Wayne Frey's Gato build

[wayne frey]

I am going to try something here.
I will post pictures of projects in the works. It will not be fast for me at all, so be patient. But I would like to see the other members of Sub Ron 5, as well as other groups in their sections, post progress reports and show running boats.
You may just be doing something someone else is thinking of, and can share an idea.
I will start with the Gato on this one. I will make it a Balo later in the build. But right now, instead of building it in my mind, I am going to plod forward and make a few mistakes, and ideas.
All part of it. Let's see some posts!!!
Ok, here I go.

When I got it for Christmas. (Thank you Carl Deitz!! A wonderful present!)




Marked places for removing material.I am following Merrimen's path in large part here


Beginning to cut out after gluing the halves together.




Again, following Merrimen's lead, I removed the lower index tabs on the kit to keep it roomy. I also removed all the tabs in the rear and opened up any material when looking straight on at the rear tubes. I plan to add short blanks for rear tubes to add in realistic apperance and open the hull in another spot to free flood.


Here I took out the center top rib. I have just enough room to slip a WTC in, even though I may have to remove another rib or two. No biggie. I do not think I will be seperating the hull halves as Merrimen did. Mine will just be a runner, therefore simpler inside. I am going to try to do it. If It does not work, I can always cut later. But, I think I will be fine.





I am tossing in a couple of pictures of the Paul Crozier shipyard in Houston. I took some of my pictures surrounded by these cool boats...
A Disney, a Type XXI, and a LA class 688.

[PaulC]

Great idea, Wayne!

But whose messy

Great idea, Wayne!

But whose messy garage is that? Not mine!!!!

[wayne frey]

A little quick work tonight

A little quick work tonight and sanding smooth tomorrow.
The tiny holes were drilled out with a hand drill.
My boat I am modeling after did not have the prop guards in place, so I am representing them removed.
I then hogged out the raised sections of the prop guard mounts with a dremel as gently as possible. Gobbed on some Evercoat, courtesy of the Crozier Shipyard, and will smooth out things tomorrow.
Paul added a good idea. Later the lines on the hull will have to be restored. But while sanding, I will cover the surrounding areas with blue tape to protect them. Don't want to fix more than I have to.
Then on to something else while the WTC kit from D&E is released in gunshops near you !

[wayne frey]

Ok,
The bane of modelling.

Ok,
The bane of modelling. Getting the flood holes done.
The template :




Note on the plans. The point where the hull stern section joins the main hull. It made sense to start here and go forward. Right? Wrong.


Let me save you a few hours work. On round three of placing the holes on the hull, I realized even though the plans are scaled correctly, it is slightly off.
The best way to do this is to start at the front, and use the weld lines on the hull as stations compared to the plans. Your holes will end up in the right place. A minort adjustment was made two times. If you do this, and not try to figure it out by reading this, it will make sense.
In the end, my last pair of holes was just forward of the seperation line in the hull.
I did verify the plan size was correct.











Getting ready to go hogging. Use a drill first. Stepping up in sizes unitl close. Then dremel with these two bits. Finally, old fashion filing.
I did eat a hole too big. I will fix it later when I break out the evercoat to blend in the bow and stern and a couple of other fixes.
I will be adding the brass strip and straighten out the bow in the hull bottom later also.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes!!! Just try to learn from them. Fearless, (or dumb), I press on...




The mystery of the rectangles is solved. They are points in drydock for the boat to sit on. No, they are not visible. No need to scribe them. (Thanks Mike Keeton).
One more thing I found. Three of the lower main hull index tabs where dead square in the way of the holes. I got the entire dremel, and my hand, in that hull and removed them. Nice model. Lots of room.







The holes are now roughed in. .
Time to go inside and watch the superbowl.

[wayne frey]

Ok,
I have been disracted

Ok,
I have been disracted with moving to Clear Lake and setting up shop,as it were, now back to building.
These pictures are actually taken a few weeks ago, but this is where I pick back up.
Here, I am "straightening" the keel,per Merrimen's guiding from the Cabel Report. A piece of 3/16 flat brass was gently shaped and tapered. Then, evercoat was applied on the bottom keel with blue tape on either side. Just before drying, the tape was lifted leaving a buildup on the bottom rib only. Then the brass was glued in place. I think CA works better here than Testors. I am using regular Testors on the rest of the boat.

