Maddog Manufacturing 2020 Production

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Robert! It actually is the Mk III; for some reason I lost an "I". I love the M-1070 too; I just wish I could make it complete. Hey, with the missing axle; maybe I should call it the M-535. LOL!

Thanks Bruce! Glad I can keep you on your toes!

Thanks Bucky! It was pretty major; I'm just thrilled I got so much done! I have more coming soon, stay tuned!

[Dukemaddog]

Here's a small update showing everything done in the past week. I'll start with my aircraft as usual.


On the C-54, I masked off all the windows on the fuselage using my new Vallejo liquid mask. Looks good so far, even though it's tough to see in these pics:





Next I completed all the flaps for the wings and tail feathers. Not all are installed just yet:





After that I decided to dry-fit the wings and tail on the fuselage. Tail looks good, but the wings have some space issues that I'll have to deal with:






My next project was the A-400 Grizzly. I also masked off the fuselage windows on this as well with the Vallejo mask:





I then started on the landing gear bays. I'll have to paint some interior and find some clear parts before I can go further here:





I then built the propellers. Simple enough:





I then snap-fit the wings and tail on this one to both test the weight I'll need for the nose; as well as see what fit issues I'll have on the wings:






Moving on from there, I finally got all the parts on the landing gear bays for the AN-124 Condor. I then started assembling the main gear bay doors:





Here are all the main landing gear bays and doors ready to install on the fuselage. I need to paint everything first before I add them in:





After that I wanted to see what it was going to take to mount the cockpit inside this thing. First thing I needed to do was to cut out a section of the nose. Using the scriber and knife shown, I was able to do that:





Later I test fit the cockpit inside the main fuselage as indicated by the instructions. I'm gonna have a bit more cutting to do; as well as filling later on when this all goes together:





You can see why I didn't paint anything behind the pilot's seats...


After that I masked off the windows on the main cockpit canopy:








That's all I got on my aircraft. Next is my armor; which got a little done. Most if it was tedious, like the masking on the HEMMTT tank transporter and trailer with Silly Putty:








I also masked off the M-1070 and trailer at the same time:





You can see in that pic that I still have plenty of Silly Putty on hand....


Here's the trailer. It was a bit more difficult to mask than the HEMMTT trailer:





After that I moved ahead on the BTR-3K, finally getting the turret completed:





What an ordeal that was! I also finished most of the detail parts on the main hull in preparation for paint:





Time to shoot some paint on this Bad Boy, and possibly see about adding the digi-camo decals later:





That's all for this small update. Stay tuned for more later and thanks for looking in on this one. Comments are always welcome.

[RLFoster]

Great progress all around, Mark!

[JCON]

I will be interested to know how that Vallejo liquid mask does when you remove it! Looks interesting... looks like you have been busy!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Wow Duke! You're just blazin along! Like the Wingy Thingies.

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Robert! Trying to keep the momentum going!

Thanks Joe. The Vallejo liquid mask seems quite solid and firm on the model. It's not easy to cut once dry, especially in a curve, and when lifted from a surface it comes off and stays off. Do all your shaping while it's wet and it'll dry right where you want it. I haven't shot anything over it yet; it's too hot to open the window to paint.

Thanks Bruce! I feel good seeing these wingies moving forward.

[Dukemaddog]

Okay, here it is a week later and I actually have something to show for it. This is another small update for this week.


First, I painted the propellers for the A-400 in basic black:





And that's all I did on that plane. I guess I was too interested in moving forward on the An-124 instead because I kept going back to it. To wit: While chatting on the phone with someone, I picked up the one wing and started dry fitting the wing fences and engine pods, mostly to see what kind of adjustments I was going to need to do to make them fit:





Well, I took some time to make whatever adjustments were needed and the next day, I found myself pulling out my two-part epoxy and gluing them all down. I started with the wing fences first as two of them on each wing needed to be fit under the rear of the engine pods:





You can see just how big those wings are. They are overhanging my workspace by half!


The next day; after letting the wing fences dry overnight, I added the engine pods:





They are still drying there, later I'll have to do some filling and other repair work due to some issues with fit and my not paying enough attention to what I was doing till too late. Meanwhile, I decided to finish the nose section as well. I needed to cut two sections out of the bottom for the nose landing gear. I did that and then proceeded to glue in the nose gear 'bay'... such as it is:





This is all you can see of it from the other side. I guess there is no room for hanging gear doors, so this is what you get:





Hey, at least I don't have to worry about detailing it! LOL! Now all I need to do is find the missing nose gear strut so I can finish building it....


Oh, I also have to remember to put the ten pounds of nose weight in there so this will sit properly.


Now that the wings are done I can actually paint these and the tail feathers a light grey as called for in my chosen paint scheme. After all that work on this monster Russian, I was finally done with planes for a bit.



