Newbie no more - Building the Revell 1/72 Gato

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Go to bed!

[trout]

Yes sir. I will do that.

[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?

[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]

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

Peace,
Tom

[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]

Cleaned up the white metal parts following the DVD (again a ton of tips and instruction).

A sprue was pulled over a flame and bent to give me a hook to dip the parts into ferric chloride acid. This will etch the metal and give a good hold to the primer paint.


Then you need to neutralize the acid. This is done with water and baking soda (or sodium bicarbonate). I saturated the water solution by adding baking soda until no more could dissolve and a small amount settled at the bottom. When you dip your etched piece it will bubble as the acid and basic solution react with one another.

Here is the contrast you can see. The darker parts on the right are the ones that have been etched.

Began to install the propellor shaft strut. There is an indentation were the plastic part would connect that I used to open a hole that closely matched the metal strut. Looks O.K., there is a little play for alignment with the shaft.

I thought I was going crazy and kept grabbing the left propeller shaft strut until I realized I do not have a right one, just two lefts. Help!

[trout]

David you are the man! What incredible customer service! Thank you so much! I had an email this morning (Wednesday) that a new set of propeller shaft struts were on their way. I know we all want to pinch a penny here and there, but there are times when NOT to. Not that Caswell, D&E, Mike, David et. al. are outlandish in prices, they are fair prices for quality work (at least that is what I have found so far). BUT the icing on the cake is what a company does when there is a problem or error. David and Mike you know how to take care of your customers. Period. Back to the build.
Marking where the stern tube exits the hull is pretty simple, just use the plastic part that came with the kit and trace around it. I marked also where the shaft stern tube ends with tape, so I can have some semblance of symmetry.

Then slowly begin to cut out the area for the shaft support struts and shaft stern tubes. I am not sure how many times I stopped to check, but this will take awhile.


Finally I have one side done. After I get the replacement part, I will work on the other side then glue these in. For now, lets move onto the bow planes.
Using a bud burr, I channeled out the area for the pins.




Checked out that the route that was cut for the 1/16” brass rods was deep enough.

Glued them together (DVD very helpful) and once dried hand drilled out the holes to clean out any glue or alignment issues due to sanding.

Temporarily installed the dive planes, checked the movement, and found that I did not make the oval big enough - grrrr. O.K. not that big of an issue just in disassembling the retract fell off. If I mounted the retract system too low it would lose mesh in the gears when the dive planes are up. Mounting the retract system higher up solved that problem.











When I mounted it high I got great retract, but I am not sure about the deployed/down position. It is not completely horizontal and forming a 90 degree angle.


I do have some space between the bow plane operating shaft, Hmm if I bring those closer, I will lose some surface/dive motion because the planes collide with the hull. I could trim the planes. I will test that tomorrow. Is the angle O.K. if left like this? Your thoughts are appreciated. If not, is the solution to lower the retract a smidgen or two?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I honestly don't know if the GATO/BALAO/TENCH class bow planes, when deployed, fell across a horizontal plane or had a bit of dihedral to them. Anyway, the bow planes on my boat have a bit of dihedral like yours, and I'm good with it.

It could be argued: If I had provided the right parts to your GATO fittings kit, to begine with, you would not have had to put our 'customer service' to the test. Anyway, thanks for the nice words.

David,

[trout]

I could not leave well enough alone and I noticed one pin that goes through one of the bow plane operating shafts was slightly crooked and I had some resistance in the bore of the bow plane shaft and wanted to ream it out a little too. After disassembling the dive planes, I noticed there is a slight angle in the bow plane operating shafts ends that receive the dive plane and I installed it BACKWARDS. Once I rolled them over and facing the correct way, everything fit better and I got the 90 degree angle on the bow planes I was looking for.
Here is a drawing with exaggerated angles to demonstrate what I mean.

Complete deployment of front dive planes.

You might be able to see it here, the blue/green piece that the plane attaches to has a few degrees angle. And that angle runs parallel with the angle of the hull at that point.

