Maddog Manufacturing Opening in SoCal AMPS

Well after only three days during which I was left alone during my recuperation; I was able to get a lot of progress done on a number of models. Warning: This is a long update so please have patience with me.

Starting once again with my aircraft, I was finally satisfied enough with the white on my Boeing that I shot a coat of gloss on it:



Now I just need to find the decals for this plane and get them added.

Next I decided to paint a base green color on the Australian HAP Tigre:





Later I will mask that and shoot the second camo color on it.

Moving on, I got a lot of progress on three of my jets. Two of them are the Italian jets I've been doing. Before I show them, I'll post some comparison pictures between the Italian F-16 and the Japanese F-2A so everyone can see the slight differences overall between the two aircraft:



The Italian F-16 is on the left, the Japanese F-2A is on the right. Plan view above.

Profile view:



Upper angle view:



Okay, now that I got that done; here is my latest progress on the Italian F-16...

First I masked off the canopy which was later trimmed down when it was dry:



Once that was done, I shot the underside with Light Ghost Grey. It is tough to see in these pics, but then I am shooting grey paint over grey-molded aircraft:



I also later shot the nose with Dark Gull Grey, and when all that was dry, I masked off the bottom and the nose:



Next came the Dark Ghost Grey on the top and on the tail fin:



Again, very difficult to see. The Dark Ghost Grey is dull whereas the bare plastic is still shiny.

When that dried, I masked off the tail fin and front part of the upper fuselage:



Then came the Gunship Grey over the remaining exposed plastic:



The next morning, I removed all the masking tape. Not bad if I do say so myself:



Later on, this got a coat of gloss to prepare it for decals:




Now, since a couple of the colors were the same as the F-16; I also worked on the Italian Harrier jet alongside the Falcon. First came the canopy masking which was trimmed again after it dried:



Next came the Light Ghost Grey on the underside. I had shot it right after tyhe Falcon. You'll have to trust me on that given how difficult it is to see.....



Later came the masking, just like on the Falcon:



So, when I shot the Falcon with the Dark Ghost Grey, I also shot the topside and sides of this Harrier with the same color:



Later, when the masking tape came off the Falcon, I also removed it from this Harrier:



There you can see the two colors on this plane. Finally, I shot a coat of gloss on this in preparation for decals:



Next up, I added the canopy to the Japanese F-2A:



It fit surprisingly well. Naturally, I masked it off at the same time as I masked the Italian jets:



Finally, when it came time to start painting this aircraft, I took a bit of artistic license on this plane. The instructions call for a dark green underneath the aircraft with a Navy Blue topside. Yet, on the box top photograph of the real aircraft; the underside appears to actually be an Intermediate Blue color. It probably was a trick of the light when that pic was taken, but I like the look of the blue on blue scheme better so I shot the underside of this plane with Intermediate Blue:



Later I masked off a portion of the underside and the nose (which had already been painted a Dark Gull Grey when I painted the Falcon nose):



This wasn't masked completely because I will be coming back to the Intermediate Blue later to refine the pattern on the top of the plane. Meanwhile, I shot the Navy Blue color in an oversized pattern in the same splotch pattern indicated on the instructions:



Later on I will be going back over the top, adding the Intermediate Blue to the areas between the Navy Blue splotches with my Sotar fine-tipped airbrush. Right now this is sitting aside waiting till I have time for that.




Well, that is all I have on my aircraft; time to check out my latest armor progress.

First up, I decided to try and progress on my Russian Zil-5 truck. I added the windshield and the side windows to the cab, along with the headlights:



From the looks of things, I didn't cut that front windscreen very well. Time to pull that out and replace it.

Moving on, I was searching through my stash for one box containing the instructions for another model I was working on and I 'stumbled' over this RAF Airfield Service set that I'd already started some time ago. So, it was time to move forward on these trucks. First off I painted the interiors and assembled the cabs. First came the Bedford truck:



The top is only dry-fit on there. Next came the Tilly:



Then, since I made the Bedford into a fuel truck instead of a cargo truck; I had the cargo truck bed parts left over. Just for fun, I assembled the truck bed for the Bedford. Maybe I'll make it into a trailer or something.....



