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Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/11/2009 10:13 PM   
cyclops2


 

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A buddy is interested in one, while watching me do my Surcoff.

Who makes it & sells it ?

Thanks, Rich.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/11/2009 11:47 PM   
liftmys10


 

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Status: offline 		I have a brand new one for sale made by revell 1/72 scale Gato. I can sell it for $80 if your buddy wants it.

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My Sub http://www.cardomain.com/ride/224451/10

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/12/2009 12:07 AM   
cyclops2


 

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Thanks for the offer.
I found a web at $ 62.97 + shipping to NJ.

I tend to "Pit Bull" projects for friends.

What is the quality of the kit ?

Thanks, Rich.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/12/2009 6:03 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		David Merriman sings high praises of the 1/72 Revell Gato, considering it made for easy r/c conversion. For one, lots of nice thick styrene down in the hull, but lighter topside for folks who might actually want to put it in the water.

D & E build articles including a set on the Gato

I had to return my Gato kit, which I'd gotten on clearance: The hull was so deeply bowed along the keel that the gap was even wider than the length of the fastening pins! I exchanged it for same; the new one also has warp because the hull is such a long styrene piece, but this one's well in the acceptable range I think. I would check for warp out-of-the-box on that long hull though.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/12/2009 3:13 PM   
cyclops2


 

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Thanks for the Q C report & the need to check it out on delivery.

Oh well. Monday I place a order for 2 Revell Gatos.
With 6 big Pittman motors having no place to go. Besides, I am biased to USS ships.
About how much total weight is added to the Gato for WL balance ? RC, ballest, dive controls, motors & battery.
Is anybody selling the Prop Shop in England, props, in the USA ?
I have a embarresing number of Dewalt 3.2 volt, 2300 mahr cells for the subs.


Rich

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/13/2009 2:43 AM   
cyclops2


 

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I am closing this post as of now. I will be at another site.

Many thanks to all for your help.

Rich

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 4/13/2009 2:09 PM   
SNOWTANK


 

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Status: offline 		The Gato by Revell is an excellent model. I hope to start mine this summer.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 5/17/2009 2:49 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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I've elected to ditch my main-deck safety rails, though. 

Aside from wanting to spare them the indelicate touch of my 6-year-old, I figured I'd break them off myself half the times I opened er up to charge batteries.

I heard safety-rails on the main deck on a deployed Gato were an early-war thing, the practice abandoned later.  The recently-found wreck of Grunion, an early-war loss, was found with safety rails up.   I don't know about the cigarette-deck railings though - -they look more static, like they don't come down to be stowed. 

It's hard to get photo evidence that I'm sure was taken in combat - - usually it's aviators being plucked out of the water, and those photos tend to only show the bow.  The other Gato footage I find is just about always photos from builder's photos (sea trials after launch or overhal/refit), photos from training exercises, or unknown.  Who was ever photographing, next to a Gato actually on patrol, even when fleet boats adopted wolfpacking ?



< Message edited by CrunchyFrog -- 5/17/2009 3:33 PM >

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/13/2009 5:32 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		>Aside from wanting to spare them the indelicate touch of my 6-year-old, I figured I'd break them off myself half the times I opened er up to charge batteries.

MAN I am glad I chose not to mount the safety rails.  I haven't even launched, and they would be snapped already.  I'm always into that hull installing stuff. 

Same goes for propeller guards.  But I'll put those on after sea trials.  They're a signature Gato item. 




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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/13/2009 9:26 PM   
herrmill



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Status: offline 		That warp isn't hard to fix.    

I had the same issues with mine, being one of the earlier kits, & just followed the supplement that Revell put out. 

If you want something unique, you'll want to check out Iron Bottom Sound's line of conversion kits:  http://ibs.eastcoastarmory.com/Csets2.htm

I'm building SSR-481 USS Requin, a late Tench class boat with IBS' Atlantic sail & just received their new hollow sail kit for RC conversion.  

Chuck
 

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/16/2009 6:16 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		Nice to know Revell put out that supplement.  The bow looked about as bad as I saw in the first Gato kit I had - - "not severe," they say.


