Maddog Manufacturing Production for 2019

[JEFF]

I just don't know how you do it, Mark.

[JCON]

I know what you mean Jeff, I would be totally mixing up pieces...

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks for the fantastic comments guys! These are what keeps me motivated.

Bucky, that's how I felt when I finished up those nine models...

Jeff, I just keep everything in the box that I need to add to the model and when I'm done, I just put it away and pull down the next model and box of parts, and so forth over and over....

Joe, that has been known to happen......

[Dukemaddog]

It's been a slow week for me so here's a small update on what I got done at Hobby Day.

I'll start with my armor.

The Italian Trattore had a missing cab which I finally found. I quickly got this glued into place on the chassis before I lost it again:



Later I'll be adding the windows and gloss coat for decals.

Moving on, I got the last resin parts added to the M-51 turret:



I then added all the resin stowage parts to the left side of the tank:



Had to wait for that to dry before I could go do the other side....

Since I was doing an Israeli vehicle, the next project I worked on was the Nagmachon. I got all the suspension parts on as well as some other detail parts. I had also started to fill those crazy gaps:



Gonna refine those fills later. Meanwhile, I pulled out my Centurion tank and added all the photo-etch on the hull:



I also finished all the detail parts and the turret stowage basket on the Italian Centauro:





Now this one is ready for all the photo etch parts.

After this, I started two more small vehicles; hoping to get a few more 'easy' projects done. This first one is the T-Models M-1114 armored HUMVEE. The suspension was finally done after several puzzling test fits on each of the 20+ parts just to figure out what the instructions were trying to tell me:



That was so difficult I stopped there; reminiscing on the simplicity of the Dragon suspension assembly!

The next project I started was another of the ACE Digital design kits: the V-100 armored car. They had me start with the tiny turret. I placed an Exacto blade next to it so you could see how tiny this is:



Next was the sparse interior which wasn't going to be seen anyway:



After that, I turned it over to add the suspension:



With all that done, there was nothing left to do but close up the hull:







Finally the last thing I worked on was the Space Shuttle Shelf Queen. I started out with what I felt was the hardest part: scratchbuilding a forward bracket for the front of the Shuttle. I tried to make this in such a way that the Shuttle would be able to 'snap' into place so I could remove it from the fuel tank for transport. This is also why I made it a bit longer than the lower one:



Also, the vertical tail comes off for transport. Now it fits in one of my flat tubs.

With a little finagling, I was successful with that forward bracket; this beastie snaps into place well. After that, I finished painting and detailing the exhaust bells and then mounted them on the shuttle. They actually have more steel-colored metal showing which the pic does not reflect. The copper colored appearance was my attempt to make these look like they'd been weathered/burned in a previous launch:



Finally, I unmasked the windscreen and upper windows and touched up the edges:



I could finally call this Shelf Queen done! Eventually, I will finish the payloads that came with this model so I can lay them out as a display around the base of this shuttle.

Okay, that's completes this tour of the plant! Thanks all for coming in, comments are always welcome.

[JCON]

Some more fun work from the plant!!!

[BUCKY]

Yer MINIONS hafta be tired, Duke! Nice progress!!

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks guys! Bucky, I'm working them in shifts, that way I always have some rested one. Besides, with the Easter Triduum here, they will get a good rest break for a few days. Not only that, but I have to find a new place for the shuttle now that it is finished; it's currently taking up the whole spray booth!

[JED]

Superb work Duke

[ogrejohn]

Production is moving right along! Cool work! 

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Jed! I appreciate that!

Thanks John, I'm trying to keep things moving!

[Dukemaddog]

Okay, I have a very short update here but I'm gonna get it posted now. After all this, I hope to get back to the workbench later today to have more pics to show next week.

I'll start with my little Toldi II. I finally got the tracks on this tank:



Later on I finished painting and weathering them and now this little tank is on my display shelf. It was the last model I finished in April.

Moving on....


Since I finished up my Space Shuttle with Boosters, I decided to continue my foray into Real Space. I had intended to start these right after finishing the Space Shuttle anyway and now I can. First is the Horizon Models 1/72 scale Mercury Redstone. I assembled the main body of this rocket, and then the launch stand so I could stand it up:



That went together surprisingly well, such a smooth and easy build at this point. I had also noted the similarity of the fins underneath the engines to the old V-2 rocket and found that interesting.

After that was set aside to dry more; I started the Horizon Models 1/72 scale Convair Atlas. This one had to have been done by the B Team at Horizon since the fit was nowhere near as smooth and easy to assemble as the Redstone!



Even that tape wasn't effective; I had a lot more manipulation to do to get this rocket to fit well enough. Even then, there were a ton of seams to fill. That you'll see in subsequent pics. I got tired of fighting that so I moved on to something else.

