Maddog Manufacturing 2015 Factory is Open

[LyleW]

What a mix. I guess that is one way of keeping all the parts separate, huh? Like the Tigershark's paint. A lot. Like the F-86, too. Like the Aardvark - heck like them all.

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks guys! I really do appreciate it. Comments like these are what keep me going.

Jim, I think it's the variety that does keep me sane.

Jim, I appreciate it. I have three other aircraft that need decals as well. Hopefully most of them will get done soon.

Thanks again guys!

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, after about two and a half days of marathon building, I finally managed to get a few things done. I wanted to get even more done but sometimes it felt like I was going two steps forward and one step back. That was still moving forward at least; not as much as I wanted, but I still moved forward.

First off, this will be a short update since most of the progress resulted in some completed models. In fact, I completed three aircraft and three armor. Feel free to check them out in their respective Forums.

And now, on to everything I've gotten done.

On my aircraft, I finally finished up my F-86 Sabre and set it on it's wheels. It promptly fell back on it's tail, despite my having added weight to the nose. So, I cut off the nose to add some more weight to it, both in the intake as well as the space above the intake:



After that was done, I replaced the nose and touched it up again and called it done.

Next, I applied the decals to the Gloster Meteor. They look bad because they are the original Frog decals in this kit. I had no others to put on this so I just used them. They actually went on fairly well to my surprise. I didn't have nearly as many issues with them as I thought I would:





Later I recoated this with another clearcoat, installed the landing gear and gear doors and set it aside as finished.

Finally, I pulled out the Aardvark and started on the landing gear for it:



After getting them installed, I did some final touchups and then called it done.


Next, my armor....


I had some serious issues here to take care of. On my British Forlite Staff Car, I had some gaps to fill in and so I added some Mr. Surfacer 500 to it. I put it on thick to account for shrinkage:





Next I sanded it smooth and then added a new basecoat to it. Once that dried, I clearcoated it for decals:



Once that was dry, I added the decals and dullcoated this before setting it aside to dry:



Once dry, I added the wheels and did some minor touchups to this. That completed this one.

I also added the wheels to the L-39 bus, and dullcoated and weathered it to call it done.

Finally, I found the glazing for the Strassenzepp bus so I was able to add the windows to it:





Now I could finally close this up! So, I put the top on the bottom and found a huge gap above the fenders that shouldn't be there:



Fortunately, I hadn't glued it in so I pulled it off; cut off the fenders from the chassis, and added some strip styrene to them to raise them higher to meet the bus body:





Lo and behold, it worked! I did have to glue the bottom a little tighter than usual to make them match better, (thus the clamp) but it worked like I wanted it to. There is still a tiny gap there but it is within my tolerance levels:





I have given up making this an "award-winning" model after I couldn't get the paint to behave; I can accept that small amount of gap. It would take far too much effort and damaging work to try and close it up further.

So, now that I got it closed up, I finished up by painting the front end. There is supposed to be a decal that goes above the windshield, but it got messed up and unusable, so I left it off. Now it is complete.

Okay, you've seen the work I did to these, now feel free to check them out in their respective Forums.

Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

[LyleW]

Great skill displayed here!

[Duke Maddog]

You honor me Lyle! I wouldn't really call it skill; more like some considerable luck in the process. Thanks for the high praise!

[Duke Maddog]

Wow, it has been awhile since I've posted anything but now I've completed enough progress on my models to actually post something here.

I'll start with some of the simple things I did that didn't take long.

First of all I shot some more black on the Headless Horseman to see where any seams and other issues were found. Not too many, but I still have a few touchups to do before I go further. I was also getting some good advice for painting this from one of my IPMS club's resident figure experts.



Another simple little model I did was this basic, snap-together model of an Italian heavy gun, with crew. It's made from soft plastic so it's gonna be a bit difficult to paint and such, but I'll try a few techniques on it. Here it is after assembly; I haven't started on the crew yet:



This was a pallet-cleansing build to relax after the difficulty I had building this next little model:

I had decided to buckle down and get the running gear done on the little FT-17 that is going in my Mack truck. That was an ordeal! Some pieces are missing and others aren't glued in right, and the drive sprocket on one side isn't the same since the original got lost; but it looks close enough that I'm moving on. I've had it with this stupid little tank. I had a devil of a time with the turret as well, but now this little beastie is ready for paint:







At Hobby Day, I also tried to get some work done on my Saturn V. I was so busy with so many other things that I barely had the chance to get anything done! I did manage to work on the remainder of the main booster nacelles. It took some extra work drilling out some of the holes for two of the brace parts:





Finally, I was able to complete all five of these engine boosters and test fit them into the bottom of this rocket:




Now to get these all painted and I can move on...

Speaking of moving on, I spent a lot of time on one of my projects that I had made a resolution to finish before I started another major project. I spent a day applying all the fuselage decals to my DC-6 Super Cloudmaster. Once that was done, I clearcoated them to seal them in:



A day later, I went to work applying the decals to the wings. While not as extensive as the fuselage decals; they had their own issues. I finally got them all on the wings and then cleacoated them as well to seal them in:





Now I'm finally able to move on with this plane. The first thing I did was to remove the window masking on the windows and the cockpit canopy:





I knew I had to do this now. Since I completed that, I am now free to re-install the landing gear to this model. I also need to add the engine nacelles to this as well. There's supposed to be some orange decal striping to apply around the front of the engine cowls, but given the difficulty I had getting the orange decal to fit around the compound curve of the nose of this thing; I don't want to deal with that issue times four again, so they are staying off! I know I could paint them on, but I don't want to hassle with trying to match the paint and then mask etc. I just want this thing done; it's been sitting on my workbench since 2012! After that, I think I'll be finished with it and I'll be able to chalk another resolution build off the list! It won't be any kind of award-winning model, but at least it'll be done.

Well, it's a small update but at least it's some progress. I do hope to have more to show later. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in and comments are welcome.

[LyleW]

Oh my....That 6 is beautiful! I love the classic prop liners as much as any aircraft types. Thanks for this one. Wow.

Oh and the other stuff ain't bad!

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Lyle. That DC-6 is actually quite the mess. Wrinkled decals, poor metal finish, and I'm hoping that I can find all the broken parts to the landing gear so I can finish this model. We'll see. I just want to get this thing done.

[Stikpusher]

Man that Saturn V looks killer! I cant wait to see that one all done!

[KSaarni]

Really looking forward to that Saturn V !
The DC-6 looks also great!

- Kari