Maddog Manufacturing Open for 2024

[Duke Maddog]

It seems that I tend to start tours once a month now more or less, so I guess it's that time again. I have a rather extensive tour this time so without further ado, let's board the trams and see what's been happening around the manufacturing plant this month.....




Starting out tour in the Hangar we have in this first bay, the B-58 Hustler which now has two other metallic colors on it:





Later I went to install the landing gear but the nose gear strut has gone on walkabout so this was as far as I got on that:





An attempt was made to add the decals too, but even with two coats of Liquid Decal Film, they shattered like glass hit with a hammer. I need to now find some aftermarket decals along with a new nose gear strut....unless the original turns up...


Moving on to the next bay, I decided to get a few bagged kits built so that I could get rid of the bags. This was the first one I started, an Italian Macchi C202:





It was fast and relatively easy to build when it came to the sub assemblies:





I did have some issues trying to add the main wings to the fuselage, but I guess I did well enough to add the landing gear:





Next up will be painting this and finishing it up. I just hope the decals go on better than the ones for the C205 I did before...





Another bagged kit is this 1/72 scale Fokker DR-1 Red Baron plane that went together very fast and easy:





I got to paint it sooner than expected:





I then started another Eduard bagged kit, this time the Albatross:





It was also quite fast and easy to build:





After adding a few more details, this bird was ready for paint. Eduard offers quite a colorful paint scheme for this:





Some Model Master, some Humbrol and some Testor's square-bottled paints brought me to this stage:





After some more detail painting, this will be ready for decals.


Finally in this last bay, I decided to add the landing gear to my DC-9 and let it dry:





She sits pretty nice:





I had then set this aside as I couldn't find the decals for this version, so I waited. Then I found them in another DC -9 kit that had TWA markings so this one was able to get it's decals.




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



Here in the Shipyards, this first slip has the HMS Westminster getting her lower hull painted:





The next slip over we laid the keel for the little USS Freedom LCS and built up most of the superstructure too:





This is one very small ship:





That is as far as I got; I need to pull out my paints to get this moving forward. In the next bay, I decided to start another Big Box model, this is the 1/72 scale US Marine LCAC that had been sitting for awhile. First, there was a lot of Photo-etch that needed to be installed, so one day I sat and went through the instructions to find where all the photo-etch parts go. About 80% were done here:





There's still some photo-etch parts that need to be added later, but for now, I moved on and installed on the deck some of the deck fixtures that I had added photo-etch to:





That puppy is gonna take up some real estate! Some of the deck houses were built next:








This is where I stopped, the engines will be next to build. Until then, here's a preview with the assembled deck houses dry fit on the deck:





Finally in this last slip is a fun project that I thought it was time to build. This is the Pegasus Hobbies Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. First the interior of the main gallery was built:








Pretty nice detail for this area. Later I started to paint some of the most obvious items:








While that was drying, we added the bottom sub assembly to the keel of this boat. It's trhe bottom part on this sprue:





Next we added the big gallery windows and side extensions to the side of the hull:





The kit provides masks for all those windows. That is going to be an interesating exercise!


That concludes the tour of the Shipyards, now on to the Motor Pool.



Here in the Motor Pool, a lot has been done. Let's start in this first bay. It's another spare kit someone gifted to me so it was time to start it. I got it built and started the painting, now all I need is to install the wheels and the last few detail parts:








I'm thinking of making this a captured vehicle used by the allies.....


In the next bay is another German vehicle, an SdKfz 9 with a crane. This is the early version; I have a late version to start as well. I just have to find it.





The front vinyl tires went missing, so getting this done will have to wait. Until then. detail parts were added and a re-paint was done:





In the next bay I started another semi-big box model; this is a Japanese anti-ship missile truck. I got the main chassis and suspension done, and then completed the interior of the cab:





In the next bay is a Russian Gaz AAA cargo truck that had slowly been worked on. The interior of the cab was painted and window cement was used to make the windshield and rear window:





​Later the cab was closed up, again using window cement for the door windows:





You can see what a poor-fitting Eastern European short-run kit this is here.....


