Maddog Manufacturing 2023 Grand Reopening!

[Dukemaddog]

Now it's a new year and the final Pass in Review has been posted. Time to reopen Maddog Manufacturing and show what is happening this year!

Before we show all the new construction, we'll recap some of the projects that had been sidelined in the past.

In the Hangar we have these projects in the works that I'm hoping we'll finish this year. Frankly I'm tired of their boxes taking up space!

In the first bay here we have this monstrosity, the A-400 Grizzly. It's about time to get this bird done:



Next is this one, another large plane that needs finishing. This is the C-54 Skymaster that I need to get done:



Another long term project that has driven me crazy is this Japanese Shinmeiwa. Time to get this finished:



We also have this Russian Shtormovik under construction:



Speaking of Russians, we need to move forward on this Ka-29 Helix:



And now on to current projects, This is an ancient Airfix F-5B Tiger II with Iranian markings. We started this as a fast and easy going build. Our first Aircraft started in 2023:



Another new project started, another big box model. This is Trumpeter's Russian Tu-95 Bear H. So far all we got done was the wings and tail surfaces. That was hard enough!



And a final first start for the year is this Revell Concorde I got from an estate sale. This one will be in British Airways markings because that's all that was included in the box. We started with the cockpit on this one:



The tail was a separate assembly so that was next:



Revell got smart, they had outer wing panels set to glue into the upper wing sections behind the leading edge so no edge seam can be seen. Then the whole sub assembly is attached to the central lower wing after adding the main landing gear bays:



The main fuselage is then put together; first by adding the bulkheads they included to allow it to keep it's shape:



The tail is just taped on to mock it up and see how big this beastie is going to be. Speaking of mocking it up, here's how the wings and fuselage look together more or less:



That's all that's happening in the Hangar, lets go out to the Shipyards...



In our Shipyards, we have the following in our slipways. Our biggest project is this USS Enterprise:



She's going to move up on the list of models to do first. Meanwhile, another slipway has the USS Sacramento which is very close to being launched:



You can see the additional deck fittings that were added to the superstructure. The hull and superstructure or not glued together.....yet.

In another slipways we had laid down the keel to another motor torpedo boat; this one from Vospers:



So far that where that one stands, it is stalled due to the two-tone paint work on the hull. It involves a curve that I need to replicate on both sides. Hopefully more to come on that soon.

Followed by another Vospers boat in the next slipway, this time the Perkasa Motor Torpedo Boat. First the main bridge interior was constructed:



Then the outer cabin was completed....mostly:



The engine cover was completed next and the whole boat was mocked up:



This is gonna be awesome!

That's all that's happening in the shipyards now. Let's see what's going on in the Motor Pool.



Surprisingly. there isn't anything being worked on from the previous year, save for this commission build of this TKS. It's slowly coming along:



The only other projects we started for this new year in the Motor Pool is this Dragon British LRDG truck. The chassis was assembled first:



Followed by the main cab:



That was mostly done; I had gotten this from a friend's estate who passed away back in August. He did well, but hadn't done the chassis so I had to build that above. Since he had also completed the back bed, I didn't have to worry about it so I shot this pick of all three sub assemblies altogether:



Finally there is this little Roden FWD 3-ton ammo carrier. This was another acquisition from the estate and was about half finished. So, we finished it up and got it ready for paint. Since I have one built with the cab cover and cargo cover; this one will be a 'convertible':



And that completes this first tour of Maddog Manufacturing during the 2023 Grand Reopening! Thank you to all for coming along and as always, comments are welcome.

[JCON]

Welcome to 2023 construction...

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you Joe!

[RLFoster]

Looks like you're off to another great start, Mark.

Here's hoping 2023 is as productive as last year!

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you Robert! I hope so as well, especially when it comes to these big models. I needs to get rid of these huge boxes.

[ogrejohn]

All are looking good Mark! Good to see the plant in full operation for 2023!

[JED]

Off to a fast start

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you John and Jed!

[DuckyShot]

Good luck!

Never knew Dragon made an LRDG truck, might have to look at that one. I built the old airfix version a long time ago.

