Revell 1/72 US Navy Submarine Gato-Class Platinum Edition

Have the older boxing of the regular kit, and the Big Ed and white Ensign PE sets.  Kind of stuck on the PE shears right now.

Will be watching with popcorn and beverage.

That is a wonderful kit!  I built the non-platinum edition a few years ago and loved every minute spent building it.  I wish that I would've gone the extra mile and spent some money on after-market resin and/or PE, because this kit deserves it.  Sadly, it took a nosedive off of the shelf.  Amazingly, very little breakage just some pieces, still intact, that have to be glued back on.  This was one of my most favorite models that I've built since getting back into the hobby.  I've also built Lindberg's 1/72 Japanese sub, the one with the midget subs, and though it's impressive in size, doesn't compare with the Gato as far as details go.  Now all that's left is Revell's 1/72 U-Boat that I have waiting in the stash.  Probably will need to buy a bigger house to display all three of these.  Good luck with the build, you'll love it!

TJS

Got a few more hours in this evening, at ~1.3mt (4.2ft) long she sure is a long puppy, Heaven knows where I'm gonna put it when done..........guess I'll worry about that when I'm done later 

Got the wooden decking attached.

Got all the PE on the decking.

And made a start on the conning tower (think that's what they call it)

That's it for today, more progress in the coming days.

For those that have gone before me on this I would appreciate a heads up on any problem areas of things to keep an eye on.

looking great! must really be tough to find space to even work on it. 

TheMongoose

must really be tough to find space to even work on it.

That 1/72 Gato is going to be near the same size as the 1/48 U-Boot at a bit more than four feet long.

311 feet is long at most scales.

Love all that detail,looking great.

OK......so it's been about 9 months since my last attempt at PE...........still no easier this time round 

I use a very thin CA and find things don't stay in the right place immediately and I have to try hold them in place for a few seconds. Am I using the right type CA or do I need a thicker one?

(I find thicker ones tend to cause a 'blob')

Anyways, time to give the old Mk1 eyeballs a break......MOTD on in a mo so footie and a G&T for me!

The SJ and SD antennas look great. Nicely done

I find I have better success lightly touching the contacts points in a gell CA.  For me thin seems to glue everything but what I want

Those persicope shears are amazing.

(other than the crooked attack 'scope

Incredible work with the PE.

Curious; are you really going to leave the broom in place? Just wondering.

HooYah Deep Sea

Curious; are you really going to leave the broom in place? Just wondering.

Don't know what the 'broom' is, but it was there from the start so it stays!!

CapnMac82

(other than the crooked attack 'scope

Which one is the attack scope (and don't say "the crooked one" )

If it's the one that looks like it's leanig forward, then this is just an optical illusion due to the angle of the phone camera. In real life it isn't bent like that!

On the side toward your camera, between the two scopes, in gray plastic is a common house broom, bristles up.

Brooms were placed there when entering harbor at the end of a patrol to indicate a "clean sweep" of their assigned patrol area. Thus, if you leave it there, your model is indicating (among other things) that it has just returned from a succussful patrol.

And that being the case, your scopes should all be in the down / stowed position.

Just so you know.

If you look at NavSource, USS Wahoo, there is a picture of her returning to Pearl with a broom from an early patrol under Morton.

Also a pretty good look at Gato throughout her war career.

A little more work done and the conning tower is almost complete, just one small gun assy for the rear to do (more PE!). Got a coat of primer on (Tamiya Fine Grey) and it's all looking good.

One small gun assy to go on the rear here:

Front gun done........a bunch of PE

These binoculars were tricky to do, lots of very small PE parts

Spot-light has a small clear lens that I have covered with Maskol and will remove it one finished painting.

And the small radar dish (another PE replacement of kit part)

That's as far as I have got. Got the paints from Jaime at Sovereign yesterday so will move on the spraying all the hull tomorrow or the day after. Ordered 5 x 14ml tins so hoping that is enough as there is a lot of hull to spray !!

The binos are the TBT (target bearing transmitter), was tied to the control room, and the plotting table to give more accurate bearing data on targets . Your small antenna is the SJ surface search radar.

Be aware the deck the gun is on, is the rear, or cigarette deck, aft of the scopes.  It covered the main air induction for the diesels.

Looking Great

Just to clarify, and add that I'm not trying to be a !@$#$%^&; this is 'the broom' that I am referring to. It should be painted as one would a standard household broom; plain wood handle and yellow-ish bristles.

The model appears to be going very well and looks great. I just want you to know what you've got there. That way it will look correct, which I assume is your goal.

Just to clarify, and add that I'm not trying to be a !@$#$%^&; this is 'the broom' that I am referring to. It should be painted as one would a standard household broom; plain wood handle and yellow-ish bristles.

The model appears to be going very well and looks great. I just want you to know what you've got there. That way it will look correct, which I assume is your goal.

[/quote]

Good call on the broom details Hoo Ya. 

This is a gorgeous kit and is gargantuan in size, looking good! Lot easier to work on than the 1/144 one I did updated to a early 44 refit. I used a 3D printed 4" gun on mine that is just amazing in details.

