Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Show off your completed work! One or two pictures and a brief explanation. Let others have a quick look at your finished masterpieces!
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Duke Maddog
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Duke Maddog »

Thank you Stuart!

Stay tuned, more to come!
The Duke
Virtuoso of Miniatures

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command!"
-Jayne Cobb, Firefly Episode 2 "The Train Job"

We are modelers - the same in spirit, in hunger to insanely buy newly released kits, hustlers in hiding our stash from our better halves and experts in using garbage as replacements for after-market parts.
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Duke Maddog
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Duke Maddog »

Once again, we kept busy and moved a lot of things forward this week. So much so that I scheduled another tour of the facilities earlier than expected!

All aboard the trams everyone and remember to keep your hands and feet inside at all times. This will be a good long tour.

As always, we'll start in the Hangar.

Here you can see that the F-117 got a dull coat on it:
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I was going to keep it glossy, but then I realized that a dull coat would absorb more radar waves than a glossy coat. After that, we installed the landing gear, gear doors and bomb bay doors, as well as one Maverick:
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Not a good angle for viewing all that so here's a better angle:
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Finally I was ready to get this thing finished. Then I ran into a big issue....

I HATE THIS MASKING AGENT!!
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When we tried to remove it from the canopy, it would not come off! It seemed to peel by layers, each of which seemed to be more sticky than the previous one. I took a wooden coffee stir and cut a chiseled end and used that to try and scrape all this stuff off. Even then, it stuck to the model! What a cluster! After I got all that off that I could, I took a cotton bud/Q-tip/whatever you want to call it; dipped it in alcohol and scrubbed the whole canopy, finally removing the last of the mask residue. I then brushed on some Pledge Future to clear the windows again and later re-painted a dull coat along the area around the canopy to bring it back into consistency with the rest of the plane. I can see in these pics we still have some touch up to do. Despite that, my USAF took delivery of this plane anyway.
Because of the tightness in the facility, I made an effort to get some more space by trying to organize things a bit. That's when I really got tired of this C-17-wannabe horse and the box it rode in on, cluttering up my hangar space! So, we set things aside and started on this by first glueing the wings in place:
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This was a very poor fit. After nearly an hour of working it, this was the final result that I had to live with:
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There's gonna be a lot of sanding and filling and repainting to do there...

When the wings were finally dry enough, we stepped back to find that every stinking wheel had broken off the landing gear struts:
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We are going to get the decals on and the window masks off and possibly even the dull coat shot on this thing before I get to work fixing those wheels. Enough of that, time to work on something easy...

I chose the AH-56 Cheyenne to work on since that seemed to be the easiest so far. It was. We had applied some filler in the gaps I'd found and sanded down the steps:
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After another coat of black primer, I saw it was looking great:
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Certainly far better than the A-400...

Off she went to the spray booth to get her coat of Olive Drab:
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Next we shot a dull coat on the Japanese U-125 since we had it out for the Stealth fighter already:
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This bird then got her landing gear on as well. Sword does not give you very great attachment points to fasten these struts securely and firmly:
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Here's a better shot of her stubby legs. They are holding her up quite nicely:
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But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. All this time some of the main cabin windows had opened up while we were trying to mask them way back before paint was first shot. We just left them alone all this time.....until now. That's when we pushed them all the way in and used Micro Scale Window glue to make new windows. Those are the white ovals on the sides of the fuselage:
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Finally we got the last of the landing gear bay doors and other detail parts on this bird, finishing all the assembly. After some touch up painting, she was delivered to my Japanese Air Force.

That completes the tour of the Hangar, now on to the Shipyards...

We've been keeping busy on the various naval projects going on here and are planning on laying the keel to a couple more projects soon. Meanwhile, this is what was done in the slipways this past week.

First of all, some of the paint on the side of the RAF Rescue Launch was pulled away earlier and so we masked it off and shot another coat of black on the side to fix it:
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Once that was dry, she was looking good. We can now move forward on her soon:
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Meanwhile in the next slipway, the final parts were installed on HMS Kelly, except for the ship's boats:
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After some touch up painting and the addition of her boats, we were able to launch her and send her out on her shakedown cruise before being delivered to my British Navy.
That was a short trip through the Shipyards, and so we move on to the Motor Pool...

Here in the Motor Pool, things went fairly smoothly as well. We had gotten quite far on the Swedish Assault Gun so I wanted to get it further along as close to the paint stage as possible. We got the tracks installed first since they needed to be on before the fenders and casemate:
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The individual track pieces on this model are only about a millimeter and a quarter long. Very tiny!

