Another Revell Gato build

[Buellman1]

Thanks David.

It's far from complete and I'm not gonna hide the fact that it has bugs. I went from setting the pin to locate the sub driver to running it, in about 10 working hours. Everything was tight. All the controls have some binding of some sort. Not to say they don't move, but I'm thinking they could be a lot smoother.

The drive shafts seized up after a high speed run. Traced it down to the stuffing tubes through the hull. I have since ran a shaft through them with polishing compound and the props spin free by blowing on them.

I put in 21 ounces of weight in it to start with and two 1/2" thick pieces of foam contoured to fit between the stiffeners. There's also a piece of foam under the front dive planes, but I'm thinking about eliminating it. As is, it sits real high out of the water and sinks to the bottom. So, its not trimmed for sure. I'm real familiar with my pond, so I didn't worry about it. Wouldn't be the first time I fetched a sub out of it. In fact it has had a few boats, cars and a helicopter in it.

I've already adjusted the snort valve because it would come up to deck awash and the pump gave its all vacuuming the SD. Just a tad more lift and it was fine.

Overall, I happy with it so far. I had expected it to take me until next year to get it in the water. I put off doing my bathroom remodel to work on it and the girlfriend didn't complain once. Amazing.

[Buellman1]

Extreme testing of the magnets holding the sail on. Yeah it would have sucked had it fell upside down.

[Buellman1]

My three test tanks. Behind the tall center tree is my 40 by 90 pond.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

This hobby is, by its very nature, problematic for the end-user. I can take things only so far. But, you obviously are a problem solving sort of guy. I like that. Three bodies of water!? I hate you!

David

[Buellman1]

Changed over to magnets to hold the deck on. Works great. And no visible fasteners now.

[Buellman1]

Found some flat carbon fiber in my stash. Started carving to replicate the aerial outriggers. These will never break.

[trout]

Darn good move! Might have to modify mine, thanks for sharing.

[Buellman1]

Thanks Tom. The piece I have fits nice n snug in the slot already in the sail. Almost snug enough to not require glue. I can mail you some if you can't find the right size. This piece came off a foamy airplane that sacrificed itself to the ground.


And here's my solution to the railing for the stairwell. I drill the holes clear through. Take a rod of carbon fiber and put a drop of CA on the end. Then I dip it in baking soda. Slip the rod in from the backside. Add more CA and baking soda while setting it straight. Then I measure and cut with a dremel cutting wheel.

[Buellman1]

Used some Kevlar thread to make the railing. A bit of sanding and paint and hopefully it'll look good enough for a running model. The weight was set on there to form the Kevlar until it dried.

[Buellman1]

It should handle standard abuse.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

That car oil-filter looking thing in foreground ... get rid of it. Part of the ventilation system aboard the museum boat. An artifact not seen on operational boats.

David

[Buellman1]

The breather is gone David. It's base made for a fine filler of the hole anyway.

Working on stanchions and cable today. Would like to get some paint on this thing soon. The stanchions aren't going anywhere, but using the kitted string. Decided the Kevlar was way out of scale.

[trout]

I do not know if you have a fishing store that has a fly fishing section or an Orvis fly fishing store near by, but there is a kevlar thread used in tying flies that is pretty thin, as thin or thinner than the thread in the kit. Especially if you spin the thread tighter. I can explain that more if you go that route. You could spin your current thread to make it smaller too.

If I might make a suggestion, get your boat trimmed first, put that hassle behind you. I found myself breaking the bits and pieces (which added to the trimming frustration) and then I decided to follow HWSNBN, or whatever the initials are, maybe it is time to change his name to M, very Bond chic, it could mean Master or Merriman or Modeller or ?? and easily memorable, anyways, advice and add those other things after. Although your nuclear blast resistant railing is really cool looking and very strong, I would hate to see it broken before she gets a chance to sail.

Thank you, by the way, for you offer on the carbon fiber. I will hold off on that modification for the moment.

Your build is coming along great.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

... "and Bond: Leave the PPK on my desk".

M

[Buellman1]

Thanks Tom, I will heed the advice. I'm jumping all over the place on this build I know. It has ran and I know the bugs I need to work out.

The railings are strung already and should they not survive, I'll rebuild I guess. As a side note, my 3yr old tried climbing onto my lap as I had a needle in one hand and CA in the other while stringing the rails. She grabbed the railing and pulled the whole thing to the ground. Expecting the worst, I found no damage. I've since primed the deck and have a few spots to touch up, but I'm happy with it.

Now I'm onto getting the foam tucked tight into the sides of the hull. My approach is in the pics of making the sanding form. Don't mind the kid like drawings on the bottom , they mean nothing.