Maddog Manufacturing Opening in SoCal AMPS

Thank you Carlos! Here it is:

Once again it is time for another tour of the plant. This will be a long one, but quick as there is not going to be too much narration here. So without further ado, lets board the trams!


Starting in the Hangar again, we managed to get some paint down on my three Cobras. Before painting, we managed to put together the five-part canopy on the AH-1G Early:





That was then masked off like the -Late Cobra so we could shoot paint on both at the same time:





Then it was shot with a base coat of OD Green:





Since I shot that one, and the -Late was already masked and ready to go, it also got a base coat of OD Green:





We might just clear coat these and add the decals right away before adding all the breakable parts on these. Meanwhile, the masking came off the AH-1 Zulu and on close inspection, we realized on the left side, the upper color did not come down far enough on the engine nacelle to match the right side. So the left side was re-masked and sprayed again, setting this issue right:







That completes the Hangar part of the tour, time to visit the Motor Pool...


This again, will be quite fast. So much of the work is repetitive on multiple models but since all are different; I'm showing all the work.


To start, the Australian Bushmaster was given a coat of gloss, and then the decals were applied:





Later it was dullcoated for mask removal, weathering and final detail parts:





The next time this will be seen is when my Australian Army takes delivery of the finished vehicle.


Now on to the next bunch.....

These are all Russian tanks. See what you started Carlos? LOL!!


I'll start with this first one that I had purchased for my birthday. It is the Trumpeter T-62 with ERA. The upper hull was worked on first, getting all the stowage boxes and other parts installed:





Next was the lower hull. This was easy as the whole outside wheels and tracks were alll one piece:





Upper and lower hulls assembled:





After that was the turret:





Finally the whole thing was painted up:





Moving on from there, we worked on the T-64 Mod 1981. Tracks were installed, then painted with a base coat of flat black:








Everything put together and clearcoated for decals:





The next T-64 is the AV version. Again, tracks installed and painted black:








Then before we could put the hulls together, we had to add some photo-etch skirts to the upper hull fenders. These were attached with Gator;s Grip Glue as is all the photo-etch that we added to the rest of the models. Some photo-etch was also added to the engine deck and the turret on this one:





Additional photo-etch was needed on the front of the upper hull:





Then this version calls for hanging skirts of ERA to the side of the tank.....using photo-etch hooks. I'd done this once before and swore "never again!". But here I am, doing it again:





You can see in the upper right of the diagram how these little tiny bits needed to be folded. At least two broke from unavoidable excessive folding. After that ordeal, I wanted to see that this was all worth it so here is the glamour shot before those skirts go on:





Moving on, we worked some more on the T-64 BM-2, starting again with the tracks:





Upper hull was worked on as well with side skirts added and then fastened down to the lower hull:





Turret was then started. Yes it is going to get the same type of flaps that are on the T-72:





The glamour shot of this one as well:





Speaking of the T-72, this one also got the tracks installed and painted:








Basecoat painted, and then the flaps because I wanted to see them black. Fuel tanks also added to the back:








Clearcoated for decals:





Finally the last (so far) of these Russian tanks, the T-80BV. This tank was the load for my MAZ 534 tank transporter that I set aside to build 'someday'. Someday came and the turret; as with all Modelcollect Russian tank kits, was started first:





This turret was a difficult build in that the instructions did not say how to install everything on the very back of this turret. I had to refer to pics for that, trying to match what I saw with the parts available.


Next the upper and lower hulls were fastened together and the suspension was installed:





Dry fitting the turret showed an excellent fit with nothing snagging the hull:





Final glamour shot after the fenders and several other detail parts were added:





This was the total work I did on these tanks during Hobby Day:





Once I got home, I was able to paint, clearcoat and decal these and one other. Here they all are after their decals went on:





Front left to right: T-62, T-64 Mod 1981, T-64BM2,

Back let to right: T-72 Rogatka, T-80BV


And that completes this latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing. Time to work on something different now, at least afor a couple days. Then I can come back and finish these Russian Tanks.



Thanks for taking the tour, comments are welcome.

Thank you Carlos! Hey, I gotta have something for my Abrams and Bradleys to shoot at! LOL!! As for the Q model, I don't believe so. I do have a TOW Cobra in my Marine helicopter unit, but it has the faceted canopy. I don't believe anyone makes a Q model in my scale. Special Hobby does make one of these G's with the M-35 gun system so I do need to get another one to make that version....someday.

I could be wrong about my TOW cobra then. It's hidden behind some boxes so it'll be awhile before I can check it. Meanwhile, check out my latest progress....




Well, here it is almost a week later and we have a lot to show in this latest tour. The trams are coming around now, so when they are ready, feel free to climb aboard for another Maddog Manufacturing tour.

We did get back to the Russian tanks as mentioned above, but more on that later. Our tour starts in the Hangar.