While they were drying, we got the main gun and rear stowage box installed on the casemate:
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The kit includes a photo-etch piece for the perforated muzzle break on the end.. I'll have that done later once the P/E is annealed. A test fitting of the casemate on the hull shows some gaps that will need to be dealt with:
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Time to let that set for a bit and show you our next projects. These next two got another coat of paint on them. First the British Bushmaster that needed a more solid coat of paint:
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Then this Canadian Cadillac Gage was giving me the stinkeye for forgetting it for so long and so we pulled that over to the spray booth and shot the remaining OD from the Cheyenne project:
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Finally, I got some more progress on my Russian models. First, I got the dull coat on the beastie:
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Later we tried some combinations of paint and Future/Pledge to make this main gun a little less loose so the gun would remain in any angle I wanted to pose it in. We had some success:
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Later on we finished weathering the beastie on the lower hull and tracks. I didn't want to over weather this as I figured they would be mostly traveling on roads or being covered up and carried by tank transporters. Once that was done, my Russian Army took delivery of this gun.

This last one was giving me a bit of trouble. We pulled out the CLUB M and started masking the windows to get the cab ready for paint. Unfortunately, the side windows decided to come unglued on one side and push in. Now the cab was fully sealed so fixing them was a real issue. Finally since we couldn't get the cab off and opened up, we cut some holes in the rear cab wall so I could stick something in and push them shut once glue was re-applied to the open sides:
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Since that was going to be hidden from view by the engine housing, I didn't care. We re-glued the windows and when they were dry, we finished masking them successfully this time. Then the top weather cover was added to the roof of the cab after I'd already had the inside top painted. It looks crooked in this pic but we got it straightened up:
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Paint was then shot and came out smooth:
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Since I had the launch cabin that houses the launch tubes already masked and I had the base paint out, we finished shooting paint on the outer launch cabin:
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Finally, the last bit of work on this was the dry-fitting of the whole thing together:
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She's a big one!
I hope to start getting Silly Putty applied to this and the Australian Bushmaster so the camouflage colors can be shot. Hopefully this coming week.

Thank you all for joining me on this latest tour! Comments are always welcome.
The Duke
Virtuoso of Miniatures

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command!"
-Jayne Cobb, Firefly Episode 2 "The Train Job"

We are modelers - the same in spirit, in hunger to insanely buy newly released kits, hustlers in hiding our stash from our better halves and experts in using garbage as replacements for after-market parts.
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tempestjohnny
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by tempestjohnny »

Mark I don't know how you do it. I can work on 2 or 3 at a time but you.....
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Duke Maddog
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Duke Maddog »

Thank you Johnny. I somehow managed to fall into a system that seems to work for me. One main thing I do is keep everything in the same kit box of the model I'm working on. I also make notes and mark off where I'm at on the instruction sheets so I know what I did and did not do previously. One last thing I do is take the kits I want to start the most to Hobby Day Mondays and Hobby Day weekends. That's where I get about 90% of the sub- assemblies and full assembly done; trying to get the models as close to paint as I can get them. Then they are painted at home and eventually finished up there. It seems to work for me; Hobby Days are certainly a huge benefit for me!
The Duke
Virtuoso of Miniatures

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command!"
-Jayne Cobb, Firefly Episode 2 "The Train Job"

We are modelers - the same in spirit, in hunger to insanely buy newly released kits, hustlers in hiding our stash from our better halves and experts in using garbage as replacements for after-market parts.
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BlackSheep214
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by BlackSheep214 »

You are a master in building multiple kits all at once. I couldn’t do that even if I tried. I’m more of a “one kit at a time” guy.
“Who controls the skies, controls the fate of this Earth”

Author unknown- 352nd Fighter Group, Blue-Nosed Bastards of Bodney

“Send one plane it’s a sortie; send two planes it’s a flight; send four planes it’s a test of airpower. - Richard Kohn
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Duke Maddog
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Duke Maddog »

Thank you Blacksheep! I guess I've been doing it so long that I'm used to it.
The Duke
Virtuoso of Miniatures

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command!"
-Jayne Cobb, Firefly Episode 2 "The Train Job"

We are modelers - the same in spirit, in hunger to insanely buy newly released kits, hustlers in hiding our stash from our better halves and experts in using garbage as replacements for after-market parts.
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Stikpusher
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Stikpusher »

Great progress update Mark! I’m looking forward to seeing them finished.
"Surely I have made my meaning plain? I intend to avenge myself upon you, Admiral. I have deprived your ship of power, and when I swing 'round, I intend to deprive you of your life."

