Revell Gato 1/72 scale build

[salmon]

I will paint it and glue it in.


Also drilled some larger holes to allow air to escape the conning tower.

Side note for those wanting to detail your sub's conning tower interior, while reading, I found that the conning tower barrel had two configurations during WWII. The Gatos for the most part had concave ends (curving inwards) on the barrel and the Balao barrel was convex (curving out). Mine is backwards.... although there were a couple of Gatos rumored to have the Balao barrel installed because their whole conning tower had to be replaced, I have not found it to be sure (photos or plans). Live and learn, right?


Goofed around with some more stuff. Since I can not find a reference, drawing, chart, of what the inside of the conning tower looks like with lockers for semi-accuracy I decided to wing it. Heck, it's my sub and I will do what I want.
Made the tubes for the lockers and in Hollywood movie style cut it in half (you do not see the back half right?).


Then installed them. Talk about backward design. In future builds, put details in, then floor.



I will need to put some shims in to make it fit closer. It gives the appearance I was going for.

[salmon]

There was another pool test, not without some hiccups, but overall a success!
So here is a little celebration video.

O.K. a little cheesy and grainy.....bad camera and could not do this in daylight. I will grab what I can with regards to pool time.

The big glitch was the ballast servo locking up. I pulled the sub out and reset the power (cycled it off and on again), then the sub ran for a long time before it would happen again. The other glitches were more id 10 t things like forgetting the screw for the deck and after a few reverses and forwards to make some turns, the deck came off. The chlorinated pool gave the boat more buoyancy than my inflatable pool. I will need to make a removable weight. Because of the extra buoyancy, I had to have more forward motion to dive and the planes at a harsher angle. That in turn made it tougher to turn in the diameter of the pool. I will make another trip to grandma's house to try to adjust the weight for those conditions and maybe just maybe get a pond run later this afternoon. It will take time for me to get used to the switches and controls. And not do stupid things like leave the SNORT pumps on and wonder why she is not diving.

[salmon]

Again got to do a pool run. I adjusted some rudder throws and added weight. 36g of weight just to bring it to a closer submerged profile to what I had in the inflatable pool it still could have used a little more weight in the bow. I did have the same thing happen where the ballast servo freezes. A reset of power fixes it again. The forward throttle was cut back to 31% and this sub can still kick into gear and move underwater! I will post plain old video of the event.
To add weight I took along a spool of lead free solder and cut as needed. It worked o.k. for the most part, at times the weight would shift and slightly tilt the sub.


And here is a panoramic scan of the sub for fun (the stitching the photos together messed up some of the pipes and lines, it brought pieces together that shouldn't be together).


And here is a photo showing the weights.


I think to be safe, I will switch out the servo that handles the ballast vent/blow as David suggested.

As far as run goes, went through the first Lipo battery in what seemed like no time and the fortunately had the second one with me. The sub lost signal when it was in 2 foot of pool water and about 20 feet away (did that twice). When I walked up to it the controls responded and then the blow valve did.

In the meantime I will start adding do-dads to the sub. The prop guards are on and working on armament. Still working on running lights.

[bwi]

Well done Tom!!
grtz,
Bart

[salmon]

Thanks Bart.......
Working on miscellaneous stuff.
The front cannon is removable and was made to elevate. On the down angle, I put in a limiter to prevent it from touching the deck.

[sam reichart]

Enjoying this build thread. Looks really good Tom.

[salmon]

Thanks Sam, I am glad you like this. Hopefully, others will get encouragement to put one together. I will also put a plug in to the DVD that Bob has for building the Gato by David. It helps fill in the gaps or answer questions that someone may have. It was on his sale sheet.
Ordered LEDs and played with different resistors to vary the brightness. It seems that red LEDs are brighter than green LEDs so to get an even brightness I have to put a higher resistance on the red LED. I got some warm white LEDs for running lights and a Bright warm LED for the search light.




There is so much variation among the subs for port/starboard running lights. Some had them on the side in an opening like these


and others had their running lights further back like these, like the Revell Gato


The aft running light seems to be the same on all (like the Revell has it right mostly). The forward running light has severe variances from in front of the conning tower below the venturi to on a jackstaff in the bow, so that will come with a final decision of which boat to do.

