A 1:700 scale 1944 Mare Island Navy Yard

[Nektarios]

Now i ve seen it all. I think its about time i quit modelling and start practising basketball again as a hobby. Its not too late i m only 32 y.o.

Superb work

[bgire]

Hello Folks!
After this RR intermission, let�s go back to our ships.

On page 14 of this thread, we presented our work on the twin inclined slip which was used for mass production of submarines during the War.
We wanted to put there two subs: an uncompleted Gato (showing frames and compartments, see on page 14 bottom) and another Gato �ready for launch� or being christened, i.e. almost finished.

Our original aim was to use the old Skywave-Tamiya Gato kit, but this proved out of scale, full of flaws and not well detailed (ol� kit�)

Last year, Hobbyboss issued its Gato kit, which was cheap, dimensionally correct and more detailed� although not well enough�

So we decided to use a HobbyBoss hull, stripped of all details as a core to be entirely covered by custom designed photo etched panels.
Those PE were designed and drawn using the Floating Drydock excellent �Plan book, Gato class� which includes down to the nut official plans.

The Tamiya (bottom) and HobbyBoss (top) kits :



Now comes the assembly. The round edge between panels will be made later with sanded putty.

The HobbyBoss kit is stripped and readied:



The covering parts :









� Covered Gato � :









The sail :











To be continued, as usual

Jean and Bruno

[MichelB]

What can I say...


FRIGGIN AWESOME![i

[JIM BAUMANN]

Truly fascinating!

I really liked the moderailway..==> the size of a CD cover....!

Really like the no-compromise-to-be-accepted-here aproach to the submarines...!�

TIP TOP

JIM B

[Lucky]

Fantastic
Luciano

[Devin]

Just when I thought you guys couldn't surprise me any further. Excellent work.

[bgire]

Hello Folks,

Jean just completed his prototype hull of a detailed Gato sub we showed above.
Oooops : we forgot to mention the use of Tom ModelWorks parts from his Gato sub detail set. This was our tribute to Tom�s work�

More pictures:

The stern:





The bow with dive planes and hatch in place:



The sail:



The sub is now �almost- complete:













On my side (Bruno) : I completed the mold and castings for production runs of some resin parts.

Here I�m preparing the YD-33 floating barge (top) and Delta King paddle wheel steamer (bottom):



This is a two part mold which will be centrifuged to obtain clean, bubble free molding at normal pressure:



The two-part YD-33 mold:



Casting:
Here, the YD-33 barge mold is prepared by inserting the 28 brass bitts all around:



The mold is closed and prepared for centrifugation: after being wrapped in a plastic bag, it is inserted in a custom built box, which is fixed to a 2meters rope.



I go outside and turn the device over my head for 30seconds at an approximate rate of two turns per second, giving a lