Maddog Manufacturing 2015 Factory is Open

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks guys! I'll be hunkering down this week to try and have his finished. I sure hope it happens!

Blacksheep, that will probably happen at the Nationals in Columbus. I have no way to get that pic at home.

Stay tuned for more!

[Duke Maddog]

After all of your tips, suggestions and ideas, I have finally managed to complete the painting and clearcoating of this Saturn V to my relative satisfaction. Here's the pics I promised showing the progression of my work.

I started with some preliminary masking on the lower and middle section of the rocket to block out the areas where this was going to be painted black:



You can see where I also added some "B's" to indicate where I was going to paint this black so I didn't inadvertently mask the wrong area, or neglect to mask another.

Here is the upper part of the rocket with more preliminary masking:



After getting all that done, I completed the masking with additional tape and some paper towels covering the largest white areas:



Then I shot the black. I used my airbrush and it still took an entire bottle of Testor's Model Master Flat Black:



Now while that was drying, I finished the black on the collar of the LEM compartment, assembled the whole thing and tested the fit of the LEM inside. This was also supposed to allow me to see how the 'window' I left in the clear part looks; as well as to see how well the LEM is visible inside. I am quite pleased to see how well it fit:



Another shot with the Command Module in place:



Finally the masking came off the rest of the rocket. It was like unwrapping a Christmas present! I was pretty pleased with how well this ended up looking:



There were a few areas that needed some touchup, but overall the making worked better than I expected.

Next came the decals. The "UNITED" and "STATES" came as two separate decals, so I put the "STATES" on first and lined up the "UNITED" above it to make sure everything looked right:



Next I took the second stage and added it to the first stage and then added the lower stage decals. I put the second stage on first in order to line everything up properly on the lower stage:



After all that, I set it aside to dry. While it was drying, I finished up the Headless Horseman; doing a few things I'd wanted to do to enhance it. I then went back to the Saturn V and applied all the extensive stenciling to the Command Module and set that aside to dry. When everything was ready, I shot a new clearcoat on this whole rocket. When that had dried, I finished up a few more details and then finally, the Saturn V was done!

Here's a teaser pic. This was taken in front of my bathroom door. It was the only place I had an unobstructed place to set this up and shoot the pics:



This and the other three pics are here in the Member's Gallery.

Also, here is a teaser of the completed Headless Horseman:



He's in the Member's Gallery as well; feel free to check him out in the same Thread as the Saturn V.

I'll be taking these two models along with my Dora rail gun to the Ontario, California Minicon this Saturday. I'm looking forward to the fun!

Thanks all for looking in and enjoying the ride. Comments are welcome.

[Thomas_M]

American scientists did an unbelievable job back then when creating such a monstrous rocket. Still today this is of interest to me. What an achievement!

I just stopped drooling looking at your no less impressive work with Dragon´s 1/72 scale Saturn V! In the end it was worth all the effort, masking and so on!

[LyleW]

I'm told they destroyed the blueprints of this magnificent machine. So sad. This is a marvelous piece of work on all fronts. Love the figures, too!

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Thomas! I agree, it was worth all the masking and spraying!

Thanks Lyle! I'm hoping that others think so as well, especially at the next shows I take it to.

[Medicman71]

Very nice Maddog!! We have the real Saturn V rocket here in Houston. The thing is massive!!

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Medic! Yeah,, it is huge. I've seen the one at Space Park in Alabama too. Amazing!

[Stikpusher]

Mark, that looks truly awesome. Perhaps you have outdone or will outdo Dora here? I really need to see this beast in person!
Thomas, don't forget that Werner VonBraun, Gunther Wendt, and many other German scientists played a role in the US Space Program. And seriously, nobody has yet topped what they did nearly 50 years ago! Not only America's, but truly mankind's finest achievement yet!

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Carlos! I am honored by your compliments. I don't know about outdoing Dora; this beastie does have some significant blemishes that are a bit more noticeable in person, so it might not generate the awards that Dora has so far. Still, we shall see what happens in Columbus. Dora has done her best yet: in Ontario, she took First in Small Scale Armor; and also took their 30th Anniversary Special Award for Best Armor while the Saturn V only took a Third. Still a good start though. That is the first time in my career I've ever gotten a special award, however. Both the Saturn V and the Dora are going to Columbus so we'll see what happens. After that, you'll be able to see this Saturn V at the August meeting.