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you Ducky! Yeah, Dragon released the LRDG truck some years ago. I've also done the old Airfix version as well. I even have a second one in the stash somewhere that I hope to pull our and start soon too. I'll have to see about changing the weapons loadout to make it different than this one.

[DuckyShot]

I've always had a love for the LRDG and SAS. I've got a few of the applicable kits in 1/35. I've got the Tamiya 30cwt with Breda gun and recently picked up Dragon's kit with 3 SAS jeeps. I just wish I liked building wheeled vehicles more. I don't like building, painting and weathering chassis', Tanks are just so much more simple in that regard.

[JCON]

Jan 13, 2023 13:22:55 GMT -6 DuckyShot said:

I've always had a love for the LRDG and SAS. I've got a few of the applicable kits in 1/35. I've got the Tamiya 30cwt with Breda gun and recently picked up Dragon's kit with 3 SAS jeeps. I just wish I liked building wheeled vehicles more. I don't like building, painting and weathering chassis', Tanks are just so much more simple in that regard.

But, but, but... they are wheelie fun!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Ducky, I find that weathering wheeled vehicles is easier sometimes. One trick I learned was that I weathered the chassis and undersides, including the fenders before I add the wheels. Using an airbrush to spray the dust or dirt makes it fast and any overspray contributes to the weathering of the top. I weather the wheels while they are still on the sprues so that all I have to do is add them after weathering the chassis and underside.

LOL! Actually Joe, you are slightly wrong: they are wheelie, wheelie fun!

[Dukemaddog]

After another busy Hobby Day weekend, it's time for another tour! We have a bit more to see again this time. All aboard the trams for the next tour as we had on over to our first stop in the Hangar....


Here in the Hangar, we start with the A-400 in this first bay. About all that was done was sand down the rough filler around the joints between the wings and the fuselage. Once the weather is dry enough to fire up the airbrush, we'll be getting that re-painted:





After that, we decided to get a small head start by adding the decals to the tail:





If I have a tight enough fit on that tail, I might just leave the tail unglued for ease of transport. We'll see...


Moving on to the next bay, additional work was done on the Concorde. We got the front office painted up and ready for decals:





After that was the attempt to assemble the moving outer canopy after having masked it off for painting:





While we were burnishing down the tape on this, it snapped right down the middle! I was incredulous and furious since there was no reason for it to happen. We added more clear parts cement to hold it together after installing it on the moving brackets. Hopefully it holds.


While that was drying, we also masked off the inner canopy to have that ready for paint as well:





Once the canopy was masked, we added the decals to the cockpit and cemented it into the other half of the nose assembly:





Finally, an attempt was made to build the engine nacelles:





There's still a few more parts to add to that, then there is the putty and sanding needed to smooth that out. 


In the next bay, we have this Russian Shtormovik which needed the clear parts added. However, the main canopy slide fell down and disappeared so we dug into the spares box to find something else that would serve. It may not be accurate, but it sure looks better:





And since we were adding clear parts, we also added the canopy and windscreen to the F-5B in the next bay after painting the pilot:





That canopy and windscreen was eventually masked off to paint this little plane.


In this last bay we have more work done on the Bear. The cockpit was assembled and later painted:





I can't help but feel like that cockpit is 'wrong'. The pilot seats look way underscale and they are so far apart, but not much will be seen through the windscreen so I'm not going to worry about it. We moved on and assembled the inner nacelles and main landing gear:





The fit was still a small bit rough, but there was at least a lot of places to add glue to hold them together. Here they are dry fit to the wings:





After seeing that above, I figured , why not? and we did the outer nacelles too. Once again, they are all just dry fit in place:





That is about all we got done in the Hangar, it's now time to move on to the next stop on our tour.



