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The Duke's Tribute Build.

Duke Maddog

Well-known member
This past year, I lost four good Forum friends; three of whom I wanted to meet in person. All were decorated veterans and overall outstanding modelers. Some of you may have known them from past Forums. They are:

Chad Lebo aka Zod
Cliff aka New Mex
Rich Durham
and Carl aka Shellback,

This is the model I am building as a tribute to them all. I chose this particular model because it is:

-> One of my all-time favorite tanks.

-> it fits in my SoCal AMPS chapter's Patton Group Build for the next West Coast IPMS Nationals.

and -> Carl himself did such an outstanding job on one of these models.


I can only hope to do as well.


Here is the kit:

Dragon_M-48A3_Patton_1_35th.jpg



Here is my progress on this model. All this work was done on both Hobby Days Friday and Saturday.

The first thing I did was to assemble the two drive sprockets and then match up all the roadwheels and assemble all the return rollers:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_I.jpg


I'll paint the tires separately and add them before I install the roadwheels. I left everything on the sprue so I wouldn't lose them. That is a chronic problem I have...

Next was to add all these detail parts to the lower hull. I'm not quite sure exactly what they are, but they are all on there now:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_II_.jpg


After that, I added the return rollers to the upper hull, making this look like the wildest lowrider I have ever seen:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_III_.jpg


Letting that dry, I moved on to do the basic assembly on the turret:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_IV.jpg


Later on, I cemented the upper hull to the lower hull, adding the turret to this to see how it looked:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_V.jpg


That does look really funky with the unfinished rear area. I just had to take this further by assembling the rear engine covers and louvers:

WIP_1-35_Patton_Group_Build_VI.jpg


That's where I stopped in order to move forward on some of my other projects. You can see them in my usual thread.

Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.
 
You'll do them proud with this build Mark- cheers to you and to them! :drinks :salute
 
What a fitting tribute!

I wasn't surprised by the subject, but I was surprised that you were building it in 1/35th scale. Since I really enjoy looking at your 1/72 scale models, I look forward to seeing how this one turns out.

Cheers,
James
 
Thanks for the great replies guys. They are most appreciated.

Yeah, 1/35th is a bit outside my usual builds but my SoCal AMPS club was trying to decide what 1/35th scale tank to do for the club's group build entry for the IPMS Nationals. Someone mentioned Pattons and so I spoke up and said; "If you decide on Pattons I will build one in 1/35th scale. It is one of my top three favorite tanks." That decided it, they chose Pattons. Then when two other Forums chose to honor fallen comrades in modeling; I saw this Patton build as an opportunity to honor them as well, especially since Carl himself had done a magnificent M-48 already.

James, I still will be building my small scale armor; feel free to look in on my latest progress in my Maddog Manufacturing thread.
 
Looks Very Good there Mark .... I'll be looking in from time to time .... My life has been very complicated lately .... Your doing very well ... on such a large scale model. :captain
 
Thank you Jerry and I'm thrilled to see you on the Forums again! Feel free to check out my other work and also what I finished. I look forward to seeing more of your work as well.
 
Totally Awesome Idea and a Great Subject!!! :good:
Sorry for coming late to the party but I'll be staying awhile... :drinks
 
What a fitting tribute! I was initially shocked. MD building in 1/35? I figured that you had finally succumbed to the fumes... This build is starting out nicely! I will be following this one closely as I am in the process of building my first tank since 1968 (I know, procrastination!).
 
Thank you Sprueman! It is only fitting. All of them were fantastic modelers and overall incredible people.

Thanks Barney! Yeah, a lot of guys were surprised but I wanted to participate in a SoCal AMPS Group Build. I was only going to do it with my own choice of model though and they chose well.

Since I hadn't had this thread watched, I almost totally forgot about it. Time to update it with my latest progress.

Basically, all I did was to add the fenders to the hull as well as most of the small detail parts. On the turret, I added the bustle rack and other detail parts as well:

full


I then added the storage boxes and other boxes to the fenders, as well as the barrel lock. Next I assembled the TC's cupola. Here it is dry-fit to the turret:

full


Finally, I added the gun barrel and mantlet with the cover. That is DS styrene so it is flexible. I now can paint this model and then assemble the searchlight before moving on again:

full


I wanted to have this painted last week but life got in the way. Hopefully this week I'll be able to get it done.


Stay tuned, more to come.
 
Looking good, Mark! I know it is a bit out of your comfort zone with it being 1/35, but if you are able to make 1/72 scale vehicles look awesome, I am sure you will make this look awesome, too. Plus the reason you are making this one is an honorable one.
Cheers,
James
 
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