Maddog Manufacturing Opening in SoCal AMPS

Hey Carlos,I apologize for not answering sooner. For some reason I never got the e-mail notification of a reply to this thread. The glossy brown is actually the Testor's Model Master leather color. To my eye, it looks the most like the brown I see in pics. I'm probably wrong, but that's what I use.

Despite recent issues in life, I managed to slowly get some progress worth showing. I'll start with the An-124.


Okay, first off: Hallelujah! I found the second forward landing gear strut and promptly added the wheels to it:





After that, I started to tape off the contact areas on the ends of the wings and tail surfaces.


Horizontal stabilizers:





Wings:





And the fuselage:





Now they are all ready for paint; at least in the masking department. Still, in order to paint the fuselage, I'll need to close up the nose. In order to do that, I have to glue the cockpit into place; then the canopy shroud, and then close up the nose. These are the preparations I made to do all that. First; the cockpit was glued in using the JB weld shown:





That didn't work. So, I pulled the already loose cockpit out and decided to add a strip of styrene to the underside of the cockpit sub-assembly:





Once that was dry I added some JB Weld to the 'wings' and then clamped them to the insides of the fuselage:





That is still setting now. Afterward, I added some extra reinforcing strips to the sides of the nose to help hold it in place once glued:





That should hold it better than the butt joint they call for in the instructions.


Oh, and in the middle of all that, I still had to re-glue another engine pod that fell off for the third time. I had glued it with JB Weld twice and I still found it on the ground two days after I'd glued it before. Hopefully the third time is the charm.



Now on to my Armor....

So, first in the lineup is the Churchill Mk III AVRE. All I really did here was to apply the decals and add the tracks to this:





And the same for the Churchill Mk IV:





Both of those have since been shot with a dullcoat. Yep, after weathering these, they will be done!


After that, I decided to work on a Shelf Queen that has been languishing for a couple years while I tried to score another HVSS Sherman kit. Since I got one from the stash sale, it was time to pull it out and get my M-51 Isherman moving again!


As a reminder, this plate was missing; pinged off into the Netherworld years ago:





I then installed the last one and then added the idlers and some other detail parts to the hull:





Now I should be able to add the bogies and the drive sprockets to this and then get it painted.


Next up on the tour is the Japanese Type 73 tank transporter. I added the decals to this as well:





I then installed all the wheels on this:





So, I then looked at the instructions and noticed the deck of the trailer needed to be painted. So, I masked off and painted the black wooden planks first:





When that was dry, I masked again and added the white guidelines to the sides:





This really looks pretty cool this way!





Next on the tour is my problem project. This HEMMTT tank transporter has been broken and rebuilt at least three times! The first thing to go wrong was the clearcoat wrinkled! So, I shaved off the raised wrinkles and re-painted this:





After that I stole a trailer hitch plate from another kit and installed it in the back:





Two days after that happened, I found the original in a spot on the floor that I had looked at at least seventeen times before while searching for this and other lost parts! Needless to say, that is now in my parts box!


This was decaled along with the rest of the models. You can see them just below the angry-looking headlights:








Later I added the wheels to this whole model. The marble strip this is sitting on was used to insure all tires touched the ground:





I've since had to repair two of those wheels.... twice each!


This last one is the M-1070 tank transporter and trailer. While decaling everything else, I also decaled this:








Yeah, that decal is crooked. Nothing I can do about it now. I never did expect this to be an award winning model; I just wanted to build it for my collection. Moving on...


I realized I still hadn't added the ramps to the back of the trailer. Fixed that and started to paint them in this pic:





Next it was time for some fun! I assembled all the wheels for the trailer. You can see them all here with one of the trailer axles:





I then painted the hubs:





Here they are all installed under the trailer:





Using an adjustable clamp, I then clamped this to the marble slab to insure all wheels touched:





After that, installing the wheels on the tractor was easy:





I then started to assemble the P/E rear view mirrors using Gator Grip Glue:





While those are drying, I installed all the final detail parts to the tractor:





Here she is all assembled wearing her new shoes:








The two wheels on the trailer deck are the last two wheels I'll have to add once I find that lost axle assembly.



Well, that completes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. I hope you enjoyed it. Comments are always welcome. Thanks for riding with us!

Thank you Carlos. I have been using Testor's Model Master Dark Green for the green, so if anything I can lighten that up a little. Usually, when I dust everything with a light tan overall, it helps to fade it even more, but these were done relatively clean since they are most likely only used on main roads. As for the black, I did lighten that up with some white to make some 'light black' or something close to NATO black faded so at least I have that covered.

Continuing with the Shelf Queen theme, I pulled out another one of them to work on. This is the very old Sheridan tank I started in the far distant past. I had lost the driver's periscope piece and so this had been sitting on my shelf for years; maybe a decade by now. I then noticed I had a second unopened Sheridan in the pile so I opened it up and continued on with this, first adding that missing piece:





Later I added the turret to this and any other additional parts it needed. This is now pretty much ready for paint:





Next up were a couple 'quick builds' from S-Model, starting with the M-5 Stuart. There are two kits of this tank in the box so one will be a US Army one and the other will be a French tank. Basic assembly was quite fast:





Then I added all the extra bits and bobs to bring this up to the paint stage:





Now I just have to do the second one. Should be fairly fast.


