gato class submarine

If as you say "bigger is better" than you will probably want to wait for the new Revell 1/72 scale Gato Class sub kit is available. I believe this is due next month.

It will be available for November of this year as per my latest news source.  Nobody have seen this kit yet but it should have plenty of details at that scale.

Revell will be releasing a 1:72 scale Gato sub.  Expeced date is October/November.   That is probably the largest.  IIRC Combat Models also makes (or made) a fleet sub.  It is not recommended unless you have a very high pain threshhold.

There are several fiberglas Gato hulls which are available, in the 1:96 and 1:192 scale size

Trumpeter has just released a 1:144 scale Gato with the as-built conning tower.   A scond version with a cut down tower is planned for later.

Revell has an old kit of the Lionfish in 1:178 (also sold as Flasher and Growler).   The connning tower is sorta crude but there are aftermarket versions by Nautilus Modes and IronBottom.

Toms Modelworks used to make a 1:350 scale Gato/Balso in 1:350 scale resin & brass.   YankeeModelworks also makes one. YMW also makes a BASS and S-Boat.   Iron Shipwright makes a WWII Nautilus - of Makin Island fame.

To add to EdGrune's list, there was also the mother of all Gato sub kits, the 32nd Parellel R/C 9 foot long kit. I don't know if these guys are still around, but they made several WWII sub kits that could be built for static display or R/C. All were done in, what else, 1/32nd scale. I remember a Type VII U-boat and Schnell boat, I think there was also a Type XXIII U-boat and some sort of hydrofoil as well. But the Gato was the biggest of them all.

I drooled over that kit for years!

32nd Parallel went out of business a few years ago.  The Scale Shipyard has a fiberglass hull and fittings available for the GATO/BALAO class in 1:96th, 1:72nd, and 1:48th scales.  The 1:48 scale hull is 78" long. The hulls come with a set of plans. 

I have Trumpy's brand new1/144 Early Gato on my workbench. This is a pretty good kit of a very early Gato Boat. Some problems I have noticed are the lack of ballast flood ports in the lower hull, and the failure to mold the Exhaust ports on both sides of the hull.( They are present on the port side only) an easy fix here,

 The aft torpedo tube doors are molded open which is a difficult task to correct if you choose to. For some reason the pressure hull insert has compartments?????

The kit has also left out the "screw guards" that were sported by many early Gatos. Of course most boats had these removed before war patrol but it would have been nice if Trumpy included them in the kit... Maybe they will in the late gato kit.

A nice item is the molded in anchor locations on "both" sides of the hull which allows you to build either port or starboard anchor location boat. Just fill the other location with some filler and polish it out.

All in all a very acceptable kit which allows for the several differences in the early boats of this class.

I am eager to see their late Gato class boat.