SPA Modeler

Pretty cool! Now if you’re building USS Cassin and USS Downes, I think you need a USS Pennsylvania in her December 7 fit to display with those two…




Nice work on all the rest of them as well. Which scheme are you planning for USS San Francisco? 1942 or later?

Lots of cool stuff Mark!

Superb stuff Mark!

Thank you all for your supportive comments! They all keep me going. Carlos, I'm thinking a later scheme for the 'Frisco.. I just want to keep it simple.

Now that it is October, it's time for another tour. It's a short one today. I hope you're able to join me as we check out my latest work. The trams are waiting, so all aboard when you're ready...

First stop is the Hangar, in this first bay is an Arado floatplane I got from an estate sale. It was a bagged kit that was a no-name brand but obviously had Heller written all over it. The cockpit, engine and fuselage were all assembled first, then the wings and tail were added:



Then the floats were built. These are quite sturdy, I like it:



Looking back at the wings installation, the wings did not glue in the proper angle, leaving gaps at the roots. Efforts were made to rectify that:



Finally when all was right in my mind, everything was put together, ready for paint:



Moving on to the next bay, we went back to a shelf queen that was started to honor a friend who'd passed some time back. The C-123 was brought back out and the engines were built. Here's one of them:



Engines were then installed on the already built wings:



Just a dry-fit to this to see how it's going:



In this last bay, the S-2 Tracker got it's coat of paint:



That concludes the Hangar portion, now on to the Shipyards.

In this first slip. the last detail parts were installed on this USS Cassin:



In the next slip, the PT-73 got the same:



That's it for the Shipyards, now on to the Motor Pool.


Here in the Motor Pool, this first bay as a short flatcar for the German railroad system to go with the long one I started earlier. I got the main bed done first:



Moving to the next bay, the German PzIII with wading mufflers got the first coat of paint:



I couldn't figure out what pattern to use on this, so I went simple and old school. I painted little streaks of different colors over it. It might not be accurate, but it's what I wanted:



That's all that got done on that one. In this next bay, the main hull of the SA-6 got finished:



After that, the launching turret was completed and the whole thing got a base coat:



Later the three-tone camouflage was finished:



And that concludes our tour of the facilities today. Thank you all for taking the tour and remember, comments are always welcome!

Superb work Mark as always!

Thank you Tom!

Thank you Stuart!

Cool stuff Mark!

Than you Mike!

Another week and enough done for another tour. All who are ready and interested, feel free to board the trams and get ready for the first stop in the Hangar.

Here in the Hangar we have three projects going, in the first bay here is one that went fast. This is a bagged kit of the French Spad VII that is already assembled and ready for paint:



In the next bay we started another French plane. This is a Heller kit of the French Noratlas that had been sent as a gift a decade or so ago. I recently found it in the stash and decided it was time to get started on it. Naturally the cockpit was done first:



The cargo interior was then installed along with some nose weights, and the cockpit was painted and added later:







The Fuselage was then closed up, some filling and sanding was done too:



Once that was done, the tail booms were built, followed by the wings:





All this was then built up and some filler was needed here too:





Once that was done the engines and propellers were built:



Finally, the engines were added to the booms and the two sub-assemblies were dry fit to start the basecoat of paint:



That is as far as we got on that, so moving to the next bay, we have the wings and tail of the An-225 taped up to paint the de-icing strips on the leading edges:





The tail leading edges got painted then:




That completes the tour of the Hangar. The Shipyards have been idle for a bit so now we move on to the Motor Pool.


Here in the Motor Pool, we have a number of started vehicles. In this first bay is the trailer I got that was so simple and easy to build:



Later it got the start of a base coat:



In the next bay is another fast build, the Dragon StuG that went together fast:



Later this got paint too:



While I had the grey paint out, we also brought it to the next bay to paint this rail car:



While that was all drying, we opened up another bay and started the M551 Sheridan tank from the Gulf War. It's a good variant I've wanted for awhile. The main hull was built up first, followed by the turret:





Moving on, we started a new project in this next bay. This is the British Cromwell ARV from IBG. The hull was built first:



Followed by the easy-assembly tracks:



Later the whole thing was assembled up to the photo-etch stage. I did cover the engine cooling vent, but the rest will wait till later:



I then started painting it with a basecoat:



In the last bay here, we started the German Leopard 2A8, assembling the lower hull first:



The upper hull then got all the little detail parts:



The the turret was started. Here it is about halfway done:



And that completes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, please exit the trams in an orderly fashion. Thank you all for coming and comments are welcome!

Dang! Look at you go!