Newbie no more - Building the Revell 1/72 Gato

[trout]

Hack into the hull.
I taped the bow and stern on and placed the deck on the superstructure. I let my son draw around the hull where the deck intersects. This will give me the no cut zone. Anything out past this line will be seen. I removed the deck and began to plot out what I was going to cut out and where. In doing the marking out I noticed a couple of things The front where the pegs are, the superstructure does not even touch the deck and the ones that do touch the superstructure have an arch in them (I do not know what that will mean - I just said I noticed it).

Using a Dremel type tool that resembles a mini circular saw blade, I began to cut the hull. One section at a time. There was a song that came to mind...... “The first cut is the deepest” It kept playing in my head the whole night.

And so it begins..."Baby I know" darn that song....

This is fun! I LIKE cutting out stuff.
After hacking away, there was a lot of superstructure removed.

Since I decided I am not going to cut my hull in half, I need to reinforce the bulkheads. I purchased garolite and used parts 183 and 184 as a template.




In all the excitement, I thought I took some pictures of the pattern and the cut out garolite bulkheads. Sorry to say, I forgot (just imagine the most perfect bulkheads you ever saw). I followed David’s direction (dvd) on the distance from the hull bottom to place the wtc. I opened the top up of the garolite bulkheads so the wtc can be dropped in. Garolite is a strong material, but cuts and sands well. Note: Not sure about this stuff so wear a mask to protect from the dust. I placed the garolite bulkheads in the appropriate locations, then placed the original plastic ones next to the garolite ones on the wider side of the hull. I squeezed the hull together to match the garolite and plastic bulkhead as a measuring stick so to speak. I could see if the hull needed to be compressed more if the plastic had large gaps showing. Then I taped the hull in the compressed position. After triple checking the fit and made sure all my alignment lines followed the hull lines, I began adhering the hull to the bulkhead with CA. First at the bottom and then in steps top middle, and then finally all spots in-between. After getting one side of the garolite one done (the side opposite of the plastic one), I removed the plastic bulkheads and CA’d the flip side of the garolite bulkheads.






Now I am off to clean up the butchering I did to the hull and make it look pretty. Maybe get crazy and cut away the cross members that I think I do not need. Then back to the stern to install the drive shafts and back to the bow to install the front planes. I have an idea for the deck on how to glue them together especially since I am removing some of the cross members that would normally support the deck, but I will play first before I let you know. What I can share is, I plan to use the pins that Erich does to help secure the deck and the clips and stern piece that David does to secure the deck.

[trout]

David,
Thank you. I ordered the mini circular saw blade last night.

Peace,
Tom

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Split the hull like I showed you, damit! Loved the streached sprue trick. Nice.

Don't whoose out on my now, pal. beak out the Dremel saw blade and unleash Hell!

David

[trout]

Let me get the shame photos out of the way.
The finger print

Here is the shame photo of the melted rudder.

Perhaps I should have just put the 1/8” collet on the original shank and been happy (I will probably will not put stern torpedoes in, but ya’ never know). I am learning and this is fun.
I tried to use CA and baking powder to fix the melted shaft, but was not pleased with the results. So I stretched some sprues (Glad I saved some) and welded them into the holes with liquid cohesive.



I pulled a couple of different sizes to fit in. Soaked them real good with liquid glue to allow some gooey melted plastic to fill some gaps. Stuffed them in and mashed it to really get some plastic slush moving around. I set it aside to give it time to dry and move on to re-addressing the deck opening.

Today I went ahead and chucked up the 1/16” drill bit in my drill and proceeded to manually bore out a new hole with short and slow steps. Eventually it went through, slightly off center, I am a happy man.
The great news is it worked. I pushed the 1/16” through, connected all the parts, and tested out the range of motion. Looks good to me.





The only issue I had was some rubbing of the rudder against the skag/propeller support. I threaded up the jewelers saw and ran the blade between the two about four times to get a clean, unobstructed swing.
The next challenge is fitting the wtc into the hull. I made a paper template (Dave, is the wtc really 30” long!?!) to see how it would slide in, not much wiggle room.

If I did open the top and super structure just under the deck there would be a large section without cross support. The opening, as best as I could figure, would either be an opening between tape 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 depending if I wanted to go in the bow first or aft first.

