Maddog Manufacturing 2020 Production

[JCON]

I thought it was funny Jed!!!

[ogrejohn]

That's a lot of nice work Mark! 

[Dukemaddog]

Jed, no worries. I'm just thrilled to see you stop in and comment. As Joe said, it is kinda funny!

Thanks John! I'm also glad to see your posts. Your compliments are most appreciated.

[JED]

As long as I can raise a smile or two 😃😃

[Dukemaddog]

All the time Jed! Keep it coming!

Now to get more done...

[Dukemaddog]

Well, now that I reached my latest milestone, I decided it was time to get caught up on a few shelf queens while also starting some easy assembly models and a couple others on my list to start. More on that later. Before that, I tried to move forward on more of my aircraft, but I only kept going back to the An-124 to the exclusion of all other aircraft. So, here is the progress I made on that monster.


To start with, I painted the main landing gear bays and the forward landing gear, following the directions as closely as possible:





Later I added the folding landing doors on the main gear bays. Afterward I realized that I hadn't painted them so in this pic you can see the start of my masking them for paint. The larger doors lay flat on the other side of the main gear bays; I'll add them once I install these on the fuselage:





Here they are fully masked...





And painted...





And here are the two main landing gear bays all completed, even with the wheels already installed:





Previously I had added the nose weights to the inside of the nose cone. They had been drying for two days and so now it was time to finally cement that nose cone onto the fuselage:





You can't see it here, but on the other side and the front of the cockpit clear part there are huge gaps. I proceeded to pull out my Tamiya white putty and fill them in:





By the way, that fuselage is leaning against my desk since I have nowhere else to keep it.


Later on I'll be sanding that down and then I can rescribe missing panel lines. Then this part will be ready for paint! Finally!


Speaking of paint; I was able to paint the wings and tail surfaces. They are grey on the version I'm doing, so I shot them with three coats of grey and then a shot of gloss. The gloss actually came out semi-gloss which I like better:





Later I'll mask off and paint the metallic sections of those engines. And that completes the update on that massive plane. Now for some of those shelf queens I mentioned before.


First up is my M-51 Isherman conversion. I finally moved ahead and got the main bogies on as well as the drive sprockets. I also glued together the DS tracks for this:








Now all I have to do is add the headlights, taillights, and brush guards to this and I can paint it.


Next up is a 1/24 scale 1929 Coke Delivery Van I started some months back. Maybe a year now.... Anyway, I was having trouble getting this painted because the red would not go down right. I decided I was going to assemble the main body of the van so I could paint it altogether:





Here it is dry-fit on the lower body/floor:





Now I'll shoot the red all over this and later I'll remove the upper body and paint all the interior details. Maybe then I'll be able to get this finished!


And now for a couple easy-build models from Trumpeter that I started to keep the mojo flowing. This is the lower hull of the Russian BTR-70 Early version. That took ten minutes to build:





Fifteen minutes later and I finished the upper hull and turret with all the bits. Here they are cemented onto the lower hull:





Now it's ready for paint. Since that was so easy, I also started the Trumpeter BTR-70 Late version. The lower hull assembly was the same so I didn't shoot pics of that. After twenty or twenty-five more minutes, here is the late version all assembled and ready for paint now:





And now to show that these are indeed two separate BTR's here's the shot of them side by side, the early version is in the front:





Finally, the most recent model I started was the D-9 Dozer that came with my M-1070 tank transporter. I didn't get too far with it so far, but it's already looking pretty good. First was the main body assembly:





Then I built the tracks and running gear. Man, Takom did it right! Take a look at how great these look:





If you look closely, I did have to sand away the mold seam down the middle of those assemblies. Easy peasy!


Here are the track assemblies dry-fit to the main body:





And that's as far as I got this week. Hopefully this trend continues; I want to get more of these done!


Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

[JCON]

Nice, glad to see the Model T in the works once more!!!

[RLFoster]

Fantastic stuff, Mark!

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Joe. Now that I completed those five others; it's time to clear the Shelf Queen backlog.

