Maddog Manufacturing Opening in SoCal AMPS

Thank you Carlos! Now to see how many I can actually finish!

LOL! Yes, but you make larger and more detailed and masterful models. Where you 'wow' people with quality, I overwhelm them with quantity! LOL!

Here in the Hangar, we start with the A-400 in this first bay. About all that was done was sand down the rough filler around the joints between the wings and the fuselage. Once the weather is dry enough to fire up the airbrush, we'll be getting that re-painted:





After that, we decided to get a small head start by adding the decals to the tail:





If I have a tight enough fit on that tail, I might just leave the tail unglued for ease of transport. We'll see...


Moving on to the next bay, additional work was done on the Concorde. We got the front office painted up and ready for decals:





After that was the attempt to assemble the moving outer canopy after having masked it off for painting:





While we were burnishing down the tape on this, it snapped right down the middle! I was incredulous and furious since there was no reason for it to happen. We added more clear parts cement to hold it together after installing it on the moving brackets. Hopefully it holds.


While that was drying, we also masked off the inner canopy to have that ready for paint as well:





Once the canopy was masked, we added the decals to the cockpit and cemented it into the other half of the nose assembly:





Finally, an attempt was made to build the engine nacelles:





There's still a few more parts to add to that, then there is the putty and sanding needed to smooth that out. 


In the next bay, we have this Russian Shtormovik which needed the clear parts added. However, the main canopy slide fell down and disappeared so we dug into the spares box to find something else that would serve. It may not be accurate, but it sure looks better:





And since we were adding clear parts, we also added the canopy and windscreen to the F-5B in the next bay after painting the pilot:





That canopy and windscreen was eventually masked off to paint this little plane.


In this last bay we have more work done on the Bear. The cockpit was assembled and later painted:





I can't help but feel like that cockpit is 'wrong'. The pilot seats look way underscale and they are so far apart, but not much will be seen through the windscreen so I'm not going to worry about it. We moved on and assembled the inner nacelles and main landing gear:





The fit was still a small bit rough, but there was at least a lot of places to add glue to hold them together. Here they are dry fit to the wings:





After seeing that above, I figured , why not? and we did the outer nacelles too. Once again, they are all just dry fit in place:





That is about all we got done in the Hangar, it's now time to move on to the next stop on our tour.



Here in the Shipyards, we got quite a bit done. Starting in slipway one here, we had to make some changes to the USS Sacramento. In checking on this ship, I realized the boot stripe was too thin. I also noticed too many steps and loose seams on the hull. Using thin strip styrene and thick putty, we repaired the hull; and started repainting it. First was the grey upper section:





We then masked off the grey and painted the black boot stripe; this time making it much thicker:





Later that was masked off and the bottom hull was painted the hull red. Once everything was dry, the masking came off and we had our new hull:





Once that was done, most all the extra detail parts were added to the ship:





All that's left now are the photo etch parts and the cargo helicopters, the forklift (yes, they provide a 1/700 scale forklift with this ship!) and this ship will be ready for launching...


Meanwhile in this next slipway, we laid down the keel for the DKM Peter Strasser, the second proposed aircraft carrier for the German Navy. Why am I starting a ship that never existed? Well, they did lay down the keel to this ship and even built it up almost to the flight deck so it is still a viable ship to add to my navy in my opinion. It's not like any sketch on a paper napkin like so much of the wild German armor that so many companies are making into models. 


Speaking of building it up to the flight deck, that is where we were after the first day. The flight deck is just placed on top:





Later all the side sponsons were added as well as some other details:





Most of the island was then built up, minus the tall and delicate masts:





Here it is all mocked up to see how much more needs to be done before painting can start:





Moving on to the next slipway, we laid the keel for another German ship. Actually this time it's a boat, the German S-100 Schnellboot. This went together fast and easy. We started with the bridge:





You an see the armored shell that goes on the front of this. Later the upper deck was added to the hull:





This is one long boat! Some preliminary deck painting was done on the wooden sections of the decks and additional details were painted on the bridge:








Finally the fore deck and other additional details were added, in preparation for painting this beastie:





In this next slipway, we continued working on the Vospers Perkasa MTB, building the torpedo carriages, dry fitting the torpedoes to them and then dry fitting them to the deck. Additional small parts were added and the whole thing was mocked up to see how it is coming along:





We also built up the structure on the stern:





While all that was drying, we turned to the guns, getting them assembled. First came the 20mm cannon:





There is one sub assembly missing from that gun. It is a box that has to be closed up with the lid. Well, we found the lid, but no box, so that whole sub assembly is not on there. Moving on, we did the twin machine guns, a much easier yet more delicate assembly:





We got all the parts on that one at least! 