In this next bay, I tried to get caught up on this difficult IBG kit of the Holmes Wrecker. The cab was painted inside, closed up and the rear bed was built and dry-fit on the chassis:





After the rear bed dried, it was painted:





Later the wheels were installed and the chassis and suspension were painted. My go-to is Pollyscale Oily Black for all this. It's still wet in this pic:





Here it is all test fit together:





Then came the long hard fight to rig this thing. The kit gives you a string of some kind of flexible plastic which all glues tend to melt into nonexistence. It was all curled into a circle in the bag and kept it's curve. So, I used my trusty Gator's Grip Glue. Still, this stuff would not straighten out or glue tight, but I did the best I could:





At least it didn't melt.....


Finally once it was sufficiently dry, the whole thing was glued together:





Additional detail painting was done and decals were added later.


Finally in this last bay, the camouflage pattern was painted on the French Le Clerc tank that had been sitting for a long time:








Now that the tour of the Motor Pool is done, there's a small detour to take to the little used Space Port. Here we started the 1/72 scale Finemolds Millennium Falcon. This is the cockpit and entrance tunnel for the 1/72 scale Millennium Falcon from Finemolds:





I also started the radar dish that goes on top:





Later the cockpit and passengers will be painted up and detailed.


Finally, in the back area here we had been building a lumber mill. This project got more done on it. First, the workbend with the radial saw was added to the side of this after all the wood had been painted. A ladder to the catwalk was also installed. Pics don't show the wood grain painting very well:





The main roof was painted up. I opted for a mettalic look to it since no indication was given for what color it was, nor did the box art show the roof:





Later the roof was installed. It took some persuasion to sit properly:





The roof over the workbench was then installed as well:





Later the base was painted, accessories were added and the office was built and painted. This was then placed on the base. It's the blue building in the back:





Here's a shot of the back of the mill with the office and the coal bin and scuttle behind the office:





The office building is not glued down yet, it's just screaming for an interior that the kit didn't provide. It's very easy to see inside with that big side window. Once I scrape up the right kind of furniture and such, I'll complete that and then glue it down.





And that concludes out latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, thank you all for joining the tour and always remember comments are welcome.

[Medicman71]

Some cool builds Mark!

[LyleW]

Sure have a lot going on!

[BlackSheep214]

Great builds you've got going on, Mark! Those WW1 fighters are colorful no matter the aircraft. I almost picked up a Spad kit by Eduard at Syrcon but passed on it. His asking price was $20. I countered $15. Nope. I ended up with the Stuart tank instead.

Loving the 10,000 Leagues submarine kit. Definitely digging the whole lot you've been building. That ship is freaking tiny. Too tiny for my liking.

[Brandons_Iron]

Wow, so much going on there. Very cool. Sorry if you already mentioned it, but what kit and scale is that Hustler? I have the old 1/96 scale and I'm curious if your kit is the same one. Great work on all that really cool stuff.

[BlackSheep214]

I tell you what… I love Oily Black. My Grimy Black is getting low though. I like Grimy Black as well. Very similar to German Grey in color.

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you Mike!

Thank you Lyle! Having a lot going on keeps things fresh for me.

Thank you Blacksheep! I agree, $20.00 is too much for one of these tiny planes. I got mine for $3.00 each myself. Yes, that LCS is tiny. I hope I don't lose it somewhere! I think I have some grimy black somewhere too. I tend to use the oily black a lot more though.

Thank you Brandon! The Hustler is the 1/72 scale Italeri kit, I got it from a friend of mine some years back.

[Duke Maddog]

And now for this next tour of the facilities....

Despite having extensive work on a couple jobs, we managed to get some progress down over the past few weeks. Certainly enough for another tour. So, all aboard the trams and let's get started.


As always our tour begins in the Hangar, where quite a bit has been done.

In this first bay is a new project, the Italian MB326K Impala. The cockpit was done first. of course:



Later paint was added and the decals applied to the instrument panels:



While that was drying, we assembled all the two-part assemblies, like the wings, wingtip tanks, and the three parts each of the rocket launchers:



After all that, the fuselage, tail feathers and wings were assembled:



After all that, it turns out this is a tail sitter so I'll have to find a way to add weight in the nose to bring this back on it's feet.

Moving on to the next bay, we have a Japanese Ohka Bomb that was sitting in the parts bin. Just for fun I started it, even though it most likely won't get done since there's no canopy for it:



The next bay has our two German WWI biplanes which finally got decals on them:



It's a good thing I coated those decals with liquid decal film, some places that did not get covered on the edge flaked off quickly.

