Maddog Manufacturing 2023 Grand Reopening!

[Stikpusher]

Nice tour Mark. I built a couple of those Matchbox Hellcats back when I was in high school. Nifty little kits they are! Those French AFVs look real nice. Can’t wait to see those completed. And of course what is there not to love about the Vosper MTB?

[BlackSheep214]

Well damn, Mark... it's about dang time you got the production line going again. You've been missed.

[Brandons_Iron]

It truly amazes me that you can focus on so many different builds at one time. I stop working on one and it takes me hours to remember where I was and where I was headed. You are amazing!!!

[Medicman71]

Welcome back Mark! Good to see your builds again!

[Duke Maddog]

Wow, thanks for the fantastic replies and compliments guys! I wish I could get my e-mail notifications again so I can come right back here to reply.

Stuart, thank you! Someone else was just telling me that he had never seen anyone post finished pictures of the Chariot anywhere. This is the first time he'd even seen one being worked on. As for the hellcat and Avenger, yes, I believe I built the Hellcat already in my distant youth but this is the first time I've built an Avenger ever. I'm looking forward to getting it finished.

Lyle, thank you!

Carlos, thank you! Yeah, these Hellcats were something back in the day! As for the French vehicles, one just might be awhile due to a lost subassembly, but the other is close to the painting stage. Very close. And yeah, love the Vospers boats! I have three under construction and very close to painting!

Steve, thank you! I have missed being here too. It's been a real rough summer and I'm trying to stay busy. Thank you again for the compliments!

Brandon, thank you! I don't feel that amazing; you are too kind. I sometimes experience that same thing, trying to remember where I left off. One thing I do to help me know where to pick up again is to cross out the numbers of parts I've already added on the instruction sheets. I will also write 'done' on all steps I've completed in total so when I go back through the instruction sheets to see where I left off, I can then start again where I left off.

Mike, thank you! I'm glad to stopped in for this latest tour.

[Duke Maddog]

Despite more issues happening, we managed to get more progress done. The next tour of Maddog Manufacturing is preparing to start. All aboard the trams for this next trip through Maddog Manufacturing. remember to keep hands and feet inside the trams at all times.

Once again, we'll start in the Hangar.


Some time before, knowing that the weather was going to improve, we masked off the various aircraft that we planned to paint. The Hellcat got Silly Putty in the cockpit and wheel wells:





The Avenger was masked off the same, with tape and Silly Putty:



With the weather more amenable to airbrushing a couple days later, some of these finally got their first paint.

The two Spitfires got their undercoat:

[IMGhttps://modelersalliance.org/galleries/wip-british-spitfire-mk-ix-a-jpg.129969/full[/IMG]



Followed by the Russian Il-2M3 Shtormovik:



Then we shot the blue on the Russian Be-4 flying boat:



Followed by the white underneath the Avenger:



Once the paint dried sufficiently on the Avenger, more masking was applied for the second color:



I masked the tail wrong; it was supposed to be an angled white section; I masked the entire moveable part. That's how it's gonna stay. The intermediate blue went on next:



Finally, when the intermediate blue was dry, we masked off the blue for the final color which will hopefully go on later this weekend or next week:







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



This next one was a kit I got in a Distressed Kit Auction; I had thought it was a 1/72 scale boat. So we got started on it, getting the hull and some major parts assembled:



That took all of five minutes. Another fifteen to twenty minutes later, it looked like this:



That's when I realized this is actually more like 1/96 scale, The crewmen and stubby torpedoes kinda gave it away. Oh well, it is all finished assembly and ready for paint so I will finish it and leave it on the shelf.





That's all that was done in the Shipyards, so on to the Motor Pool....


Here in the Motor Pool, things have moved on better. First off, the little Russian fire truck got a better coat of red paint on it, prior to moving forward on the finishing:



The M48-A5 has been finally masked with Silly Putty for the second of three (or four) colors on the camouflage:



Meanwhile, further progress was made building the detail parts and sub-assemblies for the Russian 280mm tracked artillery piece:



Still a lot more pieces and sub-assemblies to do for that little gun. I feel like it's taking forever, but at least I can see progress every time I take more pics.

Moving on to the next bay we have the French DCA getting it's tracks on:



Later on we added almost all the photo etch to this. I wanted to let the turret P/E dry before adding the last P/E part on the other side of the turret:



Finally everything dried enough to add the final piece of Photo Etch.This one is now ready for paint:



Moving to the next bin, rapid progress was made on the Israeli Sho't Kal Gimmel. The upper hull plates went on, the wheels went on, and the basic turret was assembled. Then I noticed we put more than half the wheels on backward and had to pull them off and re-install them properly:



Later we tried to get the next Israeli Sho't Kal Dalet caught up but only got the upper hull plates on, the wheels installed (correctly!) and half the turret assembled:



Hopefully further progress can be made soon. I want to get these both in the spray booth at the same time.