Next I started work on the German MAN truck. I decided to try something different when painting this. I 'assembled' the cab, closing it up with Silly Putty to hold it together:



I then added all the remaining bits and bobs underneath the truck bed:



Later, I added more Silly Putty to the cab and bed to cover the green that I wanted to remain green:





Next I painted the second color, a NATO Black:



While doing all that, I also masked off the German M-109 Paladin since it shares the same camo colors as the MAN truck:





Later on, when I shot the NATO Black on the truck, I also shot this gun:



After all this, I wanted to do something simple. I pulled out the Vauxhall ambulance and shot the finders and other sections with the Olive Drab ANA color:



Later I painted the rear area with the 'stone grey' they called for in the instructions. I used Dark Gull Grey, since I had it out to paint the noses of my two aircraft. Here it is dry-fit to the lower part of the ambulance:



Later on, while looking for something else to move forward on; I found my German Br-58 Panzerlok and decided it was time to paint that. I started by painting the underside and wheels. I used an Oily Black on this as a first coat:



The lights were really washing this out. I then started painting the camouflage pattern on the side. I got this far before the fatigue really set in and I fell asleep:



That pic was taken the following day.....



Okay, that completes the depiction of my marathon efforts on my hobby bench these past three or four days. I apologize for the lengthy post, but I'm thrilled to have gotten this much done.

Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Thanks Carlos! I was hoping to get more done this week, but complications have arisen keeping me from the Hobby Room. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it soon.

Okay, all this past week and a half, I've been dealing with the extreme pain of a pinched nerve in my back between my shoulder blades. It has all but incapacitated me; making my left arm numb and making it uncomfortable for me to sit; lying down is painful, and driving extremely dangerous due to not being able to turn my head to the left. Not to mention the heavy doses of pain meds I'm taking just to get through a day. I have been seeing a Dr. and chiropractor to get this fixed and it's helping a little, but I really messed myself up! That being said, amazingly enough I am able to work on models without too much discomfort; in fact the combination of meds and modeling almost lets me forget I have this pain... till I try to turn my head again. So I've been spending a lot of time on the bench when I'm not sleeping or watching movies. Here is the result of this past week's work. Let's go to my Hobby Room.

Sylvester was standing guard as I worked all this week:



To start with, I wanted something fast, easy and uncomplicated to get myself back into this since this pain started. That's when I noticed this truck from my Mystery Box haul:



It is the Revell snap together truck we used to get for the Make-n-Takes at the Fullerton Airport. The first thing I did when I pulled everything out of the bag was to paint the console LED screen and then dry-brush the rest of the console to bring out the detail:



Five minutes of blissful building later, I had this:



You can see I even did a black wash in certain areas where the detail was recessed enough, and I lightly dry-brushed the front of the grill in chrome to bring out the grid pattern. Sylvester took a break from guarding the door to check out my work. He also approves:



No I didn't paint the body first. I did polish it afterward though. You'll notice that there is no left hand rear view mirror. That's because this kit only came with two right side mirrors. What do do....

I took and cut off the post on one of the right side mirrors and re-shaped it slightly to fit on the left side:



After gluing it back together, put it on. It isn't an exact match to the right side, but it does pass muster for me:



I debated chroming the "Ford" logo on the front grill and back tailgate. I might still do that.


Now that I got all warmed up, it was time for some serious modeling....

Even though I was starting to get more serious, I still wanted something simple and easy. So, I pulled out this Italeri Train station I'd gotten some time back and got it all basically assembled:



There's still a lot of detail parts to add to this but the basic structure is done. This kit even comes with clear plastic for the windows.

Now it was time to move forward on some models that had been sitting for awhile. As I was re-arranging things from my marathon finishing session, I found this ancient MPC Mi-24 Hind I started some years back. I was going to make it Nigerian. So, I pulled it out and added all the extra detail parts to this that I could so it would be ready for paint:



The canopy got messed up from some paint and other substance spilling on it so I need to find another Hind model to nick a canopy from. Until then, I might just mask the open cockpit and still paint his anyway.

Moving along, I also worked on a British Type 42 destroyer that had been sitting for far too long. I finally added all the extra bits and bobs that I could:





After all that, I noticed that the main superstructure; when glued on, had a noticeable overhang on one side, and a slight one on the other side. I very carefully sanded this down smooth and added some acrylic putty to the seam:





Some time later after I got all the detail painting and touch ups done, this is ready for clearcoat and decals:





This next model is a commission build for a friend on another Forums. He sent me a Cyber Hobby 1/72 scale F-6 Hellcat and wants me to build this with the wings folded. I started with the cockpit first, naturally:



There are still some side walls to add to this but only after painting. Next I assembled the engine and mount. There is quiet a bit of detail in here:



Finally, since he wants this to be the night fighter version; I assembled the three parts for the radar dome:





Moving along from here to my armor, I got a considerable amount of progress done. In the vein of trying to move existing projects along, I added the decals to the RAF Vehicle set. First the Tilly:





Then the Bedford Tanker:





Next I added the decals to the Churchill bridgelayer:









Later, after I dullcoated this, I pulled the bride portion off and started to weather it. I used Tamiya weathering powders of mud, sand and light sand to spread across the top of the bridge with a wet brush. I got this result:



It's still a bit wet. Once it dries, I'll be wiping off a lot of that to represent dirt removed from vehicles passing over it. Then I'll dry brush this with steel afterward.