[dietzer]

Looking good, Wayne!

You're well ahead

Looking good, Wayne!

You're well ahead of me, my friend. I'm still trying to finish up my one workbench and clean up the garage.

Many thanks for your suggesting the Dave Welch WTC kit to Jenn for my birthday! I owe ya one, bro!

Glad to hear you've moved in. Hope to see you later in the spring!

Carl

[wayne frey]

April 15th
Still working on

April 15th
Still working on the keel. Wet sanding to fair in the brass strip.
I also am putting together a proper workbench indoors so I can work in comfort in the texas heat

[wayne frey]

New bench:
http://upload8.postimage.org/56688/P4200075.jpg

keel]http://upload8.postimage.org/56700/P4200078.jpg

New bench:


keel][/url]

[subshop]

gato build

nice job wayne ! where did you get the flood hole pattern from. i would like to blow it up for the 1/32 scale gato i'm building. is the pattern specific to the boat your building or is it the same for all boats ? neil

[Rogue Sub]

WAYNE!!
NIce work bench dude. Love

WAYNE!!
NIce work bench dude. Love the AKULA in the back ground as well. LOoks like youve been decorating your bench with all the crap ive ben giving you. Ive been putting another batch of stuf together for you aswell. Hope your bench needs a calander! We have a new shirt coming out soon aswell. I already ordered you one.

P.S. Now that your bench is done get your butt back to work on that GATO so you can start the AKULA.

[dietzer]

Great job on the bench,

Great job on the bench, Wayne?

Is that a Taig I see in the left-hand corner of your bench? How do you like it?

Carl

[aeroengineer1]

I recognize it as being

I recognize it as being a Taig lathe, and I cannot speak for Wayne, I would not give mine up unless you gave me a bigger one. It has its limitations, but it has its advantages as well.

Adam

[Rogue Sub]

how much are they and

how much are they and whats the largest dia they can turn?

[aeroengineer1]

Here is the link to

Here is the link to their website http://www.taigtools.com/ It gives you an idea on their prices. For me I get to go and pick them up personally. They are built about 15 miles away from my house. If you plan on putting a bigger motor on it, a good recommendation ( I have a 1/3hp on mine) I would recommend getting the 5/8" diameter pulley. When I was scrounging for motors, I came across more of those than I did 1/2" but because I had the 1/2" pullies I mad due, and found an old motor for $20. So you can save money on a motor. I also got the riser blocks for it. With that I can turn something of a max diameter of around 6", but this is not passing the cross slide under to cut. With the cross slide under the part, I think that it comes to around 4.75" or so. Maybe it was closer to 5" I cannot remember well because I do not use that max capacity too much. The only limitation that it has is that there are no power feed abilities. Not that this is bad, but it means that you cannot thread, nor can you get it to do an even surface from a feed that is not interupted by having to move your hand to turn the wheel. I would also recommend getting some carbide tipped cutters with replaceable inserts. The seem to last longer and they are pretty cheap. I got mine off ebay for about $20. Other things that you can get to make it nice is the quick change tool post. It is a bit pricy, but it comes with a cutoff blade holder a boring bar holder and 2 regular holders with adjustable height settings. It is nice not to have to use shims. That is my take on it. I think that I have about $500-600 into mine with all the extra pieces. Also have the milling attachment. I do not use this too much, but it can come in handy now and again. Shoot me an email if you have anymore questions, or give me a call. I think that my cell number was in the directory.

Adam

[wayne frey]

The Lathe is a Taig.

The Lathe is a Taig. Neat little tool.
The bench is getting rigged for built in power and switches.
The Balao is farther along than the pictures show. Straightening the keel had a few pitfalls. Mostly because I make mistakes and learn as I go.
Still, it is primed and now I will recut the flood holes.
I like the feel it is getting.
The wtc is coming soon. Timing will be about right for it. Also working on the stern cone at the same time smoothing out the points where the prop guards were.
I have a little writing to do, but trying to balance out time.
Kevin, I do dig the "other things" on my bench
But, the Akula is not next on the list. The McCloud (spelled it wrong again) Oscar is next.