1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[jefftytoo]

Buoy tops in progress.



Some small magnets in place and visible.

[jefftytoo]

Overdue to post more Harder progress here. Been diverted in recent weeks by a lot of SCR work, both on the current issue (now out a couple of weeks) and the next one too.

Been finding more to do on the boat while I await the arrival of additional needed PE parts.

As explained earlier, plated-over marker buoys (provided by the kit and the PE parts) don’t apply to Harder, so I’ve been tinkering with ways to scratch-build facsimiles of the buoys she had visible on her deck. I spent the day hand-cutting minuscule struts for their grab rings, shaping said rings to size out of thin brass rod, shaping the rounded buoy tops (made and described earlier) to size, cutting underdeck platform pieces on which to mount them, and carving out the underdeck areas for these platforms to fit.

The first photo shows today’s scratched parts prior to assembly. (Found some PE deck stanchions to also sacrifice for the effort.) Note: The large white circle will become the basis for the deck extension needed for the aft buoy and is clearly seen in photos of Harder’s deck. The next photo shows a dug-out underdeck area and the buoy platform made to fit it.

Buoys, here I come.

[jefftytoo]

Ready for a couple of scratched 1/72 marker buoys? Here ya go. As usual, they didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, but they’re not bad—and they’re a heckuva lot better than going without. Final shots show one taped temporarily in place under the deck. Paint will eventually help, of course.

[PaulC]

Wow, Jeff. Very nice! Look at you being all scratch-buildery. Are they hollow underneath? If so, you might want to fill them with foam so they don't trap air during diving. Excellent work. Sadly, Mare Island SW languishes.

[jefftytoo]

Thanks, ol’ buddy. Nah, they’re glued down on those styrene pieces, so they’re actually hollow inside, not underneath, so it really shouldn’t matter.

Wishing I could settle the PE issues we’ve discussed so I could move ahead on the major portions of the build.

[jefftytoo]

By the way, you’ll get there. (I’m out here trying to provide all the inspiration I can!)

[Ben Brigham]

Terrific scratch-built marker buoys, Jeff!
As of now, can you guys venture a guess as to what percentage-of-the-way-to-completion your individual Gatos are? Maybe in categories of 'guts' to 'gilding'?
The first day they're all lined up together at the pond: wow! What a fleet exercise!

[jefftytoo]

Thanks for the enthusiasm, Ben! Hard to estimate a completion percentage on Harder—a long way to go, and it’s been only fits and spurts so far. And even when I’M done, I’ll be depending on the kindliness of others to finish her: Lars for paint and Steve for the dive module install. Gotta admit it’s fun seeing some progress though—and those other two are generally farther along than I am...though I’m coming up on the outside!

[jefftytoo]

Finally back on Harder yesterday after a long delay awaiting a needed PE part from CZ. It has now arrived, so…

Here’s the PE part in question, at last installed forward of the CT—showing the specific port and starboard deck extensions required on Harder and present on many of her sister Gatos at the time.



Unfortunately, I used too much epoxy when gluing it to the forward superstructure frames (particularly disappointing, since I had NOT done this with earlier PE deck pieces!), and wound up scraping and sanding off puddles of it which had pushed up through the deck slats while curing. I was careful not to damage PE detail—I think—but couldn’t leave those globs there because it would look like gallons of paint spilled on deck by the crew…or worse! If I have scratched up the deck a little bit fixing this mess, that’s okay by me: look at photos of the teak deck slats on boats back from war patrol and you’ll see they appear raw, worn and even splintered after depth charge attacks…so I didn’t want my Harder’s deck sporting the factory-fresh look of pristine PE parts anyway. A few of these slats may need to be scribed out to remove more goo; we shall see after a primer coat.

One of my reference photos showed bolts lining an access hatch I’d already scribed onto her stern…



…so I added those bolts with a toothpick point and JB Weld.



Knowing I wanted to also add reasonably accurate sound heads to my Harder, I took a length of thick, round, scrap resin sprue off a fret of spare old Seaview parts (hearty thanks, Mr. Merriman!), cut it into a couple of short segments, Dremel-rounded the ends into hemispheres, and angle-sanded their bases. (You can see these rounded pieces sitting atop this fleetboat sound head diagram.)



After some test fitting, I attached these pieces to a small rectangle of thin styrene...



Then I mounted it in place inside the hull. Voilá: retracted sound heads!



Next time: more work with those deck extensions and other PE parts.

Jeff

[salmon]

Excellent work again Jeff. I love the sound heads and your solution to it. It is a Hollywood solution, meaning, it is just enough to give you the impression it is real.
Genuinely excited to see this sub........when we get to gather again.

[jefftytoo]

Thanks, bud. Much appreciate the compliments. Long way to go still, but she’ll eventually be a fine boat. Yes, I’m eager to get together as well. We’ll get there eventually!

[thor]

Exquisite work, Jeff! Bravo Zulu.

[jefftytoo]

Wow, thanks, Matt! More to come!

[jefftytoo]

A bit more progress: PE deck extension side pieces added.





Single rounded marker buoy fairing added aft. Scratched from thin styrene; faired in with Milliput two-part epoxy putty. Reference photo first:







More to come.

Jeff

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

Let's see what I can do.
I turned them and I enlarged them sligthly. (click on image for larger view)