Revell 1/72 Gato!!!

[thordesign]

Amen to that Tom! Every

Amen to that Tom! Every "generic" kit I have ever seen has been an abomination. Lionfish included.

Paul Crozier, Jeff Porteous, and myself chose to execute the famous WWII WAHOO on her 3rd patrol. It is the ONLY way to accurately model a GATO class boat, or BALAO for that matter, as there were way too many variants. Each boat was unique.

[mylo]

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........generic....... ..boooooooo

Mylo

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........generic....... ..boooooooo

Mylo

[boomerfunker]

and Ahem...what would be the

and Ahem...what would be the status of that most anticipated
project be

Inquiring mind wants to know!

Tom (Frog-Boy) Kisler

[anonymous]

And it won't be out

And it won't be out until the third quarter of next year which is about this time one year from now.

I'm with Matt. Do it right or don't do it. Your public is not so dumb and this being a good size to RC they'll miss that market by making a generic version. They won't get my money.

I'll wait for Matt's next project. It's too cool.

Steve

[georget]

Look everyone, Revell does not

Look everyone, Revell does not generally make models with R/C in mind. There is the whole thing about making money. Not targting one specific group. Also, the boat might turn out to be one specific name. So, relax! If you want to help with development how about some positive ideas. If all you want to do is be negative go pout in a corner. Thinking like that gets nothing done.
As far as speaking to a SC member they are, ME. They asked if I would go to the forums for ideas. That is what I am doing. For the talent pool, they have thier own model makers. I think they can do a good job. More later.
George

[himszy]

George, we are a small

George, we are a small hobby, whether it be static or r/c submarines. In order to sell a new submarie kit, it has to be accurate.
Often negative comments can be just as helpful as posivtive ones. If you come to the SC board then you have to be prepared to accept both points of views.
And George, may I suggest that you get Revell to actually come onto this board directly? It might get things going a alot faster....

Michael

[georget]

Hi Michael, thanks for your

Hi Michael, thanks for your comments. I'll pass them along. Also, I visit the boards everyday.
George

[tom dougherty]

Take them as "cautionary comments"

[color=#000000]Take them as "cautionary comments" not negative comments. As for Revell's past efforts, such as the Lionfish, the Type XXI (both versions), and the U-99 Type VII-B kit, we are "concerned", as these were all far short of the mark in terms of accuracy. The Lionfish was by far the worst of the lot. So you see, there is a good deal of well-founded scepticism here, based on past experiences. On the other hand. the more recent Type VII-C from Revell AG (Germany) was a very good effort. The use of the word "generic" was not reassuring, as the Lionfish was most definitely a "generic" kit.

I have no doubt that Revell has its' own pool of modeling talent, the question is]

[thordesign]

Dittos on EVERYTHING Tom says

Dittos on EVERYTHING Tom says above. R/C or not, it must be accurate or it is not worth doing. Pick a boat, any boat, but do it right!

[tmsmalley]

Hi George -

If you

Hi George -

If you can whisper in the corporate ear (now THERE'S A GARY LARSON CARTOON FOR YOU!) please tell them that a (at least this) serious modeller who would plunk down $100 or more for a plastic kit, would much rather have a specific boat, rendered as accurately as possible to the real McCoy than a generic USS JohnDoeFish. I am sure that holds true for static AND RC guys.

You might even volunteer one of the SC's "hot shot" modelers, who really know the US WWII boats, (and maybe that's you or Tom or?) to act as a mini-focus group for their planned boat.

Just my coupala-bits.

Tim



Edited By TMSmalley on 1128524155

[tom dougherty]

Look everyone, Revell does not

Look everyone, Revell does not generally make models with R/C in mind. There is the whole thing about making money. Not targting one specific group.

George-that is Exactly the point, though. Look, given the size, this thing is going to run well over $100 in price, so in fact from the beginning Revell IS targeting a specific group, those with enough interest to purchase and build expensive submarine models. The cost will largely preclude the juvenile market and any casual builders; it will largely be purchased by serious ship modelers. So, they need to go the extra mile to get it right. Most people who would purchase this kit are going to be savvy about the subject.

[mkeatingss]

If Revell is going to

If Revell is going to do a particular boat, they'll also have to pick a particular time frame. Otherwise there will be errors.
There were 220 "Fleet Boats" built, comprising the Gato, Balao and Tench classes. There were 77 Gato Class, 119 Balao Class and 25 Tench Class. I won't go into the variants. there were dozens in each class.
The Gatos were 307' by 27', the Balaos were 311' 9" by 27' and the Tenches were 311' 9" by 27' 1"
By number and size, the Balaos would be the best choice for a model. It's easier to shorten a model then lengthen it. (You'd have to cut .8" out of the middle to make it a Gato.) And the exact difference between the Balaos and the Tenches is 1.2" (length and width), a hair over 1/72 of an inch, on the model. (A couple of extra coats of paint will take care of that.)
I can't speak for others, but, if they don't plan Amberjack (Tench Class, Amberjack Variant, Guppy IIA, North Atlantic sail) or Tirante (Tench Class, Tench Variant, Guppy IIA, Portsmouth sail) or Requin (Tench Class, Argonaut Variant, Fleet Snorkel, North Atlantic sail) or Charr (Balao Class, Perch Variant, Fleet Snorkel, Portsmouth sail) or several others I'd like to build, I'm going to have to modify it.
And, if I later decide to do a later "Gun Boat" version all those 5"/ 25s will come in handy.
What it boils down to is, I personally, feel a "Generic" would be just fine. I've got plenty of sandpaper, drills, filler and plastic stock. As long as the gross dimensions and details are correct, I can take it from there.
So, quit "nit-pickin" and say thank you. Be grateful for what you get and quit demanding egg in your beer. What are you, model builders or kit assemblers?
I expect to build a bunch of different boats for myself and friends, over the next few(?) years.
Thanks Revell, and bring it on. I'll fix whatever you missed.

Mike Keating

[thordesign]

Egg in my beer???

Egg in my beer???

[tom dougherty]

What it boils down to

What it boils down to is, I personally, feel a "Generic" would be just fine. I've got plenty of sandpaper, drills, filler and plastic stock. As long as the gross dimensions and details are correct, I can take it from there.
So, quit "nit-pickin" and say thank you. Be grateful for what you get and quit demanding egg in your beer. What are you, model builders or kit assemblers?....
Thanks Revell, and bring it on. I'll fix whatever you missed.

Mike,
Since Revell is in the early stages of kit development, wouldn't it make sense to give them input NOW, before they make some serious mistakes? I think many of us have done our share of hacking at the old Lionfish kit, with major & minor mods & corrections, so the skills exist. But I only have so much patience to lay out big dollars and then have to correct fundamentals (like two right handed propellers on the Lionfish or anchor wells on the wrong side). This kit will be big & expensive, and sales will be limited to serious builders; folks with lots of background knowledge. It will fail unless it meets a certain high standard of accuracy. Sure, most of us can correct or modify kits, but it doesn't make sense to correct something on an expensive kit because they just plain got it wrong. The kit is a year from issuing, so if we can give them some constructive comments now, the work you do can be limited to modifying the kit to a Guppy and not correcting some basic mistakes. Again, I sure want to see this kit & have it be a slam dunk success, but I don't think that just making it 1/72 scale ("bigger is better") alone would be enough if it were a Lionfish clone. The best thing that can happen is for this to be done right, be a rousing success, and lead to more subjects.

I liked your analysis of the merits of a Balao over a Gato. Simplifies the conning tower issue also.

Egg in my beer???

Matt,
I think that's an old DBFer custom..... Something to do with celebrating the success of the Prairie-Masker system. How 'bout it, Mike?

[himszy]

Changing the focus of this

Changing the focus of this thread slightly, does anyone know the Revell modelling process?

Michael