Another S-Model 'quick build' vehicle I started was this turreted M-113. Basic assembly once again was quite fast:





That is a resin hatch included in this kit that this version uses. The turret was also a resin set that I had to build:





A few more detail parts and this will be ready for paint as well:





Moving on, I started the two Chieftain tanks in the Mk.10/Mk.11 box. I only assembled the lower hull tubs. I also cemented all the pairs of wheels and sprockets together so I can install them all at once, but I didn't shoot pics of them:





Since I'd started the Chieftain Mk. 10 and Mk.11; it was only right that I do the Chieftain Mk. 5 too. So, I assembled the lower hull tub and all the wheels for this:





Looks the same. That's because it is.


So, to try and keep better track of which goes to what, I added the upper hull to the Chieftain Mk.5:





Yes, I removed that sprue inside because I assembled the basic turret with the gun and dry-fit that onto this tank:





Wow, these look so much better than the ancient Airfix 1/76 scale kit!


Now, the Chieftain Mk.5 also came with the FV-432 APC, so I had to start that as well. Again, lower hull tub first:





I later added the three upper hull parts to this:





Yeah, these are looking great!


Finally, at least in my armor; I brought my D-9 Dozer forward a bit more. First I assembled the rear assembly and installed it on the main body of this:





You can see the assembled dozer blade in front of this too. Next, I added the mounting arms and linkages for the blade and got it installed. I also started the interior with the driver and co-driver seat as well as some other detail parts:





Here's a better shot of the rear assembly on this:





Looks like a trench digger. I don't know though.


And finally, getting back to Shelf Queens, I decided it was time to finish this one. For those who forgot that I also build ships, here is the 1/700 scale JMSDF Izumo carrier that I started some many many months ago. What stopped me for all this time was that I was at the P/E stage and didn't want to deal with it. Well, I took this to our mini-Hobby Day and buckled down to get this done.


First I did the main mast and added the P/E rails to the island:





That's gonna take some doing painting that mast. I also figure I'll have to semi-drybrush the rails to bring them closer to the grey of the rest of the ship.


I then got started on the surrounding rail of the sponsons and deck edge. I only got one side mostly done before it was time to pack up and leave:





Yeah, they are a bit hard to see in that pic. Trust me, they are there. You'll also notice that I have blue tape underneath the P/E sprue. That is because the attachment points for these parts are so delicate that some of them are falling off the sprue before I can get to them. So, I added the tape to one side and taped them back in place until I need them.


I do hope to do more on this ship soon. I want it done. Until then, take care and thanks for looking in. Comments are always welcome.

Nice progress update Mark. I love that Japanese fuel truck, I had one when I was a kid long ago. The trio of Chieftains look good too! And that Anatov.... wow!

Hey everyone! Happy New Year and welcome to the new Grand Opening of Maddog Manufacturing for 2021. Most of which I'm going to show right off is work I did just before heading out on vacation back in December. Since it didn't get posted then, I'll be showing it here.


So, all aboard the tram and remember to keep hands and feet inside at all times. Enjoy the tour!


To start with, these are my most active projects currently going on right now:





A lot of the work you see here has already been chronicled, but just before I left, I did some airbrushing of base coats.


First I'll show you the work I did on the C-54.


I worked on sanding and shaping the cockpit canopy to get it ready for paint:





I think it's ready, but I'll have to prime it first to be sure.


Then I built all the engines and dry-fit them to the wing nacelles to see how they look:





They look great in place, but I had a sneaky suspicion about something so I slipped a cowl on one of them to see how well it fit. It didn't:





That is way too far from the nacelle so the engines are gonna take a little finagling before they get painted and closed in behind the cowls.




Moving on, here are the pics of that base coating work on my armor and the 1929 Coke Delivery Van...


First off, I had the Olive Drab out so I shot the OD basecoat on these models:


M-5 Stuart:





M-551 Sheridan:





M-113 APC with Turret:





Next I pulled out the Dark Green and shot it over these:


Russian BTR-70 Early:





Russian BTR-70 Late:





...and my Russian 2S19 Artillery Vehicle that I'd assembled in 15 minutes some time before:





Later I pulled out the Green Drab and base coated the M-51 Isherman:





After that dried, I shot a coat of Israeli Armor Sand over this, trying hard to do it light enough for the Green Drab to show through in places:





I then changed things up and loaded some red in the brush and shot my 1929 Coke Delivery Van. It was still wet in this pic:





Personally I'm not that thrilled with that red, I feel it's too light. I want a darker red on this so I'll be looking for another color to shoot on this.


After that, I shot the dark tan over the D-9 Dozer:





I'll be doing a dark brown wash over that to make it pop and then after paint the interior, I'll add the windows to this. Then after I weather it, I think it will be done as I don't remember any markings for it.


The day before I left, I shot gloss coats over all the above vehicles to prepare them for decals when I came home.


Finally when I got home, I decided to tackle the BTR-3K that has the digital camouflage decals included. Alexey had a nice sheet of digital patterns but I feel there could have been more as I didn't have enough for the upper deck in back. Maybe it doesn't need it up there, but I added what I had left after applying them to the sides, front and rear. There was no diagram in the instructions showing where and how to apply them so I winged it. I think it looks pretty good, despite my poor application:





And no, I won't paint the remainder on the top. I don't want to deal with masking with multiple strips of tape over multiple layers, even on that small area. It's just going to be dullcoated and weathered after adding any other markings that might go on this. I also decided that after dealing with these, I was going to wait for another day to decal the rest.


Okay. that's what I have to show for the start of 2021. Hopefully I can maintain this momentum throughout the year.


Thank you for joining the Grand Opening Tour! I appreciate all comments.

Thanks Carlos! I hope to move forward on all these quickly. The Coke van is shiny because the paint is still wet in that pic. It did dull down slightly once it dried. I do want to repaint t with a darker red that has less orange in it.

Thanks again and stay tuned, more to come.