1/72 Gato

[Shar2]

Have just bought the Revell 1/72 Gato sub, thanks to Modelzones sale, (knew I shouldn't have looked on their website). Has anyone built this kit yet? If so what's it like and did you use any aftermarket products?

Cheers

[Greg B]

I have got the main hull together on one of these beasts. A very nice kit. For aftermarket, check Hannants. They have an Eduard - Big Ed set which has a lot of detail such as decking, hull plates and extra bits.

Greg

[Shar2]

Thanks. Will head over to Hannants. Will probably wait till CMK release some resin, like the stuff they did for the U boat, before starting the build.

[Shar2]

Cool, thanks.

[Hurricane363]

WEM do a lot of (3) P.E. sets for this kit, all of them quite useful. The Eduard sets cover different parts of the kit, but they are quite difficult to attach (a friend of mine is building one now and he is a talented modeller, and the air is blue with the curses about how to fit the Eduard set). So I'd have a look at whiteensignmodels.com maybe not get the BigEd set, but maybe some of the individual sets.

Mat

[Pete Legge]

The Revell kit is an excellent base to build a detailed replica. The Eduard sets are highly recommended, and so far I have had no fit problems. You can see the instruction sheets on the Eduard website, and as you said, one can buy each set individually or get the Big Ed set in one go. Also see the White Ensign site for the sets they do, specifically the conning tower framework, various gun sets (I'm using the 5"/25 deck gun and an additional 40mm) Propeller guard frame. Nautilus Models do templates for the hull flooding ports, and also more detail sets, e.g., SD radar mast, fleet boat detail set (tower details, railings, guns, radar, ladders, etc.,) . For references check out Gato Class In Action from Squadron, Warship Pictorial number 28, USS Cod from www.oxfordmuseumpress.com , www.gatosubs.com , www.fleetsubmarine.com , www.cavalla.org , www.usscod.org , www.maritime.org , this last site has the full US Navy training manual for the Gato online, with lots of essential detail diagrams of the sub's systems, hull details, etc. To do full justice to the kit and the Eduard deck gratings set, you really should cut away the kit's deck and scratch build the pressure hull top, addind the framework and pipework, (all details easily found in the above references) as the photo etch deck clearly reveals this added detail. Regards, Pete.

[Don Murphy]

Have just bought the Revell 1/72 Gato sub, thanks to Modelzones sale, (knew I shouldn't have looked on their website). Has anyone built this kit yet? If so what's it like and did you use any aftermarket products?

Cheers

The kit is typical Revell in that they stand off at a distance and say "yup...looks close enough" and then close the box. There's only two or three boats that can be built right out of the box with any accuracy. I am using Nautilus aftermarket guns and they are fantastic. I purchased the following guns from them:

* Five inch 5/25 gun

* Twin 20mm gun (2 to a pack)

* Submarine MG set (contains every type of .50 and .30 caliber machine guns you could want)

Your best bet would be to pick a boat that you specifically want to build and then myself (or others) can point you in the direction of which stuff it had. I have been compiling a list of which boats can use the kit as a base and which weapons they carried. That may prove helpful to you. Let me know if you'd like me to post it. Other than that, the kit builds pretty nicely with minimum effort.

Cheers,

Don

[waistgunner]

I hope someone will be kind enough to answer these questions for me . My first question , what is the difference between the Gato

 0394 kit and Gato 0384 kit by Revell ? The preformed wire steps are they an upgrade you have to purchase from Revell as they are showing them in the instruction manual ? Do all the 1/72 Gato class subs from Revell come with the "Confidential envelope " ? Thank you all in advance .

Respectfully , WG  

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by waistgunner

[whitestar12chris]

Hi Waistgunner, the difference is purely the model number 0384 is Revell of Germany, 0394 is Revell USA, they all come with the envelope, from memory the wire steps are with the kit.

If they are missing contact Revell for replacements.

 

All the best Chris

[waistgunner]

Thank's for a quick response I just purchased one of the 0394 GATO class . There is no envelope , for the price of $65.00 USD I could not pass it up . I did find the wire grabs and everything else is there . This is my first submarine and It looks to be a fun change from WWII Aircraft and Armor . The best part everything will all be 1/72nd scale . I like that because one can get the added sense of size in relation to all equipment of that time period . 

 

Thank's again , WG