Then the running lights.
There are many different types of LEDs out there. I have been playing with a few, but they did not do what I wanted. I needed small and got some SMD LEDs. These are designed to go on circuit boards. These were small enough (they are the light tan rectangles in the plastic holder) as you can see the scale as it sits on the deck of the Gato.


I soldered wire onto the ends of the SMD LEDs - lost 6 different LEDs before I got the hang of it. Then I drilled into the kits clear plastic running light (part #126) deep enough for the LED to fit. Drilled a hole in the lights mounting bracket for the wires to come out. Everything was coming together great. The moment I touched some CA to it the plastic for the mounting bracket, it just broke into pieces. That was unexpected. So, moved over to the other side, exact same thing! I cut out the bracket and put some styrene in. The two new pieces were shaped and cohesive applied to get it affixed into the conning tower. The styrene seemed to be a little more flexible than the original plastic. Touched CA to it and it fell apart. Time to walk away. The next day I tried it again on the other side. Yup, it too came apart....Time to walk away. Finally the third day, I went to repair the mess and used cohesive glue verses CA. That was received better and things started to adhere. I used some glaze to fill in and make somewhat level the pieces of _ _ _ _ I made.
So here are some more shame photos.
Lights off


Clap, clap, Lights on



I used resistors to lower the brightness to make it seem more scale. I will paint the housing gray, the black helped me find light leaks. And now I am wiring the search light.


Adding more lights.
On the conning tower light, I cut a groove down the back and drilled a small hole to thread the wires for the LED through.


These warm white LEDs add a little yellow to the light making it appear closer to a light bulb and are much larger than the red/green LEDs used in the side navigation lights.

[salmon]

Then to run the wires down the back, I used the liquid glue to pre-melt the plastic (in small sections) and squished the wires into the molten mess with tweezers. Holding them until it solidifies and move on to the next section. Then followed with thin CA as a quick filler and adhesive.
The lens was made out of a clear rod of styrene that was sanded in half and glued to the LED with CA.


It came out O.K., unless you look very closely, it is hard to see the wires down the back.


The Aft light was done the same. Just a different route.


I wanted a way to turn on and off the lights. The solution I came up with was a crude switch using a Normally Open Reed switch. The reed switch is one of the very small one reed switches that I purchased for making an electric torpedo. I encased it in shrink tubing to insulate it and then slid it into a brass tube to protect it from getting broken. The capstan is the knob turned to make the brass arm swing over to the reed switch.


On this setup in the picture I used an LED to test the setup. Styrene was used to create the full “off” stop and the “on” lock/stop. A magnet was attached to the arm (actually two magnets - I had some in the brass tube at the end of the arm, but after the first setup it did not work. So, a second, stronger, magnet was added a little further back)


A test of the conning tower lit up.


Later I will worry about a proper paint job. Now I need to get this wiring finished and check the trim.

[salmon]

Continue on wiring.


Routing the wires was just guess work. I sealed ends and areas that connected wires with silicon and epoxy.



I chose a 9v battery. In hindsight, I should have tied this into the main battery. I did place it in the wtc and made connectors to go to the outside world through the end cap. I drilled 2 1/16th holes into the already existing indentations and put bullet type connectors in on the wire. Sealed the hole and indentation with RTV.
I made a foam shape to keep the battery aligned with the main battery and keep it from shifting around.

[salmon]

Tonight before I moved the sub into dry dock for the light modification, I let my son play with the Gato in the inflatable pool. What a kick to watch him figure things out. I gotta get a sub for him! He said I was the smartest daddy in the world for building and figuring things out on this Gato. I know the truth and there are a lot of people smarter than me, but I sure felt 10 foot tall. :-)

Since I have been testing the sub for open water, I have knocked off do-dads and broken fine things (which the wiz did say would happen) off the conning tower.
The railings are very delicate looking and I wanted to see if I can make them in brass.

There are curves in the railing on the conning tower, so I was not sure what you meant David Merriman will trace the railings to create a guide to make the railings I used potters clay to make a mold/indentation. I filled the inside of the railings with potters clay, pressed into it.


