1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[ober freak]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Looking pretty good Paul! Can't wait to see your attempt on the limber holes.

I installed the locking frames on the central section.
front:


and back][/url]

with the WTC tube slid in][/url]

and the front and end parts connected][/url]

Thats it from Puffer.
Marco

[jefftytoo]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Perfect, Marco! (But I had to remember you're doing hull bayonet rings before I quite realized what you're up to!) I'm thinking maybe a couple or three of those "locking frames," in my case, could be made removable and configured as clips to sturdy up the hull beneath the deck—since my tube will be dropping in from the top. Maybe not even necessary...will have to see.

Paul, I'm noticing the superstructure holes behind the bow planes are quite different on your Drum reference photo than in the kit pieces. Which way did Wahoo's look—or neither?—and if different are you going to be able to recreate them? (Those superstructure spots you opened up to show the pressure hull curve, BTW, are incredible. Wow! Again.)

JeffP

[ober freak]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I don't know yet, if I will do my deck completely detachable, as it's not really needed with my system, maybe only some parts of it.

Today I glued the fixed receiving frame into the front section. The front WTC section can be screwed to it then.




so far, Marco.

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I really like your approach, Marco. Keep up the great work.

Jeff, you are correct. The kit holes in the bow plane wells will not do. Wahoo's are pretty much like Drum's -- round holes with a column of vertical half-moon ladder rung holes. I plan on plugging the kit openings first, then going back and drilling new ones. This is approx. next on my bow section to do list.

The good news is round holes are very easy to make in the thinner plastic of the bow planes area. I make a center hole with the tip of a #11 x-acto blade and use it as a pilot for the correct diameter drill bit. By slowly hand twisting the full size bit it doesn't wander and carves out a very neat round hole. The end result looks like it was cast in the kit. The crescent shaped ones will be a bit more trouble though. Fortunately, the Nautilus Models limber hole template has some similar holes in them I can use as a stencil (at least it wasn't a total loss).

The image below is an actual fleet boat plan sheet showing the bow plane well limber holes. I reduced it to the proper size for a guide to map the Gato style holes on the kit. I cleaned the image up in Photoshop for my purposes when I reduced it. You can right click and save it. It should print out to scale for the kit on your printer. Use the bow plane control shaft hub as your guide to properly locate it on the kit. The full size plans were found here: http://maritime.org/tech/drawings/index.htm

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

So I made a run at filling the unwanted bow plane limber holes and so far, so good. Here's the process I used:

I traced the hole to be filled onto some graph paper held to the part from the back side.


Then I cut out the tracing to make a template.


Next I traced the template on the plastic stock sheet of the same wall thickness as the bow plane area.


Using some small metal snips I cut the traced part out of the sheet and then worked it to shape using a sanding block and coarse sand paper.


Here the plug part is compared to the hole. Looking pretty good.


Once the part is properly fit to the hole, I taped it from the front to keep it flush with the outboard contour and applied Pro-Weld from the back side to glue it into place. With the part secured, I took off the tape and glued it from the front side as well. Any small gaps were filled with baking soda and hit with CA.


Overall, a fairly simple fix. We'll see about the row of small round holes on the aft end of the part. I was hoping to create a punch out of brass rod to stamp the plugs out but I'm not sure the size of the hole will be a standard tubing i.d.

[jefftytoo]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Once again, hat's off. Looks great!

JeffP

[boomerfunker]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack



Had a real face-palm moment just now. For the small round holes just slice off discs from plastic rod the same diameter.

[jefftytoo]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Touché.

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

After several fruitless searches for a Plastruct vendor on my side of town I carved up sheet for the small holes myself and finished plugging them. Some sanding with coarse grit helped level everything off.



Before and after. With experimentation, I found that the best way to open the large round holes was to mark the centers using the plans template piece, hand drill a starter hole with an undersized bit, scribe the finished hole using a geometric template, then finish off with a rat tail file. I hit the new holes with a shot of primer to get a better look. The crescent hand ladder holes are going to be a challenge. But so far, so good.

[salmon]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Wow Paul, that is some mighty fine detailing!

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Thanks, Tom, we're getting there. It is interesting what a modeler considers essential detail. There are things on my list that are musts. Then there are certain things that aren't. For example, the drawings show small square openings on either side of the bow plane bearings. I'm not worried about them. But the five round holes were a deal breaker. The extra row of bow buoyancy tank flood holes were essential. The small openings for the forward torpedo tube shutter pivots are not To each his own.

[scott t]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Paul,
How about cutting the climbing holes in a flat sheet of plastic (maybe from some clear package plastic or sheet strene).
Drill oversize holes in hull and then paste the sheet over those holes so the climbing holes center over the holes in the hull.
It should give you a thin crisp edge and be easier to cut than tooling on the hull. If you butt it up against that angle it might
be less blending to make it purtee.

Scott T

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

Scott, I've been thinking along those lines as well. I was also thinking about molding the area once it is finished to see how a GRP part would look.

[PaulC]

Re: 1/72nd Revell Gato Wolfpack

I violated an important rule yesterday and paid the price: never clean your workbench. Pleased with all my progress I figured I would swab the decks so I could really double down. I organized drawings and plans, put away tools, tidied and swept all the plastic dust and shavings I've been producing. Sure it looked good. But when it came time to get back to work I couldn't find my PE anchor well hole template. Or my two bow buoyancy flood templates.

To proceed, I had to break out the second PE anchor well hole part from the fret. With that in hand I drilled out the port side holes. One more step down.