Revell 1/72 Scale Gato Submarine.

I'm in the process of building one but haven't worked on it in a while.

There have been others that have done RC conversions and a full kit or parts can be found here.

You might also want to check out Subcommittee for RC stuff, although the Fleet Boat sections is now paying members only.

You will have to decide on which boat and year you wish to depict it as, the model is primarily based on the (EB) Electric Boat Built USS Cobia  SS 245 commissioned in 1944

The torpedo shutters are wrong and the flood and exhaust openings are missing.

You will also need to open the hatches on the sides of the fairwater since those are only on some of the museum boats (like the Cobia).

Forum Member Rokket has some after market parts available as well as Eduard and White Ensign.

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Thanks for the informatiom it is well appreciated.

Some places to look at for photos.

Navsource

Submarine Museums

The Fleet Type Submarine, Navpers 16160 on line Tech operator manuals

USS Lionfish SS 298, Balao Class, Cramp Shipyard

USS Bowfin, SS 287, Balao Class, Portsmouth

USS Cod, SS 224, Gato Class, Electric Boat

USS Pampanito, SS 383, Balao Class, Portsmouth  in drydock 2007

Doing image searches will also get you pix of the USS Drum, SS 228, Gato Class, Portsmouth, USS Silversides, SS 236, Gato Class, Mare Island , USS Batfish,SS 310, Balao Class, Portsmouth and the Cobia.

Floating Dry Dock for copies of actual WWII Blueprints

Each boat was individual in it's details and each yard had different designs, fairwaters would change or be modified through out the career of the boat.

Forgot to mention that the emergency marker buoys on the model are POST War, they should be round and in some cases in different locations depending on the boat, many just had plates welded over the openings, also the broom needs to be removed from the mast.

Also depending on the boat the decking may be different, some had all wood decking where others had plate with wood around the fairwater (like the model has)

Rokket's site has some good information on the decking and other features of the boats.

The base model will give you enough for Electric Boat and Manitowic built boats without having to redo the side  openings, or move the anchor to the port side.

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Mike,
If you want to learn more about R/C Submarine modeling, your very best bet is to join The SubCommittee. http://www.subcommittee.com/

Thanks for the info Jim.  I'll check them out.