1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Bill, Tom Kisler bought a Silversides/Trigger fairwater from Nautilus recently. He showed it to us at Sun n Fun and it was really well done. And as far as I know, the purchasing experience was trouble free.

[wlambing]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Guys,

I am sad. I purchased the required gun kits from Nautilus to build the 1945 "Barge Buster", USS Hake, SS-256. 2- 5" kits, 1 kit containing 2 twin 20mm guns. In reality what I received is trash! Neither of the 5" kits should have been shipped to anyone. The quality is atrocious! Oh, wait, there is no quality!!!!!! One kit is missing the gunlayers seats and pedals, as they didn't cast up, and they both have enough bubbles to make some brands of baby swiss cheese jealous! There are huge mold registration problems, resulting in mountain range class ridges and flash everywhere!! One mount baseplate is completely useless. So, for twice the money, I barely have one 5" gun, which requires extreme effort to salvage. The 20mm is a different story. Instead of two guns in the kit, there are three. After culling through the parts, I can build the one gun I need, still requiring intense cleanup, and chucking of the other two. I haven't gone back to Nautilus because I'm so pissed!!!! If I wanted crap to start with, I could have ordered the H-R stuff and dealt with that from the get-go. Thankfully, the Revell kit 40mm is done and looks pretty good, so I don't have to contend with that.

B^(

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I may have to change my choice of subs......just visited the USS Batfish. That was a great experience. Donated some money and got some wood from the deck (they had renovated). Oh the choices......so what is the fleet up to? what subs are being done?

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Tom,

That's a great boat! I got some deck too the last time I was there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/subron5...7628150642587/.

While it has been quiet in this thread I can assure you things are brewing. I've got my camera back online so I will get you your images and update my activity shortly. High school football/basketball has really had us on the run the last few months. But I have been accumulating things for my build. With the Dec. SCR to bed I'll be able to get my hands dirty in the shop.

Sorry for your disappointment, Bill. I've got stuff coming from Nautilus as well. I'll let you know how it looks when it gets here.

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Thanks Paul! Look forward to your build.
Took some photos so if someone needs reference maybe this might help....http://s1089.beta.photobucket.com/us...tfish%20SS-310

[boomerfunker]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Trigger here...

Getting started. I spent a lot of this week just gathering all my bits and pieces together and washing all the kit and aftermarket parts in soapy water to prep for an initial primer coat on everything when the weather warms a bit. Between the kit itself the Nautilus Models fairwater and its bits, and all the paintable parts in the SubDriver kit, that took awhile. Two days.

Today was spent expanding the slipway/workbench to make it easier to work on this thing. I just took some laminated shelving and rigged up some storage space on the back of my worktable. This will allow me to keep the hull up out of the way but available. This boat takes up a lot of horizontal space which is at a premium in here. I'll be laying the keel proper and laying into this thing this week.
TomK

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Looking good! I'm clearing my decks as well -- after decking the halls. Santa is bringing some Wahoo presents!

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

My family got me the Skipjack and I will be getting a Revell Gato for my birthday (thank you to a member here!). Life is good!

[giovanni]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Lucky boy !
Hope you enjoy the build and post some images.

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

So here is some of the loot supplied by Santa's workshop for my Wahoo build. The Nautilus Models Portsmouth limber hole templates are taped to the hull. These really have a cool visual impact. On the foredeck is the Iron Bottom Sound resin torpedo loading crane. Below the bow is assorted resin pieces that came with the Nautilus Models resin conning tower. They look pretty good but came with a good bit of flash which will need to be cleaned off.



The Nautilus conning tower is a nice piece. It does do the Mare Island fairwater justice. However, there are a number of inaccuracies for Wahoo depicted in it. First, there were four portholes across the face of the bridge, not three as molded into the part. Second, the resin forward 20mm platform is rounded and faired into the base. The 1:1 platform for Wahoo was angular and braced from below. Wahoo didn't receive her round platform until her July 1943 refit when her bridge was changed and the portholes removed. Additionally, the running light housing is a bit high on the side. And the open fairwater door is too far forward -- it should be about a door's width further aft. Did I mention I'm a bit picky when it comes to this particular boat?