Removing the plastic part, you can see there is a nice channel to put the wires in. Then once the clay hardened, put brass wires in and was able to use the clay as a jig to hold the pieces as I soldered. Also, I numbered the molds to correspond to the model's part number, just to prevent a mistake.


This is quite the learning time for me. I can solder with a torch, but soldering with a soldering iron is tricky. Practice and time will help I know, but please pardon my mess. Here are the parts I made. There are blobs of solder that I will need to clean up. I am tired and will do the fitting and clean up tomorrow (maybe), my biggest desire is to get her in the water for more tests and learning how to control the Gato better.


I re-did the railings tonight because I did not like the first ones and the joints got better as I went along.


Placed the gun in and the barrel rested perfectly.


Worked a little more on conning tower railings. Got the lower rail installed.


The threading went easier than expected once I drilled out the holes with a .018 drill bit. It gave enough freedom that using tweezers, could pull the brass through. That being typed, I broke one of the stanchions before even threading the brass wire and it is making it hard to get this right (in the picture it is the one furthest away....it is glued and in position), I will let it set overnight and see what can be done tomorrow.
Also added to the deck the barrel brace.



It holds onto the barrel with, of course, magnets. One under the barrel in the hole and in the bottom of the U on the brace. I may have to uninstall it and put a pin under each hinge to fasten to the deck.- will see.

Here is the deck wiring done for the conning tower.

[salmon]

I have looked at the cabal reports - yet when I look at actual photos they are usually after a refit or at such a distance you could not tell any details even if a lamprey was sticking to her side. I did find one that had the white line near the waterline.
Anti-fouling was black (some have painted a gray band then black or red - none had it as far as I can tell wartime that is) Did the fleet subs of that time get the same amount of scum/algae/ as the ones that are depicted in the cabal reports? If so, how deep did the growth taper to? Was it as bad as some photos I have seen?
The intension is to use the toothpaste on the bottom for the mottled look. There was no rust under the water line.
It was many moons ago that I did a lot of painting and I am having a loss in confidence and memory.

So I began with a straight black for the lower hull and a gray for the upper. What gray? Whatever my primer was. That was as much painting as I wanted to do while getting things set up as well as I was learning to drive my sub. I also originally did not put on a lot of do-dads. As time went on I did. Now I wanted to paint my sub as if it was out for a short time. I have read many posts that said our subs did not get rusty like some other countries subs. Later I saw that was not the case. Most photos we see are during or after a refit or launch. I will show examples.
A bit of advice I got was to use pulp scale figures as I painted. At first I thought that was a funny suggestion, but soon realized the wisdom in it. When putting on streaks and rust for the items above the waterline, using a small figure helped keep things in perspective.
So with that I painted the conning tower.



That is why I do not like a couple of the rust spots, they seem too big. I also do not know if I like the dark wash towards the aft end of the conning tower platform, so I may airbrush a very thinned lighter gray over it to tone it up a little or I may just say enough and move on to the hull.
Looking at every picture I could find I stumbled across another tidbit, when the gun was mounted in the bow, the antenna was run to the aft, and when the gun was mounted aft the antenna was run forward (usually). Earlier subs it looked like there were more exceptions, but later it was more common to run the antenna opposite. Then there was the gunships that had a forward and aft gun mounted and well mount the antenna were you want.
Example - Here is gun in front, aerial mast in aft.


Here you can see gun in aft, aerial mast in forward bow (men standing near it).

[salmon]

There are some pictures that I wish were clearer, but looking at this one and especially the bow you can see a lot of discoloration. This is the USS Bonefish SS-223.


Here is another returning. The bow shows the most wear and tear, but look closely at the conning tower, you will see discoloration near the base and spots around the side. The horizontal discoloration may be the stanchion cable. This is the USS Haddo SS-255.


This next one you can see a big patch near the side opening into the conning tower and seams. This is the USS Drum SS-228.


Here is another, late war (1944 0r later) - you can tell by the 5"/25 cal deck gun (same for picture above) vertical streaks and discoloration on the USS Grouper SS-214.


Yes. Below is a late war (see deck gun) Gato, the USS Muskallunge SS-262.


The USS Shad SS-235 is in a very worn black paint job and the streaking on the conning tower is pronounced.


Another view of the USS Drum.


