SPA Modeler

Thank you Impisi!

Thank you Bruce!

Thanks to having a lot of time lately, I have managed to get enough done for a new tour. So, all aboard the trams for another tour of the facilities.

We start in the Hangar where this first bay has more work done on the SM-1/300 helicopter. This is a civilian version of the Mi-1 that was produced in Poland I believe. Anyway, with all the construction done, it was time to paint it:



This is almost ready for decals.

In the next bay, we continued work on the US Coast Guard HH-65 Dauphin. All the fuselage parts are assembled except for clear parts, the landing gear is installed and the main rotor is finished:



Next up we masked off the tail and painted the white stripe:



Masking came off and the clear parts were added. This looks pretty good:



Final shot of this fully assembled and waiting for decals:



Moving on to the next bay, we have a Blackburn Shark that I found in the stash with an open box. So, hoping that I could build it before parts went missing from the open box, I got started on it:



I managed to get this far before realizing how many vital parts had already fallen out of the box:



So this is where this will stay until I find all the missing parts or find another kit to cannibalize.

Moving on to the next bay, we got a lot of work completed on various sub-assemblies for the AN-225 Mirya. First off the interior landing gear bay doors were finished up. Here's the one:



They were then installed on the main landing gear bay assembly. Finally after much frustration, headache, and extreme difficulty, the main landing gear bay was completed:





Later I tried dry-fitting this into the fuselage to see what adjustments needed to be made. A lot it seems:



After much carving, sanding, refining, carving again, sanding, and 17 dry-fits later, this finally sits more or less as it should. It is flush at least:



Yes there's gaps, but they can be easily filled. Moving on, we got the wheels and main landing gear painted up:



With that all done, it was time for the forward landing gear to be completed. The main struts were finally installed on the interior support:



Later, the wheels were added and the whole thing painted:



While that was all drying, I built the tail cones for the tail and added them to it:



That tail is now ready for more paint and to be installed on the fuselage. Finally, the last sub-assembly to be done was the cockpit. I got most of it assembled:



Later this got paint:



Finally, I was able to add the instrument panel decals to this:



I don't know how much of that will be seen when this is all closed up, but It sure looks good now. That's as far as I got on this so far. It's coming together quite well so far.

Moving on, we go to the Shipyards where we got a good bit of work done.

In the first slip here we have the Liberty Ship getting it's paint on before getting the last of the detail parts installed and decals applied:



In the second slip the HMAS Vampire got the same. One gun went missing so later found a replacement for it:



In the third slip, we had gotten the Skipjack more-or-less completed, with one vital part still missing, but I felt it was time to get the rigging started anyway:



That is about a third of the way done.

Moving on to the next slip we have the SS Clermont's interior works all painted up:



Later they were installed and the main deck, rudder and deck houses added:



Then the railings, masts and additional parts were added:



Almost all the final details were then installed and now this is ready for rigging:



In this last slip, we got the last of the detail parts on the PT-73 and started some preliminary painting:



Later the remainder of the paint was done:



This is coming along, now to paint the crew and get them installed.

No work was done in the Motor Pool, so we move on to the back nine to see some additional progress on the bombed out house. This is being built so my armies can practice urban warfare. This got some basic painting done on the brickwork first:



Later the basic paint was added to the rest of the house:



Now to dirty this up with some washes and weathering powders. I should be done with this fairly soon.

And that concludes this tour of the facilities here, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the tour and comments are always welcome.

More good stuff Mark! I really love the building ruin… so much potential there. And I cannot help but be impressed by the apparent engineering of the Anatov’s landing gear design. Impressive stuff!

I like that Blackburn Shark! is that a FROG kit?

Very cool stuff Mark!

All great stuff Mark, the Antonov is a BEAST. Are you going to put the Russian Shuttle on it?

Thank you Carlos! I'm gonna have fun with that bombed out house. And yeah the Antonov sure does have some extensive and powerful landing gear.

Thank you CB! Yes it is and it had an open box with an open bag so too many vital, irreplaceable parts are still missing. I'm hoping they are still in the hobby room somewhere and I can finish this sometime.

Thank you Mike!

Thank you Stuart! As of now; no. I don't have the funds to get a shuttle so this will be a normal cargo carrier.

A few Hobby Days have passed and I'm overdue for another tour. The trams are ready so anyone wishing to join this next tour, please board the trams and we'll be on our way.

First stop is the Hangar again, and in this first bay is the C-46 that was gifted to me after it was purchased from a Thrift store. It had been "severely started" as we say in IPMS OC, and several pieces were already missing. After diving into my spares box, I finally found the landing gear wheels I needed to finish this:



That should be finished very soon. Meanwhile, in the next bay we finally made progress on my Japanese SH-3 Sea King. It was sprayed white, then masked for the lower grey color:



Later the interior was closed up inside this:



That's as far as we got there. In the next bay, we started a new model, an S-2 Tracker. I don't have one in my collection so this bagged kit fit the bill. First up is the cockpit with pilots:



We then assembled the wings for this:



Once all that was dry, everything was closed up inside the fuselage and the wings and tail were added:



Later on, we shot the underside white, masked that off and then painted the upper pattern grey:



That's as far as we got on that one now.

In this next bay, we did a little work on the An-225, adding guide strips to the inside of the nose:



And that concludes the Hangar portion of the tour, on to the Shipyards...



Here in the Shipyards we haven't got much going on, but there is enough to justify a tour.

In the first slip has the San Francisco with all her superstructure added:



In the next slip, the Mahan-class destroyer got all her superstructure installed as well. This will be christened the USS Cassin. I'll need to get another to make the USS Downes:



Later this one got fully painted as well before adding all the detail parts:



In this last slip, we started the rigging on the Robert E Lee Steamboat:



It felt good to finally get some progress done on this. Now that the Shipyards portion of the tour is done, we move on to the Motor Pool...


Here in the Motor Pool, a little bit of work got done as we started up the production line again.

In this first bay, we started another flatcar, a longer one this time. We had already built the flatcar part of it, so now we started on the trucks:



Later we installed them underneath. This is now ready for paint:



In the next bay, we started on an already started model of a Pz IIIM with wading muffler. Once I started work on this, I could see why the original builder gave up! No numbers were correct in the instruction sheets! Regardless, I managed to get this far on the lower hull:



The tracks had already started getting brittle and hard on one end. I made it work though...

Finally the upper hull and turret were built and installed in place:



I think I get slap paint on that now. In the next bay we started an ancient ESCI M113 APC. After looking it up, I decided to make this one Italian:



This later got a basecoat of Italian Dark Olive Drab, one of three colors going on this:



In this final bay, we started another SA-6 Gainful, only getting the body done. This one will be Egyptian:




And that concludes our short tour of Maddog Manufacturing. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please allow the trams to come to a full stop before disembarking. Thank you to those who took the tour and comments are always welcome.

Oh wow… the Robert E. Lee steamboat. Haven’t seen that kit since the late 70s, early 80s.