There's not much progress at all to show here. We had intended to apply decals to all the Cobras, but two of the decal sheets needed liquid decal film so they were coated and set aside to dry. Then we got ready to do the decals for the Zulu Cobra; but then I saw the photo etch fret inside with all the screens for this model. So, we added all the screens to this and set it aside to dry. It'll need paint again:




Moving on to the Shipyards, we've got a good bit more to show. While some work was done on the Enterprise, not enough was done to show any measurable progress. On the next slip over, the Indianapolis got all her superstructure built up:



Since we've been working on all these ships; I figured it was time to return to the USS Sacramento which had been languishing for months a couple slips over. After checking it out, we went to work adding on all these greeblies onto the upper deck of the superstructure. This was quite the challenge as the instructions were as clear as mud as to where they went. Hopefully, they are all in the proper places:



That's only half of them too. We still have a good bit to go. Here is a shot of the superstructure dry fit to the hull:



I'm still trying to figure out when to paint this before finishing all the rest of the detail parts. I think that's why she was left alone for so long.

Finally, we dropped the keep on another ship; this time one I'd never built before. This is the hull and decks of the Italian battleship Vittorio Venetto:



I've always loved Italian battleships; the Italians sure built them pretty back in WWII. It's about time I added one to the navy. I also have the Roma somewhere that I need to find and build along with the Venetto.



Moving on now to the Motor Pool, there's considerably more to see as was mentioned at the beginning of this tour. I was so close to finishing so many models that we marathoned these to see how far we could get. First off, I found the decals and photo etch for the Swedish M-34 Assault gun so we went to work on that straight away. The most important part was the gun muzzle. We first annealed the photo etch before removing the muzzle part to roll. Here it is partially rolled on the instruction sheet showing what needs to be done:



Yes, it's tiny; probably only 2mm long if that. I started with cementing the partially rolled muzzle brake onto the end of the gun:



Later we finished rolling it and cemented the remainder of the part down:



It may look like there's a gap at the bottom but that was a a part that folded under that I needed to unfold. You can also see in the pic that the decals had been applied.

Next, I had to fix one of the broken arms of the Australian Bushmaster since; like the SAS one, it broke off and disappeared. So, a bit of stretched sprue bent just so and Bob's your uncle:



As that was drying, we took a shot at painting the spare tire cover with a representation of the hex-patterned camouflage. Why Dragon didn't include that I'll never know since they did include a dusty windshield decal for the SAS one. It ain't perfect, but close enough from three feet away:




Moving on from there we have a lot to show of the progress made on all my Russian tanks and truck.

Let's start with the truck...

This is the CLUB M coastal defense missile system truck that I've had sitting for a bit. Here you can see the decals have been applied (very hard to see but they are there) and the wheels have been added:



They were tough; the wheels would not stay lined up and the rubber part kept slipping off the hubs. What a pain!

Next up are all the tanks, starting with the most difficult one: the T-64AV. First we added all the photo-etch plate to the forward deck and the screens to the engine deck:



Here's where we checked it to see that nothing interfered with the turret turning. It's good:



Next was the part I'd said "never again", but here I am: adding the side skirts to this thing by attaching it to the P/E brackets, just like on my T-64 BV I'd built some years before. Yes, I checked it to be sure I wasn't building two of the same tank. I don't know what the differences are but the instructions say this is an -AV while the one I built before was a -BV. I'd compare the two, but the T-64 BV is still packed in the tub.

Anyway, enough idle chatter, the first thing that was needed was something to hold the skirt at the proper height. After checking a bunch of clamps, clips, props and all I finally hit on the idea of using the Silly Putty. We pulled a good amount off, rolled it a bit and then added the skirt. We then placed the tank next to it, adjusted the brackets as best we could without breaking them (one did break but was fixed) and then we added the glue:



Once it was dry, we repeated the process on the other side:



This was shot after the first skirt was dry to see how successful we were. It shows that the process worked:



I had enough of that so we moved on...

The next tough one was the T-80 which, because it was part of the tank transporter set, did not have the photo etch that it was supposed to have. Maybe I put it away after finishing the truck half of the kit; that seems to be the most logical result. Anyway, to save time, I pulled out some sheet styrene and cut the flat pieces out that would replace the missing photo etch:



It's kind of hard to see in that pic, but I replaced the shelf holding the ammo can and the plate and bracket for the small light next to the machine gun. Here they are in place:



And the glamour shot of the whole thing put together:



The T-72 Rogatka had some photo etch and the fuel drums added:



Later it was painted and cleared for decals:



The T-64 Mod 1981 was cleared for decals:



The decals were applied and the machine gun gun accessories were added:



The T-64 BM-2 had decals added and the photo etch added to the turret as well as the hull:





Well, that was a lot. We worked on these assembling them in an assembly line manner to try and bring them over the finish line at about the same time.


That concludes our tour of the latest work achieved at Maddog Manufacturing. Thank you all for taking the tour and always remember comment are welcome.

LOL! Thanks Carlos! Maybe temporarily, but I do too many other countries' equipment to be permanently named that. I do have about four more Russian tanks to finish up, then I'll be switching to something else.

Nice work Mark, lots of cold war armor you're gonna have Carlos ready to fire some tow missiles!

Thank you Robert! Yep, I'm certainly doing a lot of Cold War Russian armor. I just needed to get all those boxes of Russian tanks emptied and removed. I need the room! The built models take up less room. These last two are the final Russian tanks I need to finish.

Thank you Carlos! Don't worry, the nightmare will be over soon! LOL! Besides, I need some new targets for my US tanks and planes!