Here in the Shipyards, we got quite a bit done. Starting in slipway one here, we had to make some changes to the USS Sacramento. In checking on this ship, I realized the boot stripe was too thin. I also noticed too many steps and loose seams on the hull. Using thin strip styrene and thick putty, we repaired the hull; and started repainting it. First was the grey upper section:





We then masked off the grey and painted the black boot stripe; this time making it much thicker:





Later that was masked off and the bottom hull was painted the hull red. Once everything was dry, the masking came off and we had our new hull:





Once that was done, most all the extra detail parts were added to the ship:





All that's left now are the photo etch parts and the cargo helicopters, the forklift (yes, they provide a 1/700 scale forklift with this ship!) and this ship will be ready for launching...


Meanwhile in this next slipway, we laid down the keel for the DKM Peter Strasser, the second proposed aircraft carrier for the German Navy. Why am I starting a ship that never existed? Well, they did lay down the keel to this ship and even built it up almost to the flight deck so it is still a viable ship to add to my navy in my opinion. It's not like any sketch on a paper napkin like so much of the wild German armor that so many companies are making into models. 


Speaking of building it up to the flight deck, that is where we were after the first day. The flight deck is just placed on top:





Later all the side sponsons were added as well as some other details:





Most of the island was then built up, minus the tall and delicate masts:





Here it is all mocked up to see how much more needs to be done before painting can start:





Moving on to the next slipway, we laid the keel for another German ship. Actually this time it's a boat, the German S-100 Schnellboot. This went together fast and easy. We started with the bridge:





You an see the armored shell that goes on the front of this. Later the upper deck was added to the hull:





This is one long boat! Some preliminary deck painting was done on the wooden sections of the decks and additional details were painted on the bridge:








Finally the fore deck and other additional details were added, in preparation for painting this beastie:





In this next slipway, we continued working on the Vospers Perkasa MTB, building the torpedo carriages, dry fitting the torpedoes to them and then dry fitting them to the deck. Additional small parts were added and the whole thing was mocked up to see how it is coming along:





We also built up the structure on the stern:





While all that was drying, we turned to the guns, getting them assembled. First came the 20mm cannon:





There is one sub assembly missing from that gun. It is a box that has to be closed up with the lid. Well, we found the lid, but no box, so that whole sub assembly is not on there. Moving on, we did the twin machine guns, a much easier yet more delicate assembly:





We got all the parts on that one at least! 


That completes the tour of the Shipyards, now on to the Motor Pool....





Not much was done in the Motor Pool, but we did make a little progress on this LRDG truck, building the gun and adding all the body parts to the chassis:





Moving on to the next bay, we started the engine for the next Russian SCUD, this time the SCUD C:





It might be hard to make out as all the little sub assemblies were kept on the sprues where possible. While that was drying he SCUD missile itself was built:





Finally, in this last bay against the back wall, we commenced assembling the track runs for the P-1000 Ratte. Yes, it is a complete fabrication I know, but this huge 1/72 scale model is being built because I want to make it into a carrying case for all my new armor I build and take to shows. Here's what we got assembled so far:





Yes, they do snap together and are fully workable. I occasionally run into short shot track links but there seems to be enough to make up for that. 





Now that completes our latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, we appreciate your interest and welcome all comments. Thank you again for stopping in.

[ogrejohn]

Churning them out nicely Mark!

[JED]

Great work

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you John and Jed!

[Dukemaddog]

It's February and time for the first tour of the manufacturing plant to see what's being worked on this month. It's been a bit if a slow month except for the Shipyards. Since there is so much happening there, we'll start at the Shipyards.



The first thing that was done was to spray the darker grey on the hulls of the two Vospers wartime boats; you can see both boats here:








The question now was how am I supposed to mask off the unique curved line of the hull to spray the lighter color on the hull? I came up with an idea: first, a pattern was drawn and redrawn and redrawn on a thin sheet of styrene until I had something that looked right:





That was then cut out. Then we put down some wide tape on a flat, clean surface and used the template to draw out two patterns:





I then realized that the darker grey wasn't covering enough of the hull, so we sprayed the whole sides of both the 71 and 73 foot Vospers:





Now it was time to test out these masks, we applied them to the 71 footer first:





After both sides were masked, we shot the lighter color on the hull and superstructure. It turned out okay enough for me:











After that dried enough, we painted up the deck:





The deck isn't fully painted, we need to get into the tighter areas with a smaller brush. Then a medium dark brown wash will go over it.