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





Not much was done in the Motor Pool, but we did make a little progress on this LRDG truck, building the gun and adding all the body parts to the chassis:





Moving on to the next bay, we started the engine for the next Russian SCUD, this time the SCUD C:





It might be hard to make out as all the little sub assemblies were kept on the sprues where possible. While that was drying he SCUD missile itself was built:





Finally, in this last bay against the back wall, we commenced assembling the track runs for the P-1000 Ratte. Yes, it is a complete fabrication I know, but this huge 1/72 scale model is being built because I want to make it into a carrying case for all my new armor I build and take to shows. Here's what we got assembled so far:





Yes, they do snap together and are fully workable. I occasionally run into short shot track links but there seems to be enough to make up for that. 





Now that completes our latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, we appreciate your interest and welcome all comments. Thank you again for stopping in.

It's February and time for the first tour of the manufacturing plant to see what's being worked on this month. It's been a bit if a slow month except for the Shipyards. Since there is so much happening there, we'll start at the Shipyards.



The first thing that was done was to spray the darker grey on the hulls of the two Vospers wartime boats; you can see both boats here:








The question now was how am I supposed to mask off the unique curved line of the hull to spray the lighter color on the hull? I came up with an idea: first, a pattern was drawn and redrawn and redrawn on a thin sheet of styrene until I had something that looked right:





That was then cut out. Then we put down some wide tape on a flat, clean surface and used the template to draw out two patterns:





I then realized that the darker grey wasn't covering enough of the hull, so we sprayed the whole sides of both the 71 and 73 foot Vospers:





Now it was time to test out these masks, we applied them to the 71 footer first:





After both sides were masked, we shot the lighter color on the hull and superstructure. It turned out okay enough for me:











After that dried enough, we painted up the deck:





The deck isn't fully painted, we need to get into the tighter areas with a smaller brush. Then a medium dark brown wash will go over it.


The 73 footer will be masked and shot next. Until then, we'll move onto the next slip to see the German S-Boot....


The instructions called for two of these deck circles to be removed and so we did; making a bit of a mess with it:





However, once some liquid cement was applied to melt all the loose shavings back down, it started to look better once painted.


The painted top deck was then masked off after removing the bridge parts, which were masked as well for their paint:








You'll notice I removed the red stickers from the armored bridge front piece; it was there to protect the two antenna(?) posts on the front. Naturally, soon afterward, I bent one over and had to fix it. After all that masking was done, we shot the light grey over the whole thing. Once it was dry, we removed the masking and then added the bridge again to see how much touch up needed to be done. Fortunately, not too much:





And now for a little close up on the bridge. The binocular assembly will be painted black later:





It sure looks good in pictures....


Moving on to the next slip, we managed to get a bit more done on the USS Enterprise. First, the stern was assembled with most of the major parts needed:





After that, most of the major platforms and additional parts were added to the island to finish the major construction on that. Seams were also filled in:








The main flight deck was then glossed for decals, but that will most likely wait as they kit requires one to paint every single line on that deck, including the ones surrounding the elevators. Gee that is going to be fun! Anyway, here it is all mocked up showing it ready for hull and island painting at least:





My apologies for leaving the S-Boot in that pic; I had nowhere else to put it....




That completes this part of the tour in the Shipyards, now let's see what's happening in the Hangar....



Not much had been happening here but some small progress was made on the A-400. First, the wing seams that had been filled and sanded had been painted over with a fresh coat of grey:





That turned out a bit better than I expected, given how hard this model has been fighting me. Later, this was sprayed with a gloss so that decals could be applied next.


Over in the next bay, we finally completed the assembly of the engines on the Concorde and started sanding them smooth:





The lower wing was then glued to the main fuselage, making sure all seams and joints were glued and closed:





Here you can see one major gap that will need to be filled; I'm thinking sheet styrene will do fine:





Finally, we made every effort to close up the nose of this plane and still have the nose droop like it's supposed to. I don't know how successful we were, but this forward fuselage pod is completed:





It's funny, I'd been focusing on this because I figured it would be a fairly easy and fast model to finish. Boy did I figure wrong!