Finally, in our separate Assembly Yard, we have progress done on a couple of unique and different models. First is the Packard in 1/24 scale. This beastie has been causing so many problems. First off, the instructions say to place the engine cover on and then glue the radiator assembly on since the engine cover is supposed to come off to show the engine itself. After adding the fire wall, we did just that, making sure it would dry right with tape:



You can see it didn't quite make it. That is mostly because the engine cover itself wasn't seated properly. While it was drying, we added half of the parts to the rear of the car. Some parts were missing, so I just need to find them somewhere in the hobby room to finish this part:



Naturally I wanted to see how well the wheels lined up and touched the ground. What I found was disappointing to say the least. This rear wheel was so misaligned that the car looked like it was lifting the back wheel to water a fire hydrant! Our attempts to fix it resulted in a shattered leaf spring , some of which was re-glued on:



Then I thought we should build the canvas top, and found this issue when we did:



Look on the left and you'll see how warped this was. Just like everything else on this warped brittle model, it was one more thing that made me box this up and stick it back on the shelf for now.

Finally, we did make some progress on the last fun little project. The horses and chariot are now glued together and mounted on the base. Now all that is needed is the reins and whip and we can call this done:







And that now concludes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. Thank you all for stopping in and taking the tour, it's a pleasure to have you aboard. As always, comments are welcome.

[Medicman71]

Very cool Mark! You're probably the only one that has more kits going at the same time than me.

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Mike! Just trying to keep busy!

Well we have had a pretty productive week this past week, so now it's time to host another tour of Maddog Manufacturing. The trams are boarding now, so all aboard and remember to keep hands and feet inside at all times.

As always, we start in the Hangar.

We had a great opportunity to bring out the spray gun and so base paints were shot on all aircraft needing it topside.

First were the two Spitfires:





Then the Russian Be-4:



You can see the paint was a bit too diluted so we took another shot. The second shot was far better:





And the Be-4:



While we had the better paint in the sprayer, we also shot the Il-2M3:



While all that was drying, we switched and shot the final Navy blue onto the Avenger:



Later that masking came off that and now the Avenger is ready for clearcoat and decals:



Personally, I do not know why the turret frosted like it did. I was certain the masking was sealed properly so I have no idea what happened. I will try to buff it out and shine it as best I can, but I am not going to go to outlandish lengths to make it as perfect as possible.

So that is all that has been done in the Hangar so far. You can see everything has been set up for the remaining camouflage patterns before clearcoat and decals. There might be a few aircraft crossing the finish line this month!




Since nothing of note has been happening in the Shipyards, we'll move on to the Motor Pool.


Here in the Motor Pool quite a bit has been done. To start with, here in Bay One, we found an ancient ESCI kit of a Hetzer that we were trying to sell. The box was busted up, and the thing had no nibbles, even when priced at a buck. So, out it came and the basic first steps were made. You can see here the main lower hull was assembled, but when it came time for the front plate to be installed, it broke while we were cleaning it up. So this is where it stands now:



Moving on to the next bay, we have the first shot of green on the base of the Russian 280m tracked artillery piece. Like the aircraft, I didn't like it. Besides, certain pieces were left off so they had to be added before we shot it again. You can see it here with the gun dry-fit into place:



Later, the base part got it's second coat:



Meanwhile, I felt it was time for the second tracked artillery piece to be started so we pulled out that and assembled the main gun first:



Later the base part was started, but a semi-vital piece is missing. I might just say 'screw it!' and move on anyway....



That is as far as we got on that one. In this next bay, we shot the base coat on the French DCA anti-aircraft system. It does NOT look this blue in person:



Later came clearcoat, a wash, and decals:



This one was later driven out onto the parade ground for breaking in by it's crew.

In this next bay, we decided to move forward on the Sho't Kal Dalet by completing the basic turret. For some reason, this turret was far more rough than the Gimmel turret was:



Later after some cleanup, the main gun was added to the turret and the fenders were added to the sides:



Now this is more or less caught up with the Gimmel. Moving on to the next bay, we have the M48-A5 Patton. The base had already been shot on, so the masking went on and the second color was shot:



Additional Silly Putty was added to cover the second color when it was dry:



And the third color was shot:



When it was dry, I hand painted some black shapes on the edges for the fourth color. They may be a bit hard to see in this pic, they look like shadows:



Finally, everything came off when it was all dry:



Later a clearcoat and decals went on:



After that, some dullcoat was applied, and the final details were added and this was driven off by it's crew for familiarization....

In another bay over here, the M1070 gun truck finally had some progress done. Base paint was applied to the inside of the cab and the outside:



The windscreen and side doors were masked off, both inside and out:



Finally, base paint was shot on the rear gunner's box, the clear parts and the other sub-assemblies, as well as a lighter OD on the anti-RPG panels:



That is where we left that one, but there's more. While organizing my parts, I found a small machine gun turret for my T-28 kit. I had just put that kit up and so I found it again and was able to finally have the whole kit again! This tank had already been basecoated green before the turret got lost, and so now, I am finally able to finish this Shelf Queen after ten years! Silly Putty was added for the second color:



Then the tan was shot:



Finally the unmasking:



This one then got final details added and was then turned over to their crew for breaking in.

That's all for today. Nothing esoteric this time, but still hopefully some interesting items in the tour.

Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

[Brandons_Iron]

Hands down, you are the most ambitious person I have ever met. A pure madman...err Maddog in modeling..

[Stikpusher]

Great update Mark! They are all progressing quite well. Interesting colors and scheme on the M48A5.