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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/17/2009 11:38 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		I took a look at Requin's site.  Surprised me right off: that North Atlantic sail, with a knife-shaped prow . . . isn't that combination pretty unusual ?  Cool choice to model !

http://www.geocities.com/uss_requin/index.html

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/18/2009 8:07 AM   
herrmill



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Status: offline 		I attended school across from Requin when she was berthed in Tampa & could honestly say I spent more time lurking inside that old sub than in some of my classes!   Should look awfully nice alongside the Foxtrot I plan to build one of these days.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 6/19/2009 6:09 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Awesome to have an old Navy sub so close by.  When I was a teenager I got to visit USS Batfish SS-310 in Oklahoma a few times, and did an overnight in the middle of winter.   Fellow Boy Scouts always appreciate it when you crawl up the ladder into one of the hatch trunks until you've been forgotten, then yell YAHHH ! down at passerby. 

Batfish is completely out of the water so you can appreciate the size of the hull.  I never could bring myself to go past about the third rung on the persicope shears that led up to the lookout posts - -even at bridge level, one errant look and you'd see it's about 30 feet down.



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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 8/2/2009 7:31 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		I put my Gato through some stationary dive (and surfacing) cycles this weekend (stationary is all my son's kiddie pool allows for this 4-footer). Not great, but getting sailable.

One thing I probably should do is put capacitors in my relay circuits (yeah, I know - - relays in r/c stuff, you'd think that's horrible RF noise. But I've used them before and found them pretty versatile - -my two-channel SSN-21, I could control so far away that I could barely make out the conning tower ! ).

Anyway, in the kiddie-pool tests I see I made a mistake in design: shared the same battery between the relays' primary circuit and secondary, while the secondary has less load. In other words, when I engage the relay, the secondary circuit becomes a short, so the relay cuts out momentarily and my drive motor or ballast-tank vent quits ! The cycle repeats every second or so. Ha ha. Stupid relay tricks. That'll ruin my relays if I don't stop it. Gonna put capacitors on the primaries so they'll quit doing that.

Still fun playing with my new toy though - - has tanks forward and aft, so I was tipping the bow and then shooting co2 into the forward tank, watching it lurch back off the bottom.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 8/5/2009 2:40 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		This sub is on such a scale, the deck cleats can be * functional * .

When I first tried a water session with the Gato, I didn't have a worthwhile catch under the end of the turtleback - - so I opted instead for a rubber band.

Cinched it tight with a couple extra loops around the deck cleats: instant hull catch.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 8/13/2009 1:40 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		If you get the Revell Gato, take care when placing on the "bilge keels" (fins at the bottom of the hull that keep the round-bottomed hull from rolling).

The pins are just *slightly offset* forward-aft, I guess the fins only are supposed to fit one way against hull curvature even though they seem flexible themselves. If a little bit of the mating slot is visible forward or aft of the fin, the fin's backwards; don't force it or you'll break a pin, the pins aren't stout.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 8/13/2009 5:44 AM   
herrmill



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Status: offline 		Feel free to post photos if you'd like. Did you go with one of Dave's SubDrivers or made your own wtc?

Have you seen Mario Grima's USS Ling build in the IBS gallery page. He did an excellent job on that RC conversion &, as always, one hellava job at detailing her. He used all 3 of the Eduard photo etch sets available for the Gato alongwith Dave Welch's wtc.

Am still looking at my instructions as I wait to finish a Chinese junk that I'm building before starting another project.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 8/15/2009 8:10 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		That is some breathtaking detail at IBS. IBS's step sails are way cool, thanks for the link. Can't believe somebody did up the Lizardfish - - I've always favored those obscure Manitowoc names, Kraken and Icefish etc.

I've homebuilt my wtc's. I have two circuit boards from Wal-Mart r/c toys, four channels altogether. Two frequencies, so I've separated the receivers as modules: 2-channel diving control and 2-channel engine room, and I'm crossing my fingers the 27mhz and 49mhz receivers won't noticeably influence each other - - I have an antenna forward and an antenna aft. Then there's the battery box, and one ballast tank forward and one aft. No working diving planes, just the forward tank that doubles as the fleetboat "bow buoyancy" tank- - it'll go through a lot of co2, but I wanted to play with co2.

< Message edited by CrunchyFrog -- 8/16/2009 3:43 AM >

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/2/2009 8:50 AM   
herrmill



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Status: offline 		Yes Mario & his son do some nice work over at IBS.

