Maddog Manufacturing 2017 Production Line

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks for the compliment Blacksheep! It actually does save a little time doing multiples; at least it feels like it does. I guess I'm just too impatient to walk away when something needs to dry; so I stick around to work on something else.

[speedgraflex]

You mentioned aircraft on the carrier? These?

[Duke Maddog]

Those are the exact planes I've been working on Bruce. They are molded in clear plastic and about 3/4 of an inch long. Gotta get them painted soon.

[mostrich]

Yak-38 Forger. What an odd looking plane. The only Soviet VTOL plane by the way. It has some "surprising" similarities with the Fokker VAK 191. Sadly Germany never ordered serial production because of changed tactic conditions.

[Duke Maddog]

True, the Yak 38 Forger. However, I've heard that they have a new VTOL aircraft, similar to the Forger: The Yak 141. Supposedly those are based on the Novorrisisk. Baku had them as an experiment to see if they would work; at least me fuzzy memory from research tells me.

Still plugging along on this; I truly do want to finish it!

[speedgraflex]

Duke,

What is the advantage to using clear plastic? I assume “Hobby Boss” and “Trumpeter” are one and the same? Is Trumpeter still making kits? So many questions for you. Happy Monday!

[Stikpusher]

Bruce, Hobbyboss and Trumpeter are owned and run by the same folks in China. Trumpeter was the original label. What I was told by one of the shop owners here was that Hobby Boss came about due to issues being had with their contracted importer/distributor here in the US. Hobby Boss was created to sidestep that and when introduced the kits were markedly less expensive that Trumpeter kits. I presume that was a marketing technique, as they soon became priced in the same range as Trumpeter once established.

[Duke Maddog]

Carlos explained about Trumpeter and Hobby Boss very well. As for using clear plastic on the tiny carrier aircraft, I believe the best explanation for that is that the windows and canopies can remain clear.

Trumpeter and Hobby Boss are indeed still making kits. Many of them are exquisite still. I have been trying to get a hold of Trumpeter's SA-6 Gainful model in 1/72 scale but have been fully unsuccessful. I need about three or four of them for my Russian, Egyptian and Syrian armies. The fourth would be for my Iraqi army if I can confirm they had them.

[speedgraflex]

Thank you for explaining the Trumpter / HobbyBoss history, gents. Originally I was going to build a 1/32 Trumpeter Me 262 Schwalbe after the Revell Horten. That was the first time I heard of the company! This shows how naïve I am when it comes to their history.

Duke, I wanted to add thanks for your explanation! There seems to be some bias towards having kit parts made in clear due to the hardness of clear plastic, is that correct? Also, there seems to be a bit of a negative bias towards modeling historical subjects in colored plastic. Many reviews I read of Z-M kits knocked their choice of colored plastic as well as clear shells; the colors as being toylike and the clear plastic as being brittle as well as difficult to paint.

[Stikpusher]

Mark, I can conform for you that the Iraqis did use the SA-6. Get that 4th kit! I have the Trumpeter 1/35 SA-6 in my stash to do one day.

Here is an Iraqi SA-6 for ya.



Bruce, yes, clear plastic is usually more brittle than opaque plastic. But I could not tell you why. As far as multi colored kits go, and some folks aversion or derision to that, I suppose it goes back to the older kits. Much like the Hawk P-47 you're building now, many older kits were molded in colors to minimize the painting that us junior modelers would have to do. Back then models were more of a build your own toy for kids, often with working features like retracting landing gear and such, than a serious scale replica for adults as today's kits are. I think some reviewers have this prejudice in mind, consciously or subconsciously. Academy's new F-4 have this feature and have been dinged for it. But why? It's still a gorgeous kit, with a fantastic full weapons load out and all sorts of options part on the sprues. But the snobbery kicks in because some releases are molded in multi color sprues, as opposed to standard solid gray.