Is that an issue? or Would keeping the upper curve of the hull nearing the superstructure offer the support I need? There is a gentleman named Erich von Kloss (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6&l=d07efb2c90)
who puts in garolite bulkheads instead of plastic. I like the idea, any thoughts or concerns? Is that enough to support the loss of cross support? I see why Erich uses 24” or smaller length, but how does his sub ride on the water? I do not know.
I am open to suggestions. Those that have built and run their subs, what would you do different if you did it all over again? Suggestions on putting in the wtc?

[trout]

Yes sir. I will do that.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Go to bed!

[trout]

Thank you David and Chris,
I appreciate your encouragement!
Peace,
Tom

Just some brief updates, I created this drawing to explain the angling if the walls where the stern plane arm enters the hull.

Did not have the tools I needed at hand and tried to make due to get the job done - DUMB. I knew that (Not because I have ever done that before - lol). I used my very old drill press (probably older than the subs we represent) and did not have my vise unpacked. So I just added to my build time. I will post some shame photos once I have overcome the immediate problem and figure out the best fix.....
The brief summary is I paused a little too long once it pierced the rudder into the area the skag/support enters - I was looking at alignment. When the heat melted the sides of my rudder. It gooped up the hole as a pulled the drill bit out and left me with a nice divot for me to fill on each side and a questionable hole. It is fixable and I will move forward.

I think I will go to bed early tonight.
No, I can't. Got to attack the main hull and I need to take some pictures of the mess.

[oztruck]

Well done, good mix of the good, the bad and the finger prints. Like the way you describe what and how you are going about this build.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers Chris

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It's looking good, Trout!

David

[trout]

Top of Bow is marked for cutting and using a cutting disk began putting cuts in the deck. Plastic melts quickly, so I have to be careful.

Done cutting out the sections. A little more clean up and it should be done.

Working on the Stern. Cleaned up the inside and cut out area to allow the stern dive plane to move. I glued two pins in one side and allowed that to dry. Doing this allowed me to put the two stern halves together easier and test fit the dive planes easier. Also, as I made room for the dive plane arm to move, I seemed to come at a point were the arm would not go any further forward or backward and was being blocked. I soon realized I needed to taper the raised edge where the arm enters the stern at the point in a V shape.

To get the D&E fittings to work I have to narrow the dive plane bearings. When you look at the picture you can see the bottom half of the bearing was trimmed down to fit the stern dive planes. The skag/propeller strut part needed about 1/32” on each side to be trimmed off to match the other half.

After trimming the skag/propeller struts to match it then was a matter of trimming the actual planes to accommodate the skag as I moved the planes up and down. Certain areas would rub and you could feel and see the bind. I just gently trimmed back areas that would rub against the hull/skag. Try again and trim. Repeating the process until it moved smoothly.








The video is filled with tips. I highly recommend it. One tip that I did not apply was putting the liquid glue in a base or holder. So, when I reached for a bit, I tipped the bottle over and got glue on parts of the stern. One area was were my index finger was gripping the two halves of the stern. I now have my finger print embossed in a portion of the stern. Grrrr!
The rudder is being worked on now. I will have pictures later. Not feeling so confident in drilling the rudder by hand, I will get it set up in a vise and use a drill press. It is time to get some sleep. Maybe I will think clearer.

[trout]

Small detour....darn those rabbits.
Those torpedo doors were itching to get cut out and without thinking it through, I cut away. It began simple enough. The blades are 6/0 jewelers blades which has a thickness of .019”. I have small drill bits and selected .021” size. This would give me the thickness needed to put the blade in and if I carefully put two holes next to each other that would cover the width.


Then I realized (DUH) there is not much room in there to make hinges and allow the front of the doors to swing in. And I might be able to do something, but do I have months of playing to see if it can be done? The simple answer is no. Remember goal #1 finish the sub and if that fails goal #2 finish the sub. So, I cut some small strips of styrene and attached the doors back and told myself, it looks more realistic this way (trying to put a good spin on it). While I was working on the bow, I went forward with enlarging the lower hole, above where the bow plan pivots, so the actuator that will raise the bow planes can move. The port half shows the before and the starboard half shows the after. I am not clear if that oval will suffice or if it needs to be larger still. If it will need to be larger, that will not be hard to do.