Thanks Robert! Glad to see you stop in!

[ogrejohn]

Looking good Mark! I especially like the BTRs. 

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Wow! It's a wonder how you can even turn around.

[JED]

Awsome Duke, the details look great especially on the BTR's

[Dukemaddog]

John, thanks! I hope to get paint in those BTR's in a couple days.

Thanks Bruce! Sometimes I can't!! I especially have trouble chasing parts that fall of the desk. Wow!

Thanks Jed! They do look great for such simple and fast kits!

[Dukemaddog]

Continuing with the Shelf Queen theme, I pulled out another one of them to work on. This is the very old Sheridan tank I started in the far distant past. I had lost the driver's periscope piece and so this had been sitting on my shelf for years; maybe a decade by now. I then noticed I had a second unopened Sheridan in the pile so I opened it up and continued on with this, first adding that missing piece:





Later I added the turret to this and any other additional parts it needed. This is now pretty much ready for paint:





Next up were a couple 'quick builds' from S-Model, starting with the M-5 Stuart. There are two kits of this tank in the box so one will be a US Army one and the other will be a French tank. Basic assembly was quite fast:





Then I added all the extra bits and bobs to bring this up to the paint stage:





Now I just have to do the second one. Should be fairly fast.


Another S-Model 'quick build' vehicle I started was this turreted M-113. Basic assembly once again was quite fast:





That is a resin hatch included in this kit that this version uses. The turret was also a resin set that I had to build:





A few more detail parts and this will be ready for paint as well:





Moving on, I started the two Chieftain tanks in the Mk.10/Mk.11 box. I only assembled the lower hull tubs. I also cemented all the pairs of wheels and sprockets together so I can install them all at once, but I didn't shoot pics of them:





Since I'd started the Chieftain Mk. 10 and Mk.11; it was only right that I do the Chieftain Mk. 5 too. So, I assembled the lower hull tub and all the wheels for this:





Looks the same. That's because it is.


So, to try and keep better track of which goes to what, I added the upper hull to the Chieftain Mk.5:





Yes, I removed that sprue inside because I assembled the basic turret with the gun and dry-fit that onto this tank:





Wow, these look so much better than the ancient Airfix 1/76 scale kit!


Now, the Chieftain Mk.5 also came with the FV-432 APC, so I had to start that as well. Again, lower hull tub first:





I later added the three upper hull parts to this:





Yeah, these are looking great!


Finally, at least in my armor; I brought my D-9 Dozer forward a bit more. First I assembled the rear assembly and installed it on the main body of this:





You can see the assembled dozer blade in front of this too. Next, I added the mounting arms and linkages for the blade and got it installed. I also started the interior with the driver and co-driver seat as well as some other detail parts:





Here's a better shot of the rear assembly on this:





Looks like a trench digger. I don't know though.


And finally, getting back to Shelf Queens, I decided it was time to finish this one. For those who forgot that I also build ships, here is the 1/700 scale JMSDF Izumo carrier that I started some many many months ago. What stopped me for all this time was that I was at the P/E stage and didn't want to deal with it. Well, I took this to our mini-Hobby Day and buckled down to get this done.


First I did the main mast and added the P/E rails to the island:





That's gonna take some doing painting that mast. I also figure I'll have to semi-drybrush the rails to bring them closer to the grey of the rest of the ship.


I then got started on the surrounding rail of the sponsons and deck edge. I only got one side mostly done before it was time to pack up and leave:





Yeah, they are a bit hard to see in that pic. Trust me, they are there. You'll also notice that I have blue tape underneath the P/E sprue. That is because the attachment points for these parts are so delicate that some of them are falling off the sprue before I can get to them. So, I added the tape to one side and taped them back in place until I need them.


I do hope to do more on this ship soon. I want it done. Until then, take care and thanks for looking in. Comments are always welcome.

[JCON]

Nice job Mark... keep em' going fella!!!

[RLFoster]

Wow! Some nice, quick builds and some fantastic larger ones! Excellent stuff!