The 73 footer will be masked and shot next. Until then, we'll move onto the next slip to see the German S-Boot....


The instructions called for two of these deck circles to be removed and so we did; making a bit of a mess with it:





However, once some liquid cement was applied to melt all the loose shavings back down, it started to look better once painted.


The painted top deck was then masked off after removing the bridge parts, which were masked as well for their paint:








You'll notice I removed the red stickers from the armored bridge front piece; it was there to protect the two antenna(?) posts on the front. Naturally, soon afterward, I bent one over and had to fix it. After all that masking was done, we shot the light grey over the whole thing. Once it was dry, we removed the masking and then added the bridge again to see how much touch up needed to be done. Fortunately, not too much:





And now for a little close up on the bridge. The binocular assembly will be painted black later:





It sure looks good in pictures....


Moving on to the next slip, we managed to get a bit more done on the USS Enterprise. First, the stern was assembled with most of the major parts needed:





After that, most of the major platforms and additional parts were added to the island to finish the major construction on that. Seams were also filled in:








The main flight deck was then glossed for decals, but that will most likely wait as they kit requires one to paint every single line on that deck, including the ones surrounding the elevators. Gee that is going to be fun! Anyway, here it is all mocked up showing it ready for hull and island painting at least:





My apologies for leaving the S-Boot in that pic; I had nowhere else to put it....




That completes this part of the tour in the Shipyards, now let's see what's happening in the Hangar....



Not much had been happening here but some small progress was made on the A-400. First, the wing seams that had been filled and sanded had been painted over with a fresh coat of grey:





That turned out a bit better than I expected, given how hard this model has been fighting me. Later, this was sprayed with a gloss so that decals could be applied next.


Over in the next bay, we finally completed the assembly of the engines on the Concorde and started sanding them smooth:





The lower wing was then glued to the main fuselage, making sure all seams and joints were glued and closed:





Here you can see one major gap that will need to be filled; I'm thinking sheet styrene will do fine:





Finally, we made every effort to close up the nose of this plane and still have the nose droop like it's supposed to. I don't know how successful we were, but this forward fuselage pod is completed:





It's funny, I'd been focusing on this because I figured it would be a fairly easy and fast model to finish. Boy did I figure wrong!



That completes the tour of the Hangar, now on to the Motor Pool....


Here in the first second bay, we started the SCUD D right next to the SCUD C in the first bay. The rocket was built first; here it is next to the SCUD C rocket:





Then the chassis for the SCUD D was assembled. It looks like the SCUD C chassis since we built it to the same level as the SCUD C:





In the back corner of the Motor Pool, we started one more project; not military either....


Now this last project is one I'm doing for a "Monogram Mafia" Group Build on another Forums. The story behind this is that one of my friends from a Forums which shall not be named, got tired of people dissing Monogram models. Having built quite a few myself, I also agree, they look good when finally completed. So, he started a Monogram Mafia over there, challenging everyone to build one. However, to be a "made" man; you had to build two in a six month period. Flash forward about a decade or so, and he and I are on another Forums; one of the two best I've been a part of since the LEM passed away. The discussion on Monogram models came up again and he was invited to start up "La Familia" again. Now that you know the background, here is one of the two models I'm doing to become a "made" man over there: this is the Monogram 1/24 scale (yes you read that right!) Packard Phaeton spots car.


First, we primed the body in preparation for the color coat:





This one will be green, but a more vibrant green than all these other military vehicles. While that was drying, we started the engine, getting it assembled completely:








Next, the chassis was assembled and then the engine was added to stabilize the fragile construction. The rear disk brakes were added to check for potential floating wheels:





That is as far as we got on that.



This completes the latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, the first one in February. Thank you all for joining us and as always, comments are welcome.

[JCON]

Nice start to February... I've been playing with that Model T Speedster today...

[Dukemaddog]

Thank you Joe! Very nice; someday I might pic that up as well....someday.