I mentioned in a prior post that I keep the strips of sanding paper that I trim off the sanding sticks. Those strips make excellent power tool sanders. Take an old broken burr or a piece of rod the diameter that will fit in your drill. You can just roll the sanding paper on the shank tightly then use 5 minute epoxy and sparingly place it on the end of the rolled sandpaper. The epoxy does not get super hard and brittle, but will give enough and disintegrate as the paper wears off. Also like the stick, you can peel a layer off to get to some fresh sandpaper. I do not normally use Super Glue or CA. It will get hard and shatter off. That being said, for these holes I did use CA to adhere the sandpaper and glue the end. Since I was using it immediately, the glue does not get super brittle. The nice thing about this little tool is you can adjust the diameter by using fewer wraps of sandpaper.


I went ahead and bonded the two halves together with a cohesive glue. Now it is time to mark and cut the super structure that is underneath the deck and hull separation.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It's been done, but I like to have plenty of room for my fat fingers. Your call.

David,

[trout]

Watched the first DVD and there is a lot of great information and tips packed into it.


The hull was packed with card board separating the halves and bound in three areas with a plastic covered wire. The wires were not tight and I did not see any drastic bowing or curvature in the two halves.

Once it was removed from the packing, I checked the fit. There is a little gap. Not too bad. With just the lightest of pressure they matched up real nice.

Time to do some quick sanding before I glue, but let me share a tip/tool I use (I hope this is a helpful tip). I learned about this when I was a jeweler and have applied it to modeling. I like to make my own sanding sticks of different grits (who does't), but maybe this is different. These are easy to make and when you wear out the sandpaper, just peel the layer and off you go creating more dust. Here is how I make them. First you need sandpaper. I like 3m wet and dry it scores well. Other brands may work, so try it out and see. A paint stick from your favorite hardware store or paint supply. Some sticks are very thin, I avoid using those. Check around, you will see one company uses a thicker stick. The thicker sticks are the ones I like because it is easier to staple into. Next, something to scribe the paper with like a scratch all or a punch. Lastly, a stapler. Just a simple office type paper stapler.

Line up the stick along the edge of the sandpaper(sandpaper facing down). You may need to trim your sandpaper if the mixing stick is short. I save those strips for another tool I will talk about later.
Score the back of the sandpaper lightly (the object is not to cut through the sandpaper). This will give the paper an edge to bend on.


You are going to be rolling the sandpaper and stick together. At each edge of the stick you will want to score the paper. So, bring the mixing stick and the sandpaper up and score along the edge.


Roll to the next edge of the stick and score the paper.


Keep rolling and scoring the paper until you run out of sandpaper. Then run some staples into the edge of the mixing stick. You will need a stapler that allows the bottom half to swing back of course.





Whatever is left over, scribe the paper a couple of times to make a deeper cut into the sandpaper. Then peel it against the edge.







Back to the hull. I sanded the edges to clean them up and remove any oils from the injection release agent. As a side note, in the past I use to wash my plastic in a mild detergent to remove the oils. I had not seen it mentioned on any of the posts, so I did not do it. It is not too late to do it, but Is there a reason people are not? Is it necessary anymore? or is it so common knowledge that there is not a need to mention it?

Placed the pins in and fit the hull together. Using painters tape to bring the halves together, I bound the hull together for a close fit.






Then applied liquid glue made for plastic along the edge avoiding the tape. I will give the hull several hours to dry. Then remove the tape and place glue where the tape was.





The next step is to mark and cut the super structure that is underneath the deck and dreaded hull separation.
I have seen two camps. One cuts along the waterline and another cuts just under the deck.
Here are a couple of examples:
Waterline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SSDLLYrg-o
Under the deck: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1135331
Or here is another under the deck (different sub): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r27INRGIYhE

Any reason I should not go under the deck? It looks like I have room if I plan to put in the
D&E Sub driver for the Gato.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

You can cut out the shutter doors anytime. Proceed!

David

[Slats]

Yes get stuck in. You can do it. I look forward to watching this kit come alive.

Best
J