That completes the tour of the Hangar, now on to the Motor Pool....


Here in the first second bay, we started the SCUD D right next to the SCUD C in the first bay. The rocket was built first; here it is next to the SCUD C rocket:





Then the chassis for the SCUD D was assembled. It looks like the SCUD C chassis since we built it to the same level as the SCUD C:





In the back corner of the Motor Pool, we started one more project; not military either....


Now this last project is one I'm doing for a "Monogram Mafia" Group Build on another Forums. The story behind this is that one of my friends from a Forums which shall not be named, got tired of people dissing Monogram models. Having built quite a few myself, I also agree, they look good when finally completed. So, he started a Monogram Mafia over there, challenging everyone to build one. However, to be a "made" man; you had to build two in a six month period. Flash forward about a decade or so, and he and I are on another Forums; one of the two best I've been a part of since the LEM passed away. The discussion on Monogram models came up again and he was invited to start up "La Familia" again. Now that you know the background, here is one of the two models I'm doing to become a "made" man over there: this is the Monogram 1/24 scale (yes you read that right!) Packard Phaeton spots car.


First, we primed the body in preparation for the color coat:





This one will be green, but a more vibrant green than all these other military vehicles. While that was drying, we started the engine, getting it assembled completely:








Next, the chassis was assembled and then the engine was added to stabilize the fragile construction. The rear disk brakes were added to check for potential floating wheels:





That is as far as we got on that.



This completes the latest tour of Maddog Manufacturing, the first one in February. Thank you all for joining us and as always, comments are welcome.

👍🏼👍🏼

Love the SAMs Mark!

Welcome to the next tour of Maddog Manufacturing. It's gonna be a pretty long one, but most of the work to be seen will be in the Motor Pool. Very little was done in the Hangar and Shipyards. So, all aboard the trams, and remember to keep hands and feet inside at all times.



That being said, let's check out the progress in the Hangar....


One of my shelf queens I've been trying to move forward on is the C-54 that I started quite a few years ago. This has been a far more complicated model than expected. This week, all we did was to complete the last of the four engines that still needed to be built. Each one had seven parts to it:





Those will be painted sometime later then we'll be able to move on.


Over in the Shipyards, a little more progress was done, almost all on the British Vospers 73ft MTB.


First, after the black bottom dried, it was masked off so that the light grey could be shot on the hull:





Here it is after the Grey was shot:





And now the masking has come off:





Later this will be gloss coated and decals added, then the clear parts will go in the portholes and we'll move on.


The last thing that was done in the Shipyards was painting the green on the deck of the Vospers Perkasa:





That's all we have for this week in the shipyards, it's time to go check out the Motor Pool...


There's a lot that's been happening in the Motor Pool this past few weeks. First up is this Russian truck that I chose because it as simple and easy to build. This is the Hobby Boss Russian Ural 4320 cargo truck, and the first thing that was done was to assemble the rather basic engine:





It won't be seen so that is the extent of that work. Once dry, it was added to the chassis along with all the other suspension parts:





Later we added the spare tire cradle that sits behind the cab:





The cab itself just needed fenders attached:





The interior was done next, there's a lot of detail inside:





Here is a dry fit to see how it fits on the chassis. Because of the unique way it goes around the engine, this was a tough fit. It looks great in the end though:





Finally, painting was begun. Inside of the cab was painted first, and then I found a decal for the dashboard. Cool! That went in next:





We then assembled the bed of the truck while the decal was drying:





After that, the exterior was painted. Here is everything roughly dry fit together:





Hopefully a gloss and decals will go on soon.


Moving on to the next bay, we have another truck, this one pulls the trailer holding the SA-2 reloads. Paint was added to the interior, but there's still more to do. I have the driver to paint. Meanwhile additional parts were added to the bed and the cab was dry fit to the front of the truck:





The trailer then received all the remaining detail parts to be ready for paint:





Next we just had to assemble the load, one SA-2 SAM:





That missile has 20 parts to it. Not like the Hobby Boss one that I built before!