You mentioned Werner VonBraun; on the tables at Ontario, my Saturn V was sitting right next to Werner VonBraun's first achievement: the V-2 Rocket. It was in 1/48 scale but it still made for an interesting Then and Now display.

[Duke Maddog]

Well, I finally found time to get to the workbench after all this time. Now I managed to get enough progress to show here.

I'll start with my armor. I had left off before my trips with the Atomic Annie unfinished so she was the first one I started on. I completed the wheels and some details and touchups. Now to clearcoat this for decals:



This one is so close I can taste it!

Next, I decided to start a new model for the next Braille Scale Group Build on another Forums. This is the Modelcollect 1/72 scale T-90A with the welded turret. I started by assembling the road wheels and then gluing them with Gator's Grip Glue to the (metal) lower hull:



Since I couldn't get the road wheels to line up properly, I adopted a radical solution: I placed this in a vice and carefully tightened it up until all the road wheels were aligned:



Yeah, crazy idea, but it worked! I doubt I'd try this on a plastic-hulled tank though...





Moving on to my latest aircraft progress, I decided to work on some aircraft that had been sitting for far too long. One of these was my F/A-18 Hornet I'd started for the Modern Aircraft Campaign on the Modelers Alliance. So, I pulled it out, dipped the canopy and windscreen in Future, and then continued with the extensive sanding and filling and sanding again until I'd gotten it done as well as I could expect. Then I installed the canopy and windscreen on the model:



When this was dry, I applied the liquid mask to the windscreen and canopy in preparation for painting:



As I was waiting for that to dry, I realized that my little Mustang was right about at the same stage as the Hornet. So, I pulled this one out next.

Now this Airfix 1/72 scale Mustang was a raffle prize I'd won at the Nationals and I'd started it at mt brother's house after the Nationals. Here is where I was on this at the time I came home:



So, I dipped the canopy and windscreen for this in the Future and then filled and sanded this while waiting for the Future to dry. Fortunately, I didn't have to fill and sand as much as I did on the Hornet. After I finished, I added the canopy and windscreen to this Mustang:



After that was sufficiently dry, I masked the clear parts along with the Hornet's clear parts:



Now I'll have two aircraft ready for paint once those masks dry...



Now I went back to trying to finish some aircraft that had been sitting for a long time. The one most in need of attention was my ancient Aurora 1/72 scale Jet Commando. I had lost the main windscreen pieces and couldn't for the life of me, fabricate a suitable replacement set due to the complex curvature of the cockpit area. So I had set it aside to be a long-term shelf queen.

No more! I found another Aurora Jet Commando being sold at the Nationals, and it was only $7.00 because it was "started". Well I snapped it up, and now that I'm home, I pulled this out and the old one out and I started once again to work on this.

The first thing I noticed was some incredibly bad sink marks on the main wings where the plastic at the wheel wells had shrunk. Out came the Mr. Surfacer 500 which was liberally applied to the upper wings:



I apologize for the severity of the brightness/contrast on this pic, but the original was so washed out, you couldn't see the Mr. Surfacer. Here you can see how much area had to be covered. Later, after doing other work (shown below) I sanded and buffed the wings until they were smooth and ready for paint:



Now back to the fuselage. I added the curved windscreen pieces to the front of the cockpit area, but the side windows were unusable due to having massive injector pin marks in the center of the clear part!



You can see it more clearly on the left hand window. So, I did what anyone would do: I used Testor's Clear Parts Cement and Window maker on the side windows. However, it didn't dry completely clear! I still had a bunch of white on the window, so I took them out. Here's what I saw: (pic taken after I'd removed the glue)



That was after a day and a half of drying; that's why I pulled it out. I then used Micro Crystal Clear to make the windows and they came out far more clear and clean. You can see it here after it was first added:



Next I did some rudimentary painting of the interior of this plane. I only did a suggestion of the interior due to it not being seen too well from outside since the windows were so thick. Here's what I did do though; the tan on the lower section was supposed to represent paneling. Not how clear the Micro Crystal Clear turned out in the side window:



Here's a slightly better view of the interior cabin:



Next, I added some nose weights just to be sure. (the bullet weight in the previous pics was shoe-horned into the nose after some modifications) Then it was time to close this bad boy up:



Just for fun, I dry-fit the wings, tail surfaces and engines to this plane to see how it will look down the line. I am really pleased with this little jet:




Anyway, aside from all that, I was able to complete a small ship that had been sitting for a while. It was one of my Modeling New Year's Resolutions that I resolved to complete by the end of this Year. Feel free to check it out in the Ships Forums.

Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.