The official Submarine Warfare Group Build 2016 - 2017

Steve

A door on each side. All the pictures I have seen have them and they appear to be open to facilitate flooding during dives, my guess.

Bish

Yea it's kinda weird looking till it comes together, very thin metal. 

That opening is for access to the main deck, and gun, from the enclosed portion of the deck that's where the main induction is. That area is accessed from the conning tower inside the fair water through a proper hatch. The cigarette deck above it is an open grating.

Thanks GM for clarifying the door question. I just found a cut away of  the Greeling and it shows the main induction valve in that area under the afft upper deck.

PJ - 

Your build is looking awesome....and the PE...WOW. I really like watching your builds.

I have completed  the 1/240 Gato.  I am taking it to Jaxon tomorrow   and will get some pics there.  I will post the best shot.

PJ -  I feel the pain on the resin stuff, mine is just as bad. Going to use the 4", and junk the rest.  I hope his 20's are better in the 1/72 version, as I'll need 2 sets to get the three I need.

  As to the PE you have in the fairwater, those are supposed to be "I" beams.  From the pic it looks like you missed the inner part of the legs. 

I gave up on the tower PE on mine, and it looks like it gets worse as you go up in the other two sections of it.

As soon as I get done with the Santa build, I have to get back to it.

goldhammer

PJ -  I feel the pain on the resin stuff, mine is just as bad. Going to use the 4", and junk the rest.  I hope his 20's are better in the 1/72 version, as I'll need 2 sets to get the three I need.

  As to the PE you have in the fairwater, those are supposed to be "I" beams.  From the pic it looks like you missed the inner part of the legs. 

I gave up on the tower PE on mine, and it looks like it gets worse as you go up in the other two sections of it.

As soon as I get done with the Santa build, I have to get back to it.

 

Thanks guys. I will have some updated pictures shortly.

GH

The resin is IMO is badly casted and will be trashing the rest too. I sent him an email complaining about his resin quality and haven't heard squat from him so that will be the last time I will buy anything from Nautilus.

Yes the pe is a tremendous job and I'm still fighting with the inner piece that makes the I beams, that's why the center pe supports are not in place. Luckully I have no hair to pull so the work continues on that framework without the danger of any hair loss.  

Got enough hair left, but went back to drinkin' and smokin' to keep it.  Hoping the 1/72 version is easier to deal with since it will be twice the size for old fumble fingers to try and work with.  I think your language skills will get a workout when you get to the upper sections. 

I'll get his 20 mm's in 1/72, but not extremely hopeful at this point that they will be worth the trip.  I had asked him about a 4"/50 in resin, and he said he really couldn't improve the kit part so didn't make one in 1/72.

Doing a good job with her so far.  Don't fill the seam between the hull and deck, on most boats I've seen pics of (mostly in Squadrons Gato book), that is a gap left to probably drain water from the deck casing.

GH

Do you have a number for him? I would like to bring the quality issue to his attention. I don't know if he received the email I sent him. I'm still bending and super gluing that inner lamination part. Two other parts  (#16) had to be sliced into separate parts cause they will not let the inner lamination piece lay flat. I almost have the puzzle assembled and will post some pictures. Thank God for thin CA. 

Yes I remember about the gap in the rear and thanks for the heads up.

No, I don't have a number.  All my communication was via email and snail mail for buying/shipping.  But he has been prompt in replying to my questions.  Don't know how close he is to you, but is in FL (Bagdad).

He is in the panhandle in Santa Rosa County, a good 8 hours drive from Central Florida. I will shoot another email. Which email address did you use for him? the one listed on the site? 

nautilusmodels@bellsouth.net is what I used.  Since it is a quality complaint, might not get back with you.  His molds must be getting old......

That's the email addy I used but no t a peep from him. Would love to get a phone number for him just to have a chat.

GH

This is where I'm at. The inner lamination took me several hours to shape it and figure out how to mount it. I settled on using what looks to be an over size toothpick that I slid into one of the periscope holes to line things up. I then CAd each leg one at a time with tweezers to form the I structure. I still have to add the center dividing parts (25 & 25).

