Maddog Manufacturing Now Open for 2022!

[Duke Maddog]

And now for the final part of the Shipyards tour

In this third slip, we did some refinements on the island of the USS Enterprise:



The side decks under the island were installed next:



And on the other side, additional deck parts and sponsons were also installed:



This hull is about ready for paint. Only a few more details to add. Meanwhile, we did shoot paint on the flight deck. It didn’t turn out a swell as I expected, so we’ll be trying again soon:



In this fourth slip, more progress was made on the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto. Her superstructure was built up with the basic parts first:


I then had the upper hull, lower hull and superstructure dry fit to see how this was developing:



After that I decided to cement the upper hull to the lower hull:



Once we finished that, we added additional parts to the superstructure to finish the basic assembly:



Now the only thing that is left to add to that are the guns, boats, gun directors, spotlights and other miscellaneous details.


That completes this tour of the Hangar and Shipyards. Now we’ll make our way back to the main entrance again so you can board the next trams for the Motor Pool.

[Duke Maddog]

Welcome back to the main boarding area. The trams are ready to go to the Motor Pool. All aboard!

The first project we have going is a new Japanese vehicle, the AAVP-7A2. I started it for a group build elsewhere. The first thing done was to build the interior:



After that we assembled the roadwheels so they’d be ready for installation later on:



More interior work was done, and then we painted the interior with the closest thing I could find to “seafoam green”:



After more details are painted, we’ll be able to build this up.

After all that work, especially the work in the shipyards, I wanted something simple and easy so I checked the stash. This Geschutzwagen popped right up so into a bay it went. First assembly was the wheels and lower hull:



Next was the easy turret:



There was all of four or five parts in that. Now the upper hull was finished with several detail parts and then cemented to the lower hull:



There are still a few fine details to add but they will go on later since they are easily broken. This little car is now ready for paint:



Moving on, my Russian tank buildup continues.

[Duke Maddog]

In this bay, we find the first step completed, the T-54B roadwheels are all assembled and ready for installation:



We then assembled the upper hull, adding all the stowage boxes and tanks etc.:



The turret was built next, all but the most delicate parts:



We tested the turret on the hull, it fits and turns well:



Time to install the roadwheels. They were devilishly hard to get straight! You can see here we still didn’t quite succeed, pretty shameful for a Takom kit:


However, Takom redeems themselves with this handy jig, just like all their other 1/72 scale tracked vehicles. This is one of the best track solutions I’ve seen on any kit:



While the tracks were drying, we added the ditching log and the fuel tanks to the rear of the lower hull. You can see that the brackets for holding the fuel tanks are far too small. I don’t know how they could have missed this:



If it isn’t hidden by some aspect of the upper hull overhanging that part of the rear, we can always toss a tarp over it. Gotta love armor modeling!
Finally, we added the drive sprocket and idler, thus also adding the upper track run. Then we connected it all together with the lower track run:



Now additional detail parts are added to the turret and the upper and lower hull are cemented together. This one is ready for paint:

[Duke Maddog]

In this next bay, we started the T-55 AM, starting with the lower hull:



There wasn’t much to add, but it was a start. Next, we assembled all the roadwheels:



As you saw above, Revell did an unusual and interesting thing molding half the fuel tanks and the brackets to the lower hull rear plate already:



Building these tanks was simple:



Upper hull details and side skirts were next, everything went on well:




We built the turret while that was drying:



Wow, after building all those T-64’s, T-72’s and the T-80; the turrets for the T-54 and T-55 are so bare. I almost feel like these turrets are incomplete…but they aren’t!

Anyway, the turret was tested on the upper hull. Great fit and movement:



Roadwheels and tracks were next, completing the lower hull. Then we attached the upper hull to it:



This is another tank ready for paint:

[Duke Maddog]

In this next bay, Another T-80 was started. This was an “N-in-one” kit, meaning all the parts were there to build one of five variants. I checked my collection list and saw that I had four of the five variants already built; the only one I didn’t have was the T-80UE. Basic turret assembly was first:



Additional external details were added:



While that was drying, we added torsion bars and suspension to the lower hull:



Since the previous details were dry, we finished off the turret…at least with all the plastic parts. Additional photo-etch parts are needed:



Upper and lower hull went together next, followed by roadwheels and sprockets:






We then tested the turret on the hull. It turns and fits well, thank goodness:



And that completes this latest tour of my facilities. Since I have to remain quarantined for some days more, I hope to move forward and get some of these even closer to being finished.

Thank you all for your patience enduring these long tours; I hope you weren’t too bored. If you were, I hope you had a great nap. Most of all I hope everyone was able to see all this progress. As always, comments are welcome.

[LyleW]

Neat! Youse is a wizard! This is a fine looking tank.

[Stikpusher]

Excellent updates Mark! Your projects are looking great.

[Duke Maddog]

Neat! Youse is a wizard! This is a fine looking tank.

Thank you Lyle! Which one? I have three tanks in progress....

Excellent updates Mark! Your projects are looking great.

Thank you Carlos! Just trying to bring something over the finish line.

Finally, I'm glad you guys are able to see everything. It only took seven posts....

[Medicman71]

Man that's a lot of builds going on at once. Now I don't feel as bad for all the ones I have going. Sorry to hear that you got the Covid.

[LyleW]

Well, Mark...to be honest (as if I haven't been. But, I digress), I was on my Ipad, watching TV with two dogs in myh lap. Made a bad assumption this was the same tank. I really should have know better! I am not sure I have ever seen you post a single item update. They all do look great.