Yet another 1/72 Gato Question

Bertman,

 

The kit itself is what you'll need to make the Albacore SS-218.  You will need to make one major change, which I can address.  The 4"50 cal. gun in the kit is the correct gun for Albacore on her last patrol.   The big change you will need to make is to cut down the top of the sail to expose the periscope bracing.  Here is an example of that:

The height of the top of the sail should be 29/32" from the deck.  This should expose about the correct amount of the bracing.  Don't use this example for anything other than the amount to cut away.  This example is for a Mare Island boat, and not an Electric Boat boat, as Albacore was.  Also, the edges of this bracing is rounded on the Albacore, not square like this example.  Finally, there will be planking on top of the bracing for lookout positions.  You can make this from .020" scribed Evergreen plastic with .040" spacing.  This planking goes from ther edge of the periscopes to where the braces round down.  Hope this helps.

 

Jon

 

 

Awesome!

So, other than that, not much changing on the kit?

I noticed some PE kits from Eduard are used a lot, would those be accurate in all respects or do some of the parts not work out for the Albacore? The sail seems pretty open, was there a lot of detail in there?

I'll look up more on the cut sails tonight. I saw mention of that, but no good pictures or description of it--seems like an important part to get right since it's a pretty large part of the visible boat.

Bert,
That ebook is supposed to be great. I have the hardcopy edition, which I think the ebook replaced. I will also suggest that you check out http://subcommittee.com/. Click on message board, then scroll down to "Fleetboat Dock". There is a wealth of information there.

Hi Bertman, 

bertman wrote:

Awesome! So, other than that, not much changing on the kit? I noticed some PE kits from Eduard are used a lot, would those be accurate in all respects or do some of the parts not work out for the Albacore? The sail seems pretty open, was there a lot of detail in there? I'll look up more on the cut sails tonight. I saw mention of that, but no good pictures or description of it--seems like an important part to get right since it's a pretty large part of the visible boat.

    I changed the picture to show a little more of the interior, and give you an idea of the lookout platforms on the bracing.  The cutdown of the sail was to reduce visibility of the boat, so the exposed bracing is distinct.  There's not a lot in the sail itself, other than some lockers.  Most of the equipment is mounted around the venturi, so if you use the kit's instructions, you should be OK.   On Navsource, under the pictures for Trigger - active service, there are some decent pictures of the bridge area which should help you.

    As for the Eduard p/e, I can't answer that.  I work with Nautilus Models on these different sails, and I can say that Nautilus photoetch is based on the actual BuShips and Electric Boat plans, and that photoetch is accurate.  Also, Nautilus sells templates to add the necessary limber holes to the kit's superstructure.  You may want to contact Jim Corley at Nautilus, since he does a lot of this research, and has a much better understanding of this sort of information.  You can reach him from this website:

http://www.nautilusmodels.com/

 

Jon 

 Jon

Hi Jon

Do you know if Caswell Plating referenced in the original post is one of James' distributors/customers? 

The text & graphics for the limber, flood & drain hole templates at Caswell is lifted verbatim from James' site.  The Caswell products sell for the same MSRP as James'

Ed

 

Ed,

Those on the Caswell site are mine. Caswell buys them as they make RC subs and offer them to people as well.

Same price either place.

 James

BigJim:
I'm always amazed that I can miss things like this... I was at that site for a good 3 hours reading stuff and never went to that particular section! A lot of info and knowledgeable people there. Thanks for pointing me right to it :D

Jon/James:
Nautilusmodels is a pretty nice site, I've run into it a few times looking for info. I will for sure be bugging people like you once this project gets really rolling. :)

My wife is in publishing and gawked at the ebook being $30 and also not for download, so I'll see what I can do about getting a copy of it anyway ;)

Bert,
She's crying about 30 bucks for an ebook??? Be a man! Buy the ebook from The Floating Drydock! If I remember correctly the hardcopy was about the same price. I'll bet that the photos will be of better quality than the hardcopy.

Tell you what, if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you.

Yeah, she's weird some times, but so am I, and I love her for it :P

I'll get the book as soon as I am sure I'm ordering it correctly, I'm paranoid about buying things from unorganized sites ever since I was burned a few years ago.

Just wanted to say thanks for convincing me to get the eBook. Page 85-86 had two really nice close photos and call outs for all the latest changes to the Albacore around the sail. The photos were in April '44 and she was lost in November, so that means that they were pretty darn close to the last ones taken of her.

Now I think I should start deciding on what to do with the model... I was going to make a rough seascape for her, but I want to be able to see all of her, not just the top. :P