Just because . . .

USS Gato underway 6 AUG 43

Many changes by 23 NOV 44

Nice detail from 23 NOV 44

Caption:  "Modifications made on 29 November 1944 at Mare Island for Gato (SS-212)include installation of a new freestanding mast for her SD radar and relocation of her SJ to a new mast supported by her periscope shears. In some boats the new SJ mast was mounted forward of the periscope shears.
The three girders supporting the shears are the only remnants of the prewar enclosed bridge: their height indicates how far the fairwater has been cut down. Note also the ammunition-passing scuttle let into the deck abaft the bridge fairwater. "

This is USS Drum, mostly for the apinting of the 40mm

Source to zoom in:  http://navsource.org/archives/08/228/0822813.jpg

Here is USS Wahoo with her "clean sweep" broom flying 7FEB43 Note the "high" bridge fairwater and the RDF loop in the aft location.

For what the conning tower looken like at launch, here is USS Haddock 20OCT41

Yeah, the constant updates to the Gatos as the war progressed is one reason I decided to just make a generic late-war one for my slow going 1/700 undersea diorama. It's kind of funny that Only in the Silent Service can you find a class of ships where every single one is unique.

mfsob

kind of funny that Only in the Silent Service can you find a class of ships where every single one is unique.

That's common to all Naval vessels, really.  Just more dramatic with subs as a general rule (and magnified by their smaller size.

As a "for instance" USN built 175 Fletcher Class DDs.  No two are more than "generally" alike.  Even the first 25 "round bridge" Fetchers were built in three different yards.  So, they were similar, but not the same.

Shoot, three of them had the after torpedo mount and Mount 53 removed and a sruiser catapault installed to launch a single Kingfisher.

AA and ASW fit was unique to each hull, too. 

Not just subs and DDs, either.  The four Iowa battelships were laid down nearly at the same time, and still manage to not be identicial.  Similar, especially at 500 or 1000 yards away, but with enough individual features to pick out the difference.

Just part of the process in Naval Ship Modeling.

A little more progress to report, not a lot..........just a little bit 

So here she is, nothing fixed yet, just placed to get a few photos...........bit of a beast!

Can't really see from the photo but got the lower hull sprayed, Tamiya (X-18) semi gloss black. Black on the top side is Colorcoats (C02) matt black

Front end:

The middle.......Midships (?)

The rear end:

Tower is all painted up but not the guns yet.

Thats it for now, more tomorrow. Missus is at work so once I've done a few bits round the house I should get the afternoon to play some more.

One thing that is common to all Gato boats.

They fall into two types- those built by the government at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; and those built in commercial yards at Electric Boat Company and at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company.

The government ones have lozenge shaped limber holes, while the commercial ones (like Gato which was built at Electric Boat) have D shaped ones.

So Wahoo for instance (built at MINS) wouldn't match the kits hull.

Bill

Looks good.

So, a bit more work and the finishing line is in sight. Made a bit of a boo boo on the depth decals......never put a gloss underneath! Oh well, c'est la vie. Luckily, only did it on one side so will clear coat it tomorrow and put the other side on then matt it all down again.

One thing I have noticed is that a matt black finish sure seems to attract the dust etc and doesn't easily brush or blow off.............anyone know of any tricks for this??

That looks fantastic.  With the right lighting and background you couldn't distinguish it from the real thing.

OK peoples, I need a little guidance/assistance.

I finished up painting my model and in readiness for weathering I put down a gloss clear coat of Alclad Klear Cote Gloss (ALC310-60). That was done midweek and has been in the house the last few days to dry. Now when I have used it before it went off really quickly but for some reason seems dry but still a bit tacky and will leave finger prints if I hold it for too long! Not a great problem as I'll just wear gloves.

I have some Mig Rainmark effects (Mig-1208) with which I am having limited joy with (this is just down to my inexperience, not the product!!) but my main issue is with trying to weather the large black expanse of the hull!

I have tried using some Tamiya powder but the effect just doesn't look right to my eye, looks a bit clumpy and wondering if the apparent slight tackiness of my Alclad is the cause . I have seen videos on YouTube of people using watered down acrylics which looks so easy to do but I just can't do it as the water just beads up on my gloss clear coat. If I add a little Fairy (other dishwashing soap is available!) to the paint/water mix will this help out or just make it worse.

Any advise or tips or other methods will be greatly received.

Definitely the tackiness is affecting your weathering attempts. Something is up with that bottle. You may want to do a search on that for Alclad specifically. I believe I've read where their flat does that sometime, won't dry. I had this happen with a bottle of my white recently. In that case i was able to sprat a gloss clear over it and seal it Up. Everything went as normal after that. No problem with tape peeling up any paint either. 
i wouldn't suggest putting any more weathering over that coat until you clean up the tacki and get someth to dry hard.

[quote user="Tubosteve"]

And made a start on the conning tower (think that's what they call it)

We Submariners refer to it as "sail"; it is officially called the "fairwater".  Excellent job so far!

Bill Morrison