Now for the armor models I started.

This is the Soviet SG-122 I got in Phoenix. I figured it was a simple enough kit to build. I forgot it was Military Wheels! It was a bit of a challenge to say the least. I started with the assembly of the lower hull. Good start:



Then I added the upper hull and rear engine grills to this:



Still not too bad, despite poor instructions and very vague attachment indicators.

then I tried the upper casemate. That's when it got rough with me. After awhile, I beat this into submission:



Moving along, I decided I needed another easy model to work on. So why not two? I pulled out the Dragon Humvee twin set with the cargo truck and the steel-plated gun truck. I started on the upper interior first, then moved on to the chassis:



Once they were done, I assembled the second one. Here they are together:



The next assemblies is where the similarities on these diverge and so require different assembly steps.

Finally, I decided to build my Roden WWI gun, thinking it would be fairly simple. After all, it is only a gun right? But it's a Roden gun so it gave me a fight.

I started with the main carriage, getting most of the basic pieces on:



I then moved on and built the barrel:



While that was drying, I assembled the gun trailer. I forget what it's called... it'll come to me:



I then went back and added the gun trunnions and recoil track to the main carriage:



After that, I went to go look at the wheels. Oh joy! This kit gives one some vinyl tread plate for the main gun wheels! It's a Roden kit:



So, I pulled out my trusty Tire Glue to add this track to the wheels:



The best way to do this was to glue half of it to the wheels, then wrap it around the rest of the way when the first half was dry:



Man, what a pain! While they were drying, I tried to add more detail parts to the main gun carriage and trunnions. Notice the ling thin piece number 16E and where it is supposed to go. Now notice the piece 16E I added to the gun. Notice how it is far to long:



It's a Roden kit.

Piece 16E did not make it onto this model.


Getting back to the wheels, you'll notice that the vinyl parts do not stretch all the way around. They stop just short:



It's a Roden kit.

I'll figure something out later about what to do with that. Meanwhile, I added the wheels to this to see how it looks so far:





Not bad, despite the ill-fitting parts and the crappy vinyl parts. Here it is with it hooked up to the trailer:



This beastie will be hand painted... too many easily broken details all over this to mask and spray.

And for fun, I hooked that up to the FWD 3-ton ammunition carrier that would normally have pulled this in the war:



Well that completes my update for this week. Thanks all for looking in. Comments are welcome.

More of the Humvees please!!!

Okay, here is another small update for this week. I managed to get this work done over the past three days.... in between meds-induced naps.

I'll start with my aircraft. For something different, I started my Israeli F-16I Sufa since I've been wanting that in my collection for awhile.

Of course, I started with the cockpit. It was fairly un-detailed, but I'll have decal instrument panels and pilots inside so....



Next I assembled the air intake:



Once that was dry, I installed it on the lower fuselage:



While looking for more sub-assemblies to do, I found the dorsal hump and built that. There are still a few detail parts to add to this though before it is done:



Here it is dry-fit to the upper fuselage for now:



That was as far as I went on that. Next I went to the commission build to get more done on it.

Starting out, I added the photo etch seat belts to the seat, starting with the lap belts first; then the shoulder belts:



You can see the shoulder belts are all over the place. I glued the top of them to the seat with Gator Grip Glue and waited till they dried. Once everything was dry, I took a semi-rounded rod and pressed them into the seat:



They aren't laying the best, but in this scale, it's tough to see anyway. Once these dried further, I painted them up:



Once that was done, I finished the cockpit assembly...