Back on Monday, it was actually cool enough to open my window to vent my airbrush. I jumped at the chance to finish the camouflage on the tank transporters. They were already masked with the Silly Putty so I loaded and shot the brown color onto the tractors and trailers.


First the tractors....








And then the trailers:








Then I moved and/or added more Silly Putty to cover the brown spots:














After that I shot the final green color on top:














A day later I peeled it all off and was pretty pleased with the results:














You can see I also lost the trailer hitch pad on the HEMMT tractor. Man, I cannot catch a break! Time to rob another kit for one!


There is still some additional painting and touch ups to be done, but these are getting very close to the clearcoat and decal steps. Finally!


Also, I shot a base coat of green on the BTR, but didn't shoot any pics of it. I'll try to remember to post them in the next update.



And that is a full account of my last week at the workbench. It ain't much, but I'm happy. Hopefully there'll be more to see next week.


Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

[JCON]

Busy boy, keep looking for those parts! They have to be in there somewhere!!!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Some good lookin Cammo work Duke!

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Joe! I'm always searching every time I go in there.

Thanks Bruce! I love using Silly Putty for camouflage; it really helps make it look sharp.

[BUCKY]

Amazing lot of progress!

[RLFoster]

Must be watching the storms too much...

Great progress, although a bummer about the missing bits.

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Bucky! I do wish some of this would happen faster.

Thanks Robert! Don't feel bad; I've been tracking the storms too. I may not be threatened by them, but I have family there as well. Besides, it's always been a hobby of mine to track them. I remember the days of my youth, sitt5ing by the radio to get the latest coordinates and plotting it on the paper map I got at the beginning of Hurricane Season...

My prayers are with you Robert.

Thanks again for the compliments on my progress. Those parts are somewhere in that room, so hopefully someday I'll find them and actually complete these with the parts that were intended for them.

[Dukemaddog]

Despite recent issues in life, I managed to slowly get some progress worth showing. I'll start with the An-124.


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.

Now on to my Armor...

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! 

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!

[JCON]

Here's to found parts!!! Nice update!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

There goes my Bandwidth! Holy Cow!

[JED]

Yet more great work OB

[RLFoster]

Another greet update, Mark.

Although, I apologize...I smiled at your pain just a little -- "Find a part, lose a part" -- I think that's one of Murphy's Laws.

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Joe! Yeah, I'm so thrilled to have found those parts. Now if I could only find the axle sub-assembly and the big round thing that goes on the HEMMTT I'll be able to truly complete some models!

Oct 14, 2020 17:13:06 GMT -6 dogfish7 (R.I.P.) said:

There goes my Bandwidth! Holy Cow!

Thanks Bruce! Just be glad I didn't have a large update! This one is only a moderate one. LOL!

Oct 14, 2020 23:32:52 GMT -6 JED said:

Yet more great work OB

Thanks Jed! But you're in the wrong factory complex. This is Maddog Manufacturing, not the Obscure Works. LOL! No worries my friend. Now that I've posted this I expect he'll come along with his own factory tour that will put this moderate progress to shame.

Oct 15, 2020 4:45:26 GMT -6 RLFoster said:

Another greet update, Mark.

Although, I apologize...I smiled at your pain just a little -- "Find a part, lose a part" -- I think that's one of Murphy's Laws.

Thanks Robert! No worries, it is kind of funny when you think about it. Yeah, it happens often enough that it must be a Murphy's Law by now. I'm just glad that I found the parts and could move forward!

Thanks again guys for the great replies!

[JED]

Oct 15, 2020 15:48:38 GMT -6 Dukemaddog said:

Thanks Joe! Yeah, I'm so thrilled to have found those parts. Now if I could only find the axle sub-assembly and the big round thing that goes on the HEMMTT I'll be able to truly complete some models!

Oct 14, 2020 17:13:06 GMT -6 dogfish7 (R.I.P.) said:

There goes my Bandwidth! Holy Cow!

Thanks Bruce! Just be glad I didn't have a large update! This one is only a moderate one. LOL!

Oct 14, 2020 23:32:52 GMT -6 JED said:

Yet more great work OB

Thanks Jed! But you're in the wrong factory complex. This is Maddog Manufacturing, not the Obscure Works. LOL! No worries my friend. Now that I've posted this I expect he'll come along with his own factory tour that will put this moderate progress to shame.

Oct 15, 2020 4:45:26 GMT -6 RLFoster said:

Another greet update, Mark.

Although, I apologize...I smiled at your pain just a little -- "Find a part, lose a part" -- I think that's one of Murphy's Laws.

Thanks Robert! No worries, it is kind of funny when you think about it. Yeah, it happens often enough that it must be a Murphy's Law by now. I'm just glad that I found the parts and could move forward!

Thanks again guys for the great replies!

Oh dear, haha sorry Duke,I'll blame lack of concentration at the end of night shifts!! Great work though I your not so SMALL update 😃😃