanwhile, as that was drying; I brush painted the various colors on the roadwheels and also detailed out the tracks a bit:

That's all I got done on that little beastie. Now for the work I did on some trucks and light vehicles.

As mentioned above, I started a Light Vehicles Group Build on the Missing Lynx Braille Scale Forums. I submitted four vehicles for it, three of which I started at Hobby Day. The first one of these was an ACE kit; the Italian Coloniale staff car. I did the chassis first; it only took abut three minutes which was so fast I also did the dash board with steering wheel:

Building it up from there was fairly simple and easy which is becoming more common now with the newer ACE kits. I commend Alexey for doing such a fantastic job improving his molds:

Later I decided to make this with the top up, so I assembled the canvas top and window frames:

A simple dry fit later shows some issues but they will be easy to take care of. This is a nice looking little car:

That's all I did on that one so far.

Moving on, I also started another ACE kit, which is another Italian vehicle. This is the ACE Italian Autoblinda Tratorre, and I started with the chassis again. Because of the way the front axles are mounted, I also assembled and installed the front hood for stability:

I then did the rear bed for this truck; also using it later to stabilize the rear wheel axles:

Later I started the cab, leaving off the roof so I could add the windows later:

Here's how it looks all together so far:

The last light vehicle I started for the Group Build was the new Airfix Airborne Vehicles set with the Jeep, trailer and 75mm pack howitzer. Again, I started with the chassis on the Jeep:

Two minutes later I assembled most of the upper body of this jeep:

I then added seats inside and dry fit the hood and body to the chassis. Looking good:

The instructions say this thing was air dropped from Halifax bombers so they had developed a sort of tray for this to help protect it when landing. This was included in the kit:

This is how it looks sans wheels so far:

Next up was the trailer which took all of four minutes to build:

...and finally, I assembled the pack howitzer. That took another five or six minutes:

It's a nice little gun, but I have to say the ACE pack howitzer is better detailed and a nicer looking model when finished. You'll also notice I left the wheels off all these so I could spray them separately and add them later after they are fully painted.

Here is the whole set assembled and ready for paint:

Now when I had painted my Chi Nu, I had also finished painting green on the two Russian tractors. Here's the first tractor:

And here is the second tractor:

Later on I painted the chassis and undersides a flat black as indicated in the instructions, next is to clear coat these for decals.

I also moved ahead on my Diamond T wrecker, first shooting all the cab parts still on the sprues. I also shot the wheel hubs:

While that was drying, I started the assembly on the two booms of the wrecker. After ten minutes, I finally got the first boom done. This simple boom had seven parts on it, and lining up the slightly curved outer parts was difficult beyond measure:

I took a short break from that and assembled the air compressor next:

Then I assembled the second boom seen here:

Thank God that was done! Next I painted Oily Black on the lower chassis of the Diamond T:

I then built this assembly, which holds the two booms:

And that's as far as I got on that. I need to do some painting before I move on here.

At about this time, my ACE Centurion had arrived and so I pulled it out and dug right in. I started with the lower hull:

The fit is great but there were some places it still acted like an ACE kit of the past! However, I was having a blast and continued on...

Next came the five pieces of the upper hull and the two fenders:

I then built up the turret while the hull was drying, here's the basic turret so far:

Naturally I had to test fit this all together to see how it looked:

It was at that time I discovered that the rear corners of the turret were rubbing on the raised engine deck. I carefully sanded these down a bit to make the turret's turning more fluid.


Okay, I hope you enjoyed your ride through Maddog Manufacturing today. I know it was a long trip but I hope it was fun nonetheless. Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[Frank]

Looking good Mark
Frank

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Frank!

Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[Sherman 18]

Your productivity is just insane :woohoo:


Love it!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Sherman! I still need to finish some of these yet.

Stay tuned...

 

[MM2CVS9]

I'm always amazed at how the silly putty camo turns out. I need to try that. Nice work.

EJ