1/72 Gato/Balao limber hole templates

[krgf15e]

Howdy folks! I used to be on here under a different ID but I couldn't recover it. Does anyone know where to find templates for Gato/Balao limber holes in 1/72? I would like to do a Balao but all I can find are fairwaters for Non-EB boats. Thanks!

[Mike C]

Hi,

I have the Nautilus 72-201 set for late Gato and Balao boats and it includes templates for the fuel tank manhole covers. Is $30, plus $3 postage, too much? I don't think you'll find many by now. You can send payment and your mailing address to PayPal under mikecap07 (AT) gmail (DOT) com. HTH

Mike @ CAP

[Tom Dougherty]

Eduard made a photo etched set with limber holes. But unfortunately these were the Eldctric Boat design on the original kit and have been discontinued. Either way, that doesn’t help you, as you are looking for the Portsmouth/Mare Island limber hole design. The Revell kit details are based on, IIRC, USS Cobia (SS-245), a museum ship. Be aware that depending on the Balao submarine modeled, the deck was partially replaced with metal plates rather than the wood planks.

EB also built Balaos, so you might be able to modify the Balao conning tower fairwater to the EB design. For example, see Hardhead on the attached document. Model Monkey makes a Balao fairwater which comes with additional parts. At one point, he had a Lionfish conning tower fairwater for the 1/180 scale Revell Lionfish kit. He might be able to adjust the scale for you. Alternatively, there may be a combination of his current Balao conning tower with an EB limber hole pattern.

The configuration of the Gato and Balao conning tower fairwaters changed throughout WWII. New radar antennas, new guns and other equipment were modified or added. Once you decide on a particular submarine, check the time period through photographs.

The various conning tower configurations are discussed in detail here:
https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/pdf/0829295.pdf

This series is a great resource for these submarines.

Good luck, have fun.

[krgf15e]

Hi,

I have the Nautilus 72-201 set for late Gato and Balao boats and it includes templates for the fuel tank manhole covers. Is $30, plus $3 postage, too much? I don't think you'll find many by now. You can send payment and your mailing address to PayPal under mikecap07 (AT) gmail (DOT) com. HTH

Mike @ CAP

PM has been sent, I will email you when I get off of work tonight!!

[krgf15e]

Hi,

I have the Nautilus 72-201 set for late Gato and Balao boats and it includes templates for the fuel tank manhole covers. Is $30, plus $3 postage, too much? I don't think you'll find many by now. You can send payment and your mailing address to PayPal under mikecap07 (AT) gmail (DOT) com. HTH

Mike @ CAP

It is sent sir! Thank you much!

[krgf15e]

Hi,

I have the Nautilus 72-201 set for late Gato and Balao boats and it includes templates for the fuel tank manhole covers. Is $30, plus $3 postage, too much? I don't think you'll find many by now. You can send payment and your mailing address to PayPal under mikecap07 (AT) gmail (DOT) com. HTH

Mike @ CAP

I got it!! Thank you sir!

[ModelMonkey]

At risk of hijacking the thread, we presently offer Balao-class fairwaters in 1/72, 1/144, 1/180 and 1/200 for:
USS Balao SS-285
USS Lionfish SS-298
USS Tang SS-306

1/72 Balao:

1/144 Lionfish:

1/72 Tang: