1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[boomerfunker]

Hmmm? Oh this. Sorry, I've been working on my book.





Good work Jeffty. Inspiring as always. As soon as I get settling-in finished (and I have a working shop again) you can bet Trigger will be on point.
Sheesh...retired people.

[jefftytoo]

Love it. I’ll be first in line for the “Meet the Author” book tour. You can bill me! ;-D

[jefftytoo]

Okay, been awhile. A few more shots of recent work to share. First, better ones than above of those Harder-specific openings over her stern tubes:





And here's another shot of the bow, showing the tiny, now specifically Harder-correct little holes beneath the bow buoyancy tank free-flood ports. Being able to get some of these minutia truly correct for my specific boat has really been a joy for me.



As with most of the Gatos, a bolted access plate appears aft of the turtleback on Harder's stern. Before Paul kindly reminded me there's an oval-shaped kit part provided for same, I made my own round one from a filled washer...which didn't turn out too badly. I employed JB Weld to create the bolts. Now I'm not sure which one I'll use. Guess I need to find out for sure if Harder's was round or oval. Sure looks round in the photo.







Also glued the bow halves together and removed material from the assembly's top (which will be under the main deck piece)—all per Mr. Merriman.



More below...

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

Here is a trick I have used to make bolt heads.

Piece of clay.
An Allen wrench as near to correct of the bolts.
Push the Allen wrench in to the clay giving you the number of bolts needed for the project.
Fill these holes with Thin CA and let cure.
Pop the pieces out and install on parts.

I find most the pieces come out is real good condition.

Wipe the clay gentley to remove excess.
These parts are small. Very small and easily lost.

[jefftytoo]

While in a material-removal mood, I opened up the area beneath the sail on the main deck piece, then both ends of the main hull assembly—first using a Dremel cutting wheel, then a barrel sander, then smoothing the edges with sanding sticks. The sail opening (immediately below) turned out particularly well. At least SOMEtimes things go right!







Here's the bow end being opened. Stern work was the same procedure.





More below...

[jefftytoo]

Thanks, Ralph, but these bolts would've been far too small for this scale, at least for me. Nice method for a larger scale, though.

[jefftytoo]

Lastly for today, here's a reminder shot of the very first work I did on this kit ages ago: scale ballast tank keel flood openings—created from plans of a boat whose hull number was very close to Harder's, built at the same yard (if I recall), so they're dead-on accurate or at least VERY close. Still pretty pleased with how they turned out. A lot of drilling and filing work!



Since this plastic cutting seems to be going pretty well, I believe my next task will be to fully open up the top of the main hull (for WTC installation/access). We'll see. Thanks for following along, gents. JeffP

[salmon]

Jeff, are you splitting the hull like David Merriman did or using the deck like I did (https://forum.rc-sub.com/forum/build...vell-1-72-gato) which I learned from Eric's build?

[eckloss]

Hmmm... maybe one day, ten years later, I'll finish that build!

[salmon]

Erich it was what you did that helped me complete mine, so if I have not said it before, thank you!

[jefftytoo]

Tom, I’m planning the Big Dave/George P. method. Nothing against Mr. Merriman’s equatorial split, it’s just that—as Crazy Ivan stated years ago—“I just don’t like seams.” Same reason I did my Seaview the way I did (semi-bayonet, far aft), as big a pain-in-the-butt as that’s been for repairs and maintenance. But she sure looks wonderful on the shelf!

[salmon]

Yeah, that cut in the hull made me uncomfortable. Do you have any photos of the way bigdave did it?

[jefftytoo]

I believe there were some in the SCR when these conversions were first introduced by Big Dave, George and Dave M. at Carmel that year. Gonna rewatch video coverage of same; I know George talks about it, and I think I remember there being some separation closeups. Gotta check.

[scott t]

Jeff, I cut the top off the pressure hull part and have about a 2 1/2in opening. Take a look at: Scott T - Revell Gato 1/72 Build thread. I need to get back on this build.

Cut the ends off with a saw from Hobby Lobby.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6499[/ATTACH]

Cut the vertical cuts with the saw. Then cut the horizontal cuts with an X-acto knife by dragging the back of the blade.
It scrapes a curl of plastic with each pull.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6500[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6501[/ATTACH]

For the middle section I leaned the blade against the flat vertical surface to guide the cuts.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6502[/ATTACH]

The width of the opening is around 2 ¾” so I think I am good there.

[jefftytoo]

Scott,

Photo looks good. May try to emulate that. Also thinking about trying a cutting/configuration experiment of my own with the intent of leaving more edge to support the deck. Also have found my DVD instructions from Big Dave which includes his thoughts on belowdeck access. Gotta study all of this and take it slow. My concern is that I already cut out the middle section atop the hull along its entire length except where connected at the extreme fore and aft ends. No crossbars, in other words. Might need to figure a way to fabricate some...