[JED]

It just gets more and more,great speedy work

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

The Bulldozer looks especially nice.

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks for the awesome compliments guys! I appreciate that!

[Dukemaddog]

Well, despite numerous demands on my time, I still managed to get the following work done. Most of this happened at our recent limited Hobby Day; thank God we got to do that again! I had loads of time to move forward on a lot of my models. So, climb aboard the tram and lets get started! Remember to keep all hands and feet inside the tram at all times. Thank you. On with the tour....


Let's start with the aircraft line....



I pulled the A-400 down since I was tired of it sitting for so long. I added the landing gear inside the main landing gear sponsons and forward landing gear bay:





Later I added the wheels to the landing gear and the lower covers to the sponsons. I only glued the outer edges first to make them secure, hence the gaps you see on the inside. I'll come back and close those up later:





While that was drying, I also got more done on the An-124. The instructions don't tell you to, but I needed to cut out these shoulder sections to fit the indented covers that go there:





Later I got the plastic parts glued into place:





With that finally done, I was finally able to get this horse primed! Here it is after about four coats of primer and one of a gloss coat that ended up semi-gloss again:





There's a few minor issues still to correct, but this is moving forward better than I hoped. I do hope that the momentum continues....



Now lets look at the armor line...


Most of this is models I advanced closer to the painting stage, but there are a few models I started too. I'll start with those first.


This first one is a German staff car I got from a friend. I'd gotten this far before I realized I hadn't shot pics of it yet! This is a car I'd built before so this one is being built with the top down:





You can see where I added strip styrene on each side of the hood cover; the fit was just a bit too loose...


The next one I did was an S-Models M-5 Stuart. I don't have any of these in the collection so it was time to get it built. This kit has two models in it, so one will be US Army the other will be a French tank. This one is currently ready for paint:





Another one I started was the Japanese fuel truck. I just felt like I wanted to do something simple and nostalgic. First was the chassis and interior:





I then built the cab:





Then the tank behind it:





Here it is all together so far. I just have to paint the interior before I glue everything together. Then I can glue it together, add the detail parts and get it painted:






Now for the models I advanced further along.


First are the three Chieftains I had started. This is the Mk.5 sporting his new wheels:





The drive sprocket and idler wheels will be used to form the track in the jig. I'm looking forward to trying that out.


Next I assembled the basic turret and added the wheels to the Mk.10:





Followed by the same assemblies on the Mk.11:





Here's all three side by side:





Next I added the wheels to the FV-432 since I had them on the Chieftains:





Moving on, I realized that the turret on my M-51 was extremely loose. I didn't know whether I was supposed to file down the turret plug to the hole in the hull; or add a plug the same size as the hole. I opted for the easier solution:





Now this sits perfectly on the hull without moving:





I don't know if the turret sits too high or not, but it is staying like it is. Trying to remove all that resin from the sides of the plug is just a bit beyond my capabilities right now.


Next I finished off the cab for the D-9 Dozer, starting with the basic assembly:





After adding some of the interior parts to this, I dry-fit that to the main hull:





The top is just placed there for show; I left it off to better paint some of the interior details. Then I can get the exterior painted.


Earlier I'd found the second kit of the M-109A6 from Riich Models that I'd bought by mistake. It was a fortuitous mistake as I was able to finally assemble the main gun mantlet with the replacement part from the second kit:





Now, I studied the instructions and realized with a little extra plastic, I could make this gun elevate. So, I added some strip styrene to either side of the inside of the turret front, leaving a gap for the sides of the gun mantlet to slide into:





I then added a small stop to the bottom of the mantlet so it wouldn't slide out:





After a bit of trimming, it fit right in:





Here it is, up and down:








Later I assembled the rest of the turret. In this pic, I had started to glue the front and gradually I glued down the rest to insure the fit was right and complete:





I then added that big honkin' gun and checked it out. Down...:





...then up:





Now to do all the detail parts and possibly the tracks and then I can paint this beastie.




Well that completes this tour of the latest progress at Maddog Manufacturing. Thanks all for looking in, comments are always welcome.