Now the plane has room to move and my resistance disappeared, so the movement is smooth retracting and deploying. My range of up or down bow planes increased because the planes were not hitting the hull.


In an effort not to repeat installing them wrong again, I marked them left top and right top (should be port and starboard, I know...) Also another benefit the plane hugs the side of the hull better, before the forward edge seemed to stick out a little (thats because it did - amazing what a few degrees can do).

[trout]

I need your help, I want to put a couple of 2-56 screws into my sub and I have never tapped a hole before. How do I do this?
Thank you!
Peace,
Tom

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

If you're talking about styrene: Just drill a 1/16" (using a .063" drill bit will make the work go easier) hole and use the screw itself to cut the threads.

David

[trout]

That's it? No tap and die set? No big expenses? I am in shock.....But happy :)
Thank you for the tip. I will play tonight.

[trout]

I went ahead and worked on preparing the bow planes for priming. I CA’d the pin in and made sure enough CA was applied to coat all surfaces. Went ahead and sprinkled with baking soda then clean off the lose baking powder to see the coverage. This exposed areas that the CA did not get into and so I filled as needed. Then filed, ground, sanded the pins down to contour the dive plane.


The aft planes needed a clevis attached to it. It took me a while to find one that I could solder to 1/16” brass rod. I brought them (two in a pack), but the pin was too big to go through the dive plane control arm hole. And if I tried to drill it out, there would not be any metal left to create a hole. So, the logical thing to do (in my mind) was to make the pin smaller. Oh by the way, if you pull a clevis too far apart it goes “Sprongg” and flies apart. So I began attacking the pin on the one clevis I had left. Gently worked around the pin with a file until the diameter fit the control arm hole.



Can someone tell me how I attach this to the control arm when I assemble this inside? I can not string it through the opening in the skag unless I want to make a big opening (I would prefer not to)


Time to attach the skag/propellor strut. I glued just the strut part, the very most forward area. Then cut an angle in that would offer an additional holding factor. Maybe the picture will make more sense. The rear portion of the skag hooks under the glued front.

Marked where I wanted the screws to go, but one area had nothing to support it.


So.... break out the sprue. I melted the sprue and quickly flattened it. Then sanded and ground it down to fit. Applied a generous amount of cohesive to the sprue and surrounding areas.


When I cut the sprue off, I left a small amount above the skag. Had I been smarter, I would have left a larger portion on because it helps align and support the skag/propellor support (much like a biscuit cut or plate cut in wood working) and give me more to screw into. Oh well next time. Then I drilled .063” hole and threaded a stainless steel 2-56 3/8” screw in. It WAS just that easy. Thank you David for sharing that tip! In retrospect next time I would drill a 1/16” then follow that with .063” 3/4th the way through. Leaving the last 1/4 the more tighter grip on the threads. It may not matter, just a thought for next time.

Put it all together and tested range of movement of the rudder and planes. It works!

I sometimes over think things and other times I do not think it through enough. Take the deck for example. Since I will be removing many of the cross braces in the superstructure, I thought glue the deck first on a flat surface, since the deck is flat from the photos and drawings I looked at. So I broke out the wax paper and placed the deck upside down to glue. Note, the deck supplied in the kit is not flat there are “things” protruding up (well down now that I flipped it over). I over came that by angling the protrusions off the edge of the table. And applying cohesive glue to it. Held it flat and weighed it down. Then added the support pieces to strengthen the joint.

The part I did not think about so much is glue leaking (I did put wax paper down). I slopped on a lot of glue with the center and aft section. Well here is another shame picture....

But when I did the bow I was less liberal in the amount of glue (at first) then gradually added more. This worked better.

The side pieces are not glued yet, but I have very small spaces between the bow and midsection.


I am relatively sure I can fix my shame deck section, so once painted you will not see it. Let us keep that as a secret or better yet, forget about it altogether.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Instead of using that big clevis as the interface item between pushrod and stern plane operating shaft bell-crank, simply put a Z-bend at the after end of the pushrod and use that to hold the pushrod to the bell-crank -- you can thread that assembly into the skeg for final assembly, Trout.

David,