...and then installed it inside the fuselage:



Finally, I assembled the tail wheel, added it to the fuselage half and closed everything up. Then I cemented the center wing section to the underside of this model and added the horizontal stabilizers. I also dry-fit the engine to the front to see how it fit:



Just for fun, I dry fit the wings and the cowl to this to see how it was coming along, as well as check the fit of all these parts:



Looking over the model later; I decided to take my acrylic putty and fill in the small gaps on the ends of the wings that I couldn't glue shut, even with clamps:



I also had a few very minor seams on the center wing section to fill:





Furthermore, while looking over the sprues, I encountered these parts and for the life of me I could not figure out how they fit on the model:



The instruction sheet was as clear as mud about the placement; if it was to be believed, the part on the right was supposed to be glued on one end with a very fragile join to the center wing section and the other end was supposed to swing in the wind as there was nothing to connect it to. I tried as much as I could to figure it out, even looking at reference pics but could not come up with a solution. Therefore, these parts were not added to the model. As they are in the underside, they wouldn't be well seen anyway. I don't know what else to do about it. Finally I moved on and assembled the center drop tank:



Now this model is ready to mask and paint.



Moving on to my armor, I added the glazing to the windows on the Japanese pickup truck:



Now I can fight this beast to get it together.

Next, I started the interior of the Humvee gun truck. I assembled the "basket" that goes in the bed:



It fits well inside, as seen here where it is dry fit in place. The box in front of it fell over when I shifted this to shoot the pic:



Next I added the extra parts to the suspension and chassis. I then dry-fit the whole thing together to see how it fit:



I added the same parts to the chassis of the troop carrying Humvee as well:



Now I have to find the 'tilt' for this so I can finish it.

Here are both of these Humvees almost ready for paint:



After this, I decided to start another model for a Group Build on the Missing Lynx forums. This is the PST ZIS-5 fire truck. I started with the simplified suspension:



From there I moved on to assemble the cab, leaving the roof off so I can add the windows later and paint the interior:



I set that aside to dry and assembled the water tank next:



Then I built the hose reel:



Later I'll put all these together and get this painted.


Speaking of getting something ready for paint, I went back to my shipyards and finished adding all the superstructure and some additional bits and bobs to my Liberty ship to get it ready for paint. Here it is sans gantries and cranes; I'll add them later when there's less danger of breaking them off:





Furthermore, I also added the superstructure to my Japanese Fleet Oiler:





I then moved on and added some additional deck pieces and the stack to complete this ship some more and have it ready for paint:







Well, that completes my small update for the past few days. Hopefully I'll get more done soon. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Thanks Joe, building such a variety keeps everything fresh as I go from project to project.

Okay, I had some time to spare for a couple days so I spent a lot of time in my Hobby Room trying to get several models moved forward. Now that my camera battery is dead, I'll go ahead and upload what I have so far this weekend. I'll start with some of my aircraft first.

I had shot a grey underside on my Nigerian Hind, and then masked it off in preparation for the upper camouflage pattern:



Speaking of upper camouflage patterns, I shot the final color on the Australian Tigre and then removed all the Silly Putty:





Moving on, I had finally shot paint on the F-6F Hellcat I'm building on commission. I had shot the whole thing in dark navy blue.

Fuselage:



Wings:



Afterward as you can see, I added the night fighting radar to the one wing since I'd forgotten to do it before painting.

Cowl and drop tank:



Cowl needs touchup, that'll happen...

Next, I decided to attempt to glue in those parts B-7 through -10 that I couldn't figure out before. A pretty good idea struck me as to how I could get them to glue properly. After gluing the two parts together, I took the retracted landing gear parts and snapped them into place. Then I carefully glued the parts B-7 through -10 in place; lining them up with the 'retracted' landing gear:



Later, when I snapped off the retracted gear parts, the two sections stayed in place where they are supposed to go:



Here's another shot of the wing that got the radar pod:



After getting more information about the interior section of the wing fold being dark blue like the rest of the plane; I shot a new coat of blue on the bare sections, as well as touched up other places. Here's the cowl:



Here's the wings:



As you can see, whoever mentioned the long gun barrels being prone to breakage cursed me! Gonna have to replace these as I lost the one completely.

The wheels, struts and landing gear doors were next:



And finally, the fuselage top and bottom:





Some of that paint got a little dull so I'll have to go over it again. Then hopefully I'll be able to apply the decals.




Moving on from there, I decided to do something simple and almost mindless. I had two buildings waiting for paint so it was time to get that done. First I masked the windows (and the hole in the roof) from inside on both the train station and the Berlin House:





Yeah, in that second pic, you can see the Federal Disaster Area that is my workbench right now.

Next I shot the basecoat on the train station:



I used the same color for the upper story of the Berlin House as well:



I then used an RAF Ocean Grey for the bottom story as a base coat:



Later I used a medium grey to dry-brush the bricks on the lower story, as well as paint the top section around the roof:



This is looking quite nice already if I do say so myself. Now where is that church I also have.....

Okay, that's all I have for this short update. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.