1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I'm sure you do, amigo. We'll get there though.

[Guest]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Well you know the saying- never volunteer.

[ober freak]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Happy new year to everyone!

I have a Gato in my pipeline but haven't found the one boat to build yet.
But to my question: is there any bore or thread in those G-Factor props?

greetings from Germany
Marco

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Marco,

The G-Factor props have a bored-out hole in them. It is pretty rough. Depending on the size shaft you want to use you can tap it and screw them on your shaft. Big Dave told me he did that with his Gato. Some drill and tap holes for set screws, others just glue them to the shaft permanently.

[ober freak]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I'm planing with 2mm shafts, as I had good results with them on my 350th Revell Missouri.
Have viewed some pictures today an I'm tending to do USS Puffer (SS-268) in it's late '44 '- 45 config.

Marco

[scott t]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Cutting down the sail front with a Midwest miter box and back saw.
Clamped a wood block in the miter box to be able to square the piece and held
it in place with the little cams to start the cut. Also used the finger clamp.
After the saw was started I took it out of the miter box and finished the
cut. The miter box did a good job of starting a straight cut.

Scott T


cut sail front composite by scott.trosper, on Flickr

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Scott,
Great tip! What are you going to build it out as?
Peace,
Tom

[scott t]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Not sure what to build it as? Was looking at Drum and Silversides pictures on the web.
It probably in the end (is there ever an end?) will be a mixture. I was planning on
Batfish but knew that would never progress.


Scott T

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Scott,

Nicely done. If you build Silversides then between you, Tom, and I we'd have three out of four Mare Island boats built together.

Speaking of Mare Island boats, I received an MI/Portsmouth bow buoyancy tank flood hole template for Christmas from AMP. While most all Gatos had the same prominent row of flood holes, different yards had different arrangements of secondary holes and openings around them. The kit's EB holes are all wrong for Wahoo (and Trigger, Silversides, and Whale) so I used the template to make the changes.



The parts are .25mm thick styrene and are suggested as parts to be applied directly to the hull. Didn't sound like a good move to me so I taped it to the hull and used it as a guide for drilling and scribing the new openings. Note: I closed off the small holes in the kit with baking soda and CA prior to starting.



For the larger holes I drilled out each end then cut and filed out the opening using the scribed lines as a guide. It also helped to thin out the plastic from behind. I'm pleased with the results. A little clean up around the edges and it should look sharp -- and accurate to the boat.

[jefftytoo]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Way to go, Paul. SO cool! And Scott, should you choose Silversides, I've got about a zillion photos of her I could put on a CD for ya.

Best,
JeffP

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Thanks, Jeff. It's kind of a pain but I like the result. Port side coming up next. It took me a couple hours to do this much on the starboard half.

Scott, there are aftermarket resin towers for both Silversides and Batfish if you wanted to go that route.

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Paul, from what I see, it is worth the time. Excellent presentation.

[boomerfunker]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Great, Paul. Just great.

There I was living a happy, innocent, even carefree life, knowing I had all the pieces and scratch build projects figured out for my Trigger.
Then this. I can't unsee this now and knowing that something more accurate is out there means that I simply MUST incorporate it.

It's people like you what cause unrest.





It IS way better though. Ima get one.

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Happy to help, Tom!

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Along that line I have more good (bad) news. The Nautilus Models limber hole templates we planned to use for modifying the superstructure to the MI/Portsmouth layout are essentially worthless. The "look" of it when taped to the hull had been troublesome for a long time. However, it wasn't until tonight that I found out the full extent. I downloaded some Portsmouth yard superstructure drawings, scaled them to 1/72 via Photoshop and printer, then cut and taped them to my hull parts. The limber holes on the Nautilus templates are at least 2X too large in most cases. Will try to post some pics to show the full effect. Anyway, into the scrap heap they go. But I am excited about the info I have off the scaled plans -- should prove useful.