I did a little Gamma correction to bring out some details


Now we come to a couple of my favorite pictures - The Gathering. Look at the wear on these. I will say that you need to be careful about some of the streaks on the conning tower. Some are actually shadows being cast - it must have been close to high noon.


This was an earlier in the day shot and a sub coming in.


Not the same gathering (I am guessing because of angle, direction), but a shot of the bow. There is an interesting rust pattern on the three closest to the pier (forward of the anchor). It is caused by a cable that goes from the deck closer to the nose of the bow to the leading edge of the forward dive planes. These are, from what I have seen, only on Balao subs. You will see this on the last picture on this post. Look at the great weathering possibilities!


Another sub returning from a mission. Look closely at CT and see the discoloration. The bow shows more spots and rust - note little to no streaks of rust. This weathering can be done with salt weathering. Paint a darker color (doesn't have to be - depends on weathering effect you want) like rust or dark grey, place water over the area and pile on salt crystals (table salt). Let that dry, shake off loose salt, spray your lighter color. Let that dry and wash, gently scratch off the salt. Another detail, I have seen this on several pictures, there is an arch of lighter discoloration. I believe this is caused by the sub at cruising speed and the way the water cuts around her bow. This is the USS Halibut SS-232.

[salmon]

Below is a better view of the cable and more weathering. Also look at the photos above - did you notice the transition between the deck color and the sides how it is not sharp, but very smooth or fuzzy? I have seen some very late war pictures of a wavy sharp edge transition. I don't know if it is a weathering issue or how the paint was applied. This is the USS Bowfin SS-287.


Almost all of these photos came from NavSource check it out: http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/04idx.htm

[salmon]

Conning towers.....
This next one is fun. This is the USS Bream SS-243. There are so many nice details here. The rust spots above and below the "windows" and the slight streaking from the lower windows edges. The periscopes are not one shiny silver tube (grease? rust? problem with B&W photos). This photo is a high noon photo, so you see shadows as well as weathering. The lower part of the CT is not painted a lighter color, it is angled and getting direct sun. Look at the lower portion of the picture, see the nice horizontal spots of rust? and a lot of it too. Also as a side comment - I have seen some critiques of the model and say the periscopes are reversed. This photo is just like the Revell kit.


The USS Cero SS-225 shows some great overall fading, but look closely at the base of the CT. That line is rust. On some pictures I have seen a little of the deck black painted along the base. There are some random spots of rust breaking out on the sides, near the base the steps, and look under the overhang of the forward gun deck.


The photo below is of the USS Albacore SS-218. This looks to be the overall black paint scheme. You can some great details streaming down the CT.


USS Snook SS-279 - the steps show a slight lighter hue where the shoe would hit.


Here is the USS Flying Fish SS-229 with some great grunge look going on


Next is the USS Gato SS-212 with a couple of vertical streaks and subtle shading.


I do not know if this is a special camouflage or some major touch up on the USS Haddock SS-231.


Speaking of touch up, do any of you feel sorry for these two?

That is the USS Harder SS-257. Nice variations and the painted patches show were rust must have been forming.

[salmon]

Hull details

USS Wahoo SS-238 showing off some awesome weathering. Her black paint coming off to show the primer underneath.


USS Pargo SS-264 in dry dock. Nice details of streaks to waterline, horizontal muck lines (light and dark), and a nice splotchy hull below that. Hmmmm much like David Merriman does and shows us to do. Which is why I call the effect the Merriman treatment.


Another dry dock sub - I am sure post war for a conversion of the USS Pampon SS-267 (numbers are painted on). A couple of specks of rust here and there.


Here are a pair of tails great examples of the Merriman treatment. USS Greenling and USS Flounder.


Post war gathering. These are riding a little high, but it shows the range of what is correct waterline.


USS Lapon SS-260 has just the touches of rust around the limber holes, on the edge of the bow nose, and along the curve between deck and sides. Note how low she is riding.


The band is playing for the return of the USS Cabrilla SS-288, a Balao with that chain/cable rust marks. Look closely at the limber holes here. Great weathering.


And finally the USS Angler SS-240, coming in to dock. Look at the great waterline details. Oh and note this sub had its bow light above the bow chock.