Moving on, we dry fit everything together. Looking good:





After that, the launcher had to be built:





Finally, the paint came out again. The whole exterior got shot with the green basecoat:





Don't worry, the launcher base did not break, it comes apart so I left it that way until later.


Since the green paint was out, the next one to get a basecoat of green was the SA-6 Gainful in the next bay:





That is coming along well. We also went to the next two bays where we painted most of the parts for the two SCUD trucks. First the SCUD C:





And then the SCUD D:





Finally, we shot the green basecoat over the SA-2 launcher; the Hobby Boss one. I call it Launcher No. 5 since it's the fifth one I'm building for my SA-2 SAM site:





After all that, it was time to get back to building something. We started on this old PST Russian PMZ-2 fire tanker still sealed in the shrink wrap. Out it came and the basic chassis was built:





The the cab parts and the tank were built. Here they are dry fit on the chassis:





That's where we stopped on that. After that I was looking for something quick and easy and so the dragon Stryker Dragoon came out. I was always trying to get this to add to my Stryker family, and finally it had come in. The Hull was built first; it took all of 15 minutes:





Next the turret was built. Another five minutes, but we were taking our time:





Next the inner wheel hubs were added. Dragon makes them so they all roll, and they roll well! The outer wheels will go over these, after the tires are glued onto them. Additional parts were added to the hull as well and the turret was placed:






The inner wheels were masked and the whole thing got it's basecoat of green:





Wow, that was fast!


Following these, we pulled out an ancient ESCI M48A5, the only Patton variant issued in 1/72 scale that I didn't have in my collection. First, the wheels were grooved to give the appearance that it's two roadwheels per axle and not one big fat slick each. Then they were all installed on the lower hull:





Next most of the detail parts went on the upper hull:





And then the turret was built, just a basic assembly at first:





We added the tracks and then dry-fit everything together to see how all of it fits. Looking good:





Just before painting, the last detail parts were added and the searchlight was built and installed. While trying to get the hand rails on the side of the turret to stay where they are supposed to, some of the holes we drilled ghrew too big. We made an effort using acrylic putty to fill them in. We were mostly successful:





The dark green basecoat was applied next. Later we'll break out the Silly Putty and start adding the other three camouflage colors:





While contemplating another project while the Patton dried; I spied another ancient ESCI kit: a Churchill with mine rollers. I'd already built one, but this gave me options for a Canadian one, so we got started on that for my Canadian Army. First we built the mine roller frame:





Next we started on the basic hull getting most of it assembled:





This is gonna be a long beastie again:





Later the turret was built, and placed on the hull, again with the frame positioned in front:





Finally, the tracks were completed and the fenders installed, along with most of the additional detail parts. I had trouble with those fenders as they were pretty warped:





Yes, I left the turret hatches off; there's a TC that goes there and I wanted to have them left open for him to pop his head out.


Finally, all the mine rollers were completed and installed on the frame. Once dry, the whole assembly was glued onto the tank:





After that dried, it got a basecoat of Olive Drab:





Finally, I tried again to get the T-17 rocket mounts to work. The instructions show one end of the barrel mount attaches under the T-17 rack and is not supposed to be glued so the whole thing moves when the gun is elevated and lowered. However, There is no hole or pin to go there to hold it; the "ring" on the bottom of the rack is molded solid and the rocker arms also have closed up ends where this is supposed to be pinned to move. So, after five efforts later to get these things opened and fastened correctly in a way that allows movement, I finally ended up here. The white strip on the side of that rocker arm is to hold the larger loop in place; it kept breaking off. After gluing it back five times, I decided to reinforce it with that. The other one got one too later. The Exacto blade shows how small these things are:





These are all the parts for the rocket rack's mount along with the rack itself. If you look closely, you'll see my attempts to get the upper rocker arms done right to make this work. The side mounts went together well at least. This was taken before the reinforcement attempts, but you can see the outrageous parts I have to deal with. It's no wonder I never never finish a UM Sherman:






Back when we shot the green on the Perkasa deck, we had also shot the same green on my Packard. The first time it had some dust on it, so we sanded it down with very fine grit:





Later a second coat was airbrushed on. Yes, it looks a bit grainy, but it is a dull color. I'm going to buff it and then gloss it:







And that concludes our latest tour tour of the plant. I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to leave comments, they are always welcome.


Thank you for coming in!