Once this thing is cured, then I have to carefully cut the bottoms of the inner lamination piece. You can see them sticking out a bit at the bottom where they will sit flush on the deck inside the tower walls.  

Looks good.  I spent 3 hours getting the outers on, and had more thin CA on me than it.  Another 3 hours fighting the inners before I gave it up as an exercise in frustration.  And I looked at the rest of the structure, and realized it got smaller as it went, and knew I wouldn't be able to do it with my skill set.  Just not my cup of Jack or John.

Perserve my friend, you are worlds ahead of me.  It will really add to the finished product.  Lot more realistic than the kit pieces and will be worth the effort.

Thanks GH. I use a sewing needle with the end cut , having a Y at one end which hols a drop of thin ca and divers it with accuracy. Yes the pe adds tons to it and is worth the effort so I'm almost there.

Got to make one of those.......

If you destroy any of it, let me know and I can send you what you need from my WE sheet.  I'll probably only use the early SD and SJ antennas.

Thanks GH. I'm good up to now but will let you know if I mess up anything.

The needle applicator is really easy to make.

Viejo

I have completed  the 1/240 Gato.  I am taking it to Jaxon tomorrow   and will get some pics there.  I will post the best shot.

 

" alt="" />

" target="">

" alt="" />

Looks good Viejo. How was it to build up being a Linberg?

I put you on the wall.

modelcrazy

Looks good Viejo. How was it to build up being a Linberg?

I put you on the wall.

 

Pretty easy build, not too much detail though.  A better modeler could do better than I did......

I had to put this aside for a while cause this pe work is very time consuming and does quite a job at testing one's patience.

This is where I'm at after several hours work. I taped the entire conning tower to my state of the art pe cutting mat (left over bathroom tile) so I can super glue each tiny thin pe part at a time.

 closeup of the framework which is light years ahead of the included molded parts.

I also removed the molded ladder details and made my own from very thin copper wire, bending it to shape and inserted into drilled holes and super glued from inside the tower.

lots more tiny parts here and still on the fret

once the brass framework is completed, it will be super glued to the conning tower assembly. I still have to add some parts to the underside between the periscope tubes and railings for the lookouts. Still lots to do just here.

I've done some PE in my time PJ but that is really somthing. Testing your patience indeed.

And the winner is.........PJ!!  Great work on that stuff.  2/3 of the way there.  More patience than I have.  Great idea on nailing down the fairwater to work on the rest of it.

Great work on that PE PJ. It really makes it pop.

Thanks guys. Not much progress because something has been bothering me and I had to get to the bottom of it. I have been searching about the Gato's conning tower configuration in the WEM sheet and finally arrived at the answer.

From the pictures and info I have been reading, the WEM sheet depicts the Aug. 1943 refit and not a later one. In Sept 1944, she reported to Mare Island and had her tower further modified by the addition of newer radar which changed the configuration. It could have been done with the WEM set but it's too late as I have most of the tower assembled as per the directions, making it a Sept. 43 refit. The lookout deck and railings are also missing from the WEM set and are not even mentioned. It is still a good detail set and worth the money. However I can't say the same for the Nautilus resin guns.

I emailed WEM about these issues and Richard Harden responded and is looking into the matter. It's comforting to know that the company listens to the customer and doesn't blow one's opinion off like Nautilus did with their poorly made weapons set.  

I'm working on that lookout deck and figuring out the railings so once I have some progress pictures will be posted at that time. 

PJ,
That must have taken some serious research. Sometimes it's not easy to find and interpret reference pictures especially of subject that are constantly changing.

I'll have to remember WEM and their quick customer service as well as their concern for accuracy.

Well I have good and bad news. For the good news first, I shot Nautilus another email and it seems they never got my first one in the first place. They are sorry about the bad product quality and he will be sending me another set.

Now for the bad news.........the molds are being reworked to get sharper details but I have to wait weeks for the molds to be completed. Hopefully the casting will be of better quality.

I found a company that does 3D printing in plastic and they have these weapons with incredible details so that is another option but I hate to spend another $30 so lets see how the new resin weapons look like first.

That's great news PJ.

We have plenty of time. Personally I won't spend anything on another set of guns.

The guns can one of the last things to go on, yes?