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.
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
Well, here she is. Has actually been done a couple of weeks but got sent away for work and never got round to taking any photos.
I am reasonably pleased with how she turned out, the weathering is not quite how I envisioned it, dot filters are definitely something I need to work on. I sort of did it in stages, a couple of panels at time, and found it nigh on impossible to get the same results each time…some panels I am happy with, others not so much. I think I cleaned it all off 3 or 4 times until I thought ‘enough, that will have to do!’ I only ended up dirtying up one side as I couldn’t find the enthusiasm to do the other side!!
I am happy with how the weathering turned out on the grey, but weathering the black was challenging and it is here that I am not so happy.
So this is how she is…comments and critique welcome as would help in the future.
Port Side views (‘dirty’ side)
Starboard Views (the ‘clean’ side)
Top side views:
Overall Steve, I think that you did an awesome job and she looks great! Personally, I think that the weathering on the port side looks very realistic and good. I have also built this kit and I wish mine looked half as good as yours! Well done!
TJS
Steve, I agree with TJS that the port side looks great. [t$t] Overall build is really great. I had an uncle that was in a Gato class sub in WWII and I’ve been putting aside money to get that kit. I’ll keep an eye on your build when I get mine.
Jim [cptn]
Stay Safe.
. . . and nice job on the broom.
Steve,
Nice work, but, it appears to me that the draft decals need setting solution. Be careful or they may fall off.
A hiccup–that Baker (now Bravo) signal flag is “swallow tailed”–there’s no white triangle, but the red is the shape of the flag.
Revell let you down a bit with the flags–those are Size 1 or 2, and a submarine would be issued Size 6 or 7 (about a quarter of the isze you have). Signal flags are fitted with a “pennant”–a line aproximately the same length as a the “fly” (height) of the flag used. Having a flag-sized space between each of the flags aids in read-ability. You show a “gap” my flying a bare pennant.
What’s odd is that the Jack and Ensign look to be near the correct Size 6 for a submarine (Subs might have a #4 as a “Sunday” Ensign.)
Revell also let you down with the decals. A war-time vessel (implied by the broom) has nearly no marking on it at all. The large “shadowed” numerals are decidedly post-war (as in circa 1947). Draft markings not exactly common on subs in the main (the untility on a “variable draft” vessel is dubious at best).
You built it with what you ere given and did a grand job of it, and that’s what matters.
Top notch. Beautiful build. Photograph her near a calm lake in the background, and she could be at sea.
Bob
So based on what CapnMac82 stated with regard to the flag sizes, a quick google search shows: Size 6 (2 ft. x 2 ft. 7 in.)
So in 1/72 that would be 0.333" (8.466mm) high x 0.431" (10.936mm) long…correct?
Guess I’m gonna have to find an image of each flag and scale it so it prints out at te above sizes.
CapnMac82, excuse my nautical ignorance but can you explain/expand on the above?
If I may, for CapnMac,
Flag hoist flags and pennants are made with a ring at the top and a ‘tail’ at the bottom. At the bottom of the 'hoist line there is a snap hook. So, in order to run up a flag, the hoist line is clipped into the ring and then the flag is pulled out and the next letter is clipped into the tail of the preceding flag. This tail, as the Capn was saying, provides a gap between the flags so they can be seen individually in the line, making reading the messege much easier, especially at distance.
In the photo, note the ring at the top of the flag, in this case an ‘Alpha’ flag (indicating diving operations), and the tail at the bottom with a snaphook attached. (This is a mock-up as I pulled out the original line.)
As for size, this flag is a size 8, which is about 19" at hoist and about 21" in length. A size 8 pennant is about 13" at the hoist and 29" long.