News & Research
Conversion Notes
Ted Swider has made some excellent notes on the changes needed to turn the Revell Electric Boat Gato into a Navy Yard boat. Download the PDF here.
Torp OUTER DOORS
I have roughed out a prototype Outer Door for casting. It needs some cleanup but seems all right (bad lighting notwothstanding - I may have to Mr Surfacer it to photograph the little bugger, being white any light blows out!
This is version 2, and it is somewhat simplified for scale.
Torp Shutters: Boat vs. Kit
The kit Torp Shutters are obviously horribly wrong, at least in one small but important detail: they are OUTSIDE of the oval cut-outs, rather than inside (the real ones pivot-slid behind). The kit box art shows a torp being fired, but the shutter is closed and outside the oval! Clearly, something must be done!
Thanks to the extreme research efforts of Ted Swider (real life measurement, photo measurement, new dwgs) and heaps of archive photos from Mike Keating, I have some updated info on the Torp Shutter situation.
I’ve also done some measuring myself, then mixed it up with Ted and Mike's work, and stirred vigorously. My own personal calculations say that:
- The KIT Limber Holes (bow) are accurate in SHAPE, SIZE, and PLACEMENT
- The KIT Shutters are CLOSE to accurate, but:
- they are too close together (vertical spacing)
- they start too far away from limbers
- they have some inaccurate shape/bits (5/6 and all stiffeners)
The Ulitimate Solution would be to make a resin bow "cheek" piece consisting of the three shutters and cut-outs, but this would be an expensive kit, the resin would be a major weak point, and the slight improvment would be very minor.
I have decided to just release the shutters themselves, and the outer doors (hatches) with some linkage, along with a guide to cutting in the linkage slots and possibly the round holes under the limbers. The kit oval cut-outs would remain, although for Balao and Tench versions I would release replacement cut-outs.
If anyone has any ideas, opinions, info or criticisms, now is the time to speak up!
Methods/References
- Warship Pictorial #28
- Floating Drydock SS212 and SS214 plans
- numerous photos
- Caliper measurements, computer tracings
Real Life measurements tweaked for scale work
Warship Pictorial #28 p13
Wooden Decks vs. Metal
Download my PDF doc on what boats had what when.