The biggest drawback of the piece is its construction. The walls are quite thick -- fine for a static build but a real problem for R/C. The cavity below the bridge is solid resin. I'll either grind it all out or make a one-shot mold and cast a fiberglass shell. That would render parts that are nice and light. We'll see.



Another shot of the templates in place. Love the look of those limber holes. Will use some of the template pieces as kit replacement parts. Others might be used as a guide to open up the kit deck pieces. If the drilling and filing doesn't look good enough I can always cut the section out and install the templates. They would save more upper deck weight as well.



Here's a really bothersome part goof. Wahoo had the four rows of round vent holes in the aft portion of the fairwater. However, each side matched symetrically. The port set looks pretty good. But the starboard side is way out of alignment with the port as you can see. Will have to putty over and drill them out in the right location. Note the fairwater has a lot of flash on the bottom that is yet to be removed and the kit deck has the raised portion to register the stock fairwater. She'll mate with the deck properly when it is all cleaned up.

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Paul,
Very nice review. I like those limber hole guides! Thank you!

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Thanks! Yep, you're going to need the templates for Batfish

[wlambing]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Gentlemen,

I rest my case!! I'm forging ahead using my best attempts at kit-bashing and scratch-building skills. So far, things are working out ok. Hake isn't gonna be the prettiest girl at the dance, but she'll be fun to hang around with!!

Take care,

Bill

[boomerfunker]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Good on ya, Bill! The scratchbuilding is the fun part for me.

In the interest of making all our boats as accurate as possible some of our discussions offline have moved to the deck area. For the Trigger, Harder, Wahoo, and your Hake, Bill, the Revell kit deck is woefully inaccurate. On my Trigger and Paul's Wahoo, the teak modeled on the kit terminates at approximately the right place aft, but unlike on the kit, it extends further up forward on the bow to the capstan and cleats shown here on Trigger.



The problem is even worse on Jeff's Harder and from what I could see of the Hake's images on navsource in that the teak extends to the same spot forward but also extends completely to the stern on these two boats.


We have been looking at Evergreen and Plastistruct textured sheets and have come up with some similar though not exact matches to what appears on the model such as Evergreen's 4526 metal siding and Plastistruct's No.s 31 and 29. The sheets would work but one would have to trim it around every detail you want to keep like hatches and the fairwater. And also it's not going to be long enough for a continuous run so you will have a lot of seams to minimize as you cut in pieces to fit. I have given thought to using individual Evergreen strips to plank in the deck one board at a time. The .010 x .030 looks about right. Super tedious, yes, but "Look ma, no seams!" Such as this one occurring between the mid and fore decks.




I can cut individual planks around deck details as I go. The trick is spacing (and learning to work with tiny tiny strips) as I need to keep a regular gap between the boards while them over the existing deck. A jig of some sort I suppose will have to be concocted.

Also there is this][/url]

This is Silversides, surviving sister to Wahoo and Trigger. If you look at the steel deck here and it's representation on the kit (an after war look I am assured, Thanks Paul) you can see even more correction/scratchbuilding in the works. The kit is just plain wrong for our needs. What bright light out there can suggest to us the best way to get from crappy to happy with this area?

TomK

[jefftytoo]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I'm LONG overdue to post to this thread. So to start, here's most of the message sent to my packmates the other night:

The yard foreman of the Porteous Boat Company is pleased to announce that
facility upgrades and reorganizations are now complete and work has commenced on
PCU-257—at least to the extent that all major parts have now been received,
removed from shipping containers, set out, organized and inventoried. Admittedly
an inauspicious start to this new construction program, but a start just the
same. Plans are now being made to officially lay PCU-257's keel next week.

Some refit work also commenced on SS-581, specifically the ongoing chasing of
electrical shorts in her still-temperamental lighting system, while plans were
also being laid out for further refit work on SSRN Seaview—reminding
recipients of this communique that the Porteous Boat Company remains a
full-service facility with construction and repair ties to submersible craft of
both the distant AND recent past, and to the "future" of submarining as well.

Harder sends

Note][/url]