I couldn't hold off & started filling in the vents on the kit sprue this morning. Once that's sanded down, I'll attach the templates Mario sent with the sail & start drilling, cutting & filing my way to a late Gato configuration. As you can see from the photos below, there's some work involved. At least I didn't try tackle one of the Guppies.

I'd be interested in seeing some photos of your WTC since I, too, plan to do this one on the cheap.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/3/2009 6:43 PM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		>I'd be interested in seeing some photos of your WTC since I, too, plan to do this one on the cheap.

Glad to, I'll try to post some pretty soon.

My boat's ready for sea trials, if I can just get some lake time now.

Whenever I do sea trials, though, the rule is that at least one thing's got to go grievously wrong. . . first trial tends to be short !

< Message edited by CrunchyFrog -- 9/4/2009 4:30 AM >

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/4/2009 5:28 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		These photos were taken in June. Here's my gutted fish. Bow-to-stern, the modules are:

Forward tank
Battery box
Diving-control box
After tank
Engine room

The forward tank is a clear condiment container my wife was about to throw away. You can see the co2 blow line (some aquarium pipe and a tee connector that pokes into the tank, sealed with silicone caulk) and the vent "chimney" but it doesn't have its solenoid yet in the photo.

Battery box - - it's two end caps, and a short section of pipe; I couldn't afford clear pvc for all modules, so I sawed off the dome on one battery-box cap and cut a circle from Lexan, then sealed it to the battery box - - so I've got a window when I check for leakage, and if I see water I don't let the batteries sit in it.

Diving control - - the expensive stuff's in there, so it got the clear pvc I had: I don't want to not know about water leaks.

Aft tank - - It has a window (aft) like the battery box so I could check water level, when I was trying to hit on the right recipe for a homemade vent valve.

Engine room - - not that you can see, but the two motors scavenged from toy r/c cars are on their own circuit - - the receiver board, itself on 4.8 volts, triggers the relay, which closes the 9.6 volt circuit to the motors. Actually I think I may have to patch a resistor into the circuit to slow the boat down - - but as you can see the relay gives the freedom to make that choice; if I want to go fast one day I can run with no resistor, but if I want to conserve battery I can just patch one in on blade connectors. The resistor doesn't even have to go inside the wtc.

Rudder motor - - just aft of the propshaft u-joints. It's a throwaway motor I got from the r/c cars whose brains I stole for the sub Sometimes these rudder motors I run "in the wet" freeze up, but not before I get lots of scale miles out of them - - and then, I replace them with another motor from the stockpile. Motors run in the wet get water inside so they have to fight internal resistance - -but that's OK for rudder pushers. Not so for drive motors, which I tend to want to run continuously: I put them in the dry space.


I find the round pvc end caps I get from Home Depot seal onto the tubes without assistance from grease or any other material. Other kinds and shapes of caps I've tried do not seal without sealant.


Man I hope this stuff works this weekend.




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< Message edited by CrunchyFrog -- 9/7/2009 4:20 AM >

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/7/2009 1:19 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		>Whenever I do sea trials, though, the rule is that at least one thing's got to go grievously wrong. . . first trial tends to be short !


True to form, I smacked into the learning curve running my boat. I hadn't been practicing co2 cartridge replacement lately: When I replace a cartridge, I forgot this can stress wires and pop out plugs I have to check; I couldn't even surface - -because I forgot to reattach the blow tubes . Then I cut short the trial to flee a thunderstorm. This run was a failure, but I've got the sub ready to go out again.

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/7/2009 1:53 AM   
junglelord


 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: CrunchyFrog


Whenever I do sea trials, though, the rule is that at least one thing's got to go grievously wrong. . . first trial tends to be short !


True to form, I smacked into the learning curve running my boat. I hadn't been practicing co2 cartridge replacement lately: When I replace a cartridge, I forgot this can stress wires and pop out plugs I have to check; I couldn't even surface - -because I forgot to reattach the blow tubes . Then I cut short the trial to flee a thunderstorm. This run was a failure, but I've got the sub ready to go out again.



You called it, but its true about the learning curve. Glad it got home safe and sound.
Cheers.
Dean

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RE: Large plastic kit of a US Gato Class sub? - 9/7/2009 3:43 AM   
CrunchyFrog



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Status: offline 		Thanks ! You wouldn't think it was true with one's own design. And even after getting past big gotchas like that, the designer still has to learn the quirks of driving the boat

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