This next model is one that has been fairly screaming at me to build for quite some time. I finally found it buried underneath a number of models I hadn't moved in a while. I pulled it out and got started right away. This is the Italeri 1/72 scale Church that went together exceptionally well and fast:





In the background you can see most all the models I have waiting for the spray booth now. After assembling the walls, I used them to glue the top roof pieces together in the proper position. The other roof pieces on the tower and side building are just dry fit for the pics:





There's a tiny cross that goes on that small pedestal at the front; I'm going to replace it with something larger and grander.

Next up was a Japanese Float Plane Group Build that was started by some of my Orange County IPMS club members and is going on completely through E-mails. That reminds me, I need to send this to all those guys to show my progress so far. It ain't much; I just assembled the cockpit and also the halved sections on the floats and other split pieces. Here's the cockpit so far:



Finally, I had started a model that a friend of mine also started at roughly the same time. It was the Pershing II with the MAN tractor pulling it. He had finished it at the end of April while I had barely made any progress. He then passed away at the end of April after completing it. In his honor, I've brought mine back out to continue. As you might recall, I had finished the Pershing II missile itself some time back:



Now I moved on and got the chassis and suspension completed so far:



There's great detail on this beastie, I'm loving this already. I just hope mine turns out half as great as my friend's model did.

That's all my production completed so far. Life and illness kept me from doing more. Hopefully now that things seem to be improving I'll be able to make even more progress.

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

[JED]

More great stuff going on Duke

[JCON]

Love that church!!!

[JED]

I agree Joe that church looks great

[BUCKY]

Fabulous detail on the church! Great progress on the other builds. Looks like a marathon "paint booth day" coming to a hobby room near you, in the close future.

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks for the awesome comments guys! I also love the church. I'm gonna try to find some images of stain glass windows to put on the inside of the frames, especially the big round one in front. Bucky, I've already gotten a lot of airbrushing done now. I'll post that on my next update, along with anything else I manage to make progress on.

Thanks again everyone! Stay tuned, more to come...

[JCON]

Glued to the screen!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks to Hobby Day, I was able to make a good amount of progress. I even felt like I got somewhere!

I'll start out with some simple stuff. Just before Hobby Day I was working on the church. I started to fill in some of the seams and small gaps. I'll need to re-scribe some of the lines afterward:







Next up, I decided it was time to add the photo etch to these models so I could get them to the paint stage. I started with the Centurion, adding the photo etch to the top of the hull:



Next I added all the photo etch to the Centauro. Much of this was extremely difficult:





Now that puppy is ready for paint.

More photo etch fun was done on the little V-100 which fortunately, did not have much:





That one is also ready for paint now.

Despite the instructions, I was able to make some progress on the Nagmachon; adding all the reactive armor and other detail parts to the hull:



Later I posed this with the doghouse to see how it's looking so far. I next have to finish up the doghouse and then get the photo etch added:



After that, I got the windows inside the Trattore truck so I could close it up and get it closer to the finish line. I also added the wheels to it, after having to "adjust" the wheel wells:



Here it is with the tilt dry-fit in place:



Finally, I made some more progress on the MAN Pershing tractor, adding some additional parts and finishing it up. Now all I need to do is add the cab and photo etch to this:



After that, I started the trailer for the rocket:



While stuff was drying, I decided to pull out my Russian BMP-3 Early and get started on that. At least this is one BMP-3 that I have a chance to finish! It has me start with the turret, so I got that assembled:



Next was the lower hull. This kit had been very slightly started as all I had to do was to add one or two parts to this assembled lower hull:



Next I assembled the main parts of the upper hull:



Just for fun here's all that all test fit together:





Now the painting fun could happen!

Let's see what I got painted so far.....

First was the little V-100. I shot a coat of Olive Drab over it:





Next up I shot the Centurion. This got a coat of Bronze Green:





Later on I added the roadwheels and sprockets to this tank:



Next up I shot a new coat of olive on the Diamond T wrecker:



Afterward I completed the assembly on this truck, getting it almost completed:





While I was shooting greens, the next thing I shot was the launcher for the SA-2 Guideline:



You can see it was still wet when I shot that. I also painted the rocket white:



This will be painted the grey on white scheme, so the white went down first.


Finally, I shot the two heck cannons; one was green in preparation for the tri-color camo pattern the other is black for the rusty version:





Since I had some extra black left in the airbrush after painting that cannon, I decided to shoot a few other things. One was the exhaust pipe for the Israeli Sufa:



...and the other was the lower section of the Redstone rocket that gets black on it:





Finally, to wrap this all up, I'm leaving you with a teaser of one more project I started that I expect to make a long term project out of. I will have extensive workup to do with this one. Here's the teaser....




That's all I have for now everyone! I hope you enjoyed the latest 'tour'.

Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

[JCON]

Nice work Mark!!!

[BUCKY]

That Mark......always horsin' around!!!!



(Hat and coat moment?)