FLSM
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Medicman71
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Medicman71 »

Very cool Mark! :shoutout: :shoutout:
Mike

Sponsored by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Saab, BAE, and Dassault
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Duke Maddog
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Duke Maddog »

Wow, the manufacturing plant has been humming along quite a bit! It feels great to have all this time to keep things going. It's time for another tour, the trams are waiting! All aboard!

Starting in the Hangar again, you'll see that the Japanese OH-1 has finally got her markings on. This kit has been fighting me more than expected, but we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel:
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Not much more to do on that one. Since decals were being applied, the AH-56 Cheyenne got markings as well:
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Just for fun we added the main rotors to get a preview of what this one should look like when it's done:
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Next up it was time to paint the canopy so the whole thing was masked off with tape and a black base was painted on first since the paint is always so transparent on first pass:
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Here it is all painted up:
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I know the color looks dark here in this pic, but it is the same OD color. Another dry fit to see how well this canopy fits:
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Amazingly perfect fit for such an old mold! I love it! There was an ejector pin mark on the front of this canopy so we needed to sand that away and then polish the clear part to bring it back to standard. I didn't shoot pics of that, but we did install the cockpit permanently, after painting the front instrument panel. Here's a shot of the cockpit and instrument panel:
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Afterward we put on the two tail rotors:
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Finally the canopy was cemented into place. All that's left is a bit of touch up painting and this bird is done:
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Our next project is this AH-1Z that had the cockpit painted so it was finally enclosed inside the fuselage:
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We then started construction on the nose gun turret. Once the two halves were put together; we found that the bottom was open ended:
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You're looking at the bottom of that turret. We searched everywhere on the instruction sheet and sprues and found no trace of a part that is supposed to go there. So, out came the strip styrene. A bottom plate was fashioned and glued in place:
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I may put another larger plate on on top of that....

Once that was done, we assembled the gun... all four parts of it:
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Main rotors were than assembled:
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Engines, horizontal stabilizers, and stub wings were installed after that. I also added the small piece that holds the tail rotor on top of the tail. Here's the whole thing all ready for paint:
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That completes the Hangar portion of the tour. A brief detour through the shipyards shows that the RAF Rescue launch got some additional detail parts:
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Followed by the installation of her screws and rudders:
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Now on to the Motor Pool.
A few things got painted with a base coat first. One was the troublesome HUMVEE that finally got a coat of US Desert Sand:
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The Swedish Assault gun also got a base coat of green drab:
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...which was left over after basecoating this little gem:
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While those were drying we tried to assemble the wheels on the SdKfz 234 Pakwagen. After doing these two; I had enough. I'll do the other six later:
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After that, I decided to move forward on this Shelf Queen, which had been languishing for some time because first the decals went missing, then when they were found the instruction sheet went missing, then the decals disappeared again when the instruction sheet was found again. Finally after this happening four times, I was able to keep both and so we got the decals on this German Type SSYMS 80 flatcar:
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Some more detailing on that and it will be done. Next we had gloss coated the Cadillac Gage to add decals, but found that these had no markings. So this got a wash, followed by the addition of the machine guns on top:
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Then the dull coat went on:
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I found it quite interesting that the Testor's Dullcote frosted the wheels on this. First time that ever happened to me. The little piece of sprue is holding that turret machine gun up while it dries. I may even dig through my decal stash to add some decals to this, even though it went without markings.

When the Cadillac Gage got the gloss coat, we also shot a gloss coat on the SAS Bushmaster, thinking that decals were provided for this as well. There were some but the instructions stated that this didn't really need them. We checked out where they would go and found that they go on rather difficult areas to apply them to so I decided to leave all off but one. More on that later. First, here's the Bushmaster after a brown wash over the gloss coat:
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I had not cemented the upper hull to the lower one on this because I still needed the interior painted. We pulled off the top and painted the interior; basic as it is. We had also installed the wheels and tires:
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Some of that interior might be seen through the rather large windows so I felt that was needed. Following that, We shot a dull coat on this; removed the masks and assembled the machine gun assembly on top. A few last detail parts were installed too. Here it is with the machine gun assembly dry fit to the top:
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Oh and that one decal I used, you'll see it in the finished post.
Now that concludes our latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for stopping in, comments are always welcome.
The Duke
Virtuoso of Miniatures

"Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I get and beat you with 'till you understand who's in ruttin' command!"
-Jayne Cobb, Firefly Episode 2 "The Train Job"

We are modelers - the same in spirit, in hunger to insanely buy newly released kits, hustlers in hiding our stash from our better halves and experts in using garbage as replacements for after-market parts.
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Medicman71
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Re: Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

Post by Medicman71 »

Man you're a machine!!! Awesome work!
Mike

Sponsored by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Saab, BAE, and Dassault
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