Later the top wings got mounted on the Albatross; this bird is about ready for rigging:





The Fokker also got the top wing on. Since this doesn't need to be rigged, All it will take to finish is a bit of touch up:



In the next bay, it was time to move forward on the F-15 Eagle. The cockpit got the paint and decals it needed:



Once closed inside the forward fuselage, this sub assembly was added to the rear fuselage:



Then the canopy was installed and will be masked before we paint this:



Finally, in these last few bays we have our airliners. All these are in 1/72 scale. The DC-9 that will be in TWA markings got it's coat of silver and white paint on it:



Later the fuselage was assembled. A re-paint will be needed due to issues with the seams:



The same silver and white was applied to the Connie before assembling that too:



In the final bay, the Boeing 727 got all the metallic parts painted. First the engine and tail parts:



Main wings were done:



And then the fuselage:



Then the fuselage was assembled. This will also warrant a re-paint due to fit issues, which were addressed with Tamiya grey putty:



The rest of this plane has resin parts for everything else: engine intake and exhaust parts, landing gear struts and wheels, and wing fences below the wings. The first engine parts were then added, and extensive CA glue filler was used to fit these:



That is where we stopped in the Hangar, now we head out to the Shipyards...


Here in the Shipyards, work focused on the one project, Jules Verne's Nautilus submarine. More extensive detailing was done in the interior. Books on the bookcases were painted, the globe was detailed and the keyboards on the organ were detailed; although that last part doesn't show very well in the pics:









Once closed up all this detail became extremely difficult to see:





....but I know it's there!

All this was then closed up inside the hull and additional detail parts like the tail and screw were added:



Later, since I needed something to hold this, I built the giant squid that is the stand to hold it:



That's where she stands at this point. I have considerable numbers of parts and P/E to add, as well as window masking before painting this. I'm going to go simple on this and paint it copper overall like the Disney Nautilus, but sill unsure about weathering the patina.



Now it's time to move on to the Motor Pool....

Here in the Motor Pool we started a number of new projects and did a bit more work on others that had been underway. First the ones already under construction. In this first bay is the Schwimmwagen that got the wheels on it:



This was later painted in a camouflage pattern. The the Japanese anti-ship missile truck got the rear bed completed:



Now for all the new projects started. In this first bay, we have a Russian Uragan MLRS truck which was started with the main cabin:



Afterward the rear bed was built, the rocket launcher assembly was built and they were put together:



The interior of the cab was painted next, in preparation for later exterior paint:



In the next bay, we started the three Academy Abrams tanks. One will be US Marine, the other Egyptian and the third Australian. Lower hulls were assembled first:



...followed by the turrets:



These were then left to dry before adding wheels and other details. Meanwhile, in the next bay, we started the Canadian Leopard with the bar armor. First the lower hull, wheels and tracks were built:

[IMG"]https://modelersalliance.org/galleries/ ... 31112/full[/IMG]

Then the upper hull and turret were built and added to the lower hull:



We're gonna paint this before adding the bar armor to it. That brings us to the next bay where we started another armored train car; this one is the artilleriewagen. We started with the most complicated assembly in the whole kit, the quad AA gun:



This was later fitted on the car after the upper and lower hulls where built and connected and the howitzer turret was built and mounted:



Later the final parts were added to this, all save the antenna which will go on last to avoid breakage. We had also primed the tracks black so this will stand out on the tracks. This beastie is ready for paint:




Moving on once again, we got some more work down in the Spaceport. The crew figures for the Millennium Falcon were painted up:



The cockpit decals were added later. This is a Finemolds kit so I was unpleasantly surprised that the decals broke apart so easily, but I managed to get them in the right place:



Here's a shot of the crew inside:



I'm not sure who I'll keep inside the cockpit, but it will most likely just be Chewbacca and possibly C3PO while Han, Luke and Leia will be posed outside. We'll see when the time comes.



And that concludes our tour of the manufacturing plant once again. I hope you all enjoyed the tour and thank you for coming along. Comments are always welcome!

[jeaton01]

Knocking them out at a furious rate, Mark! Those resin parts fit better on that KMC 727 than I thought they would. I have one in the stash. I had another but someone else was willing to pay enough to get me to part with it.

[cbaltrin]

Duke is flat out getting some 'stuff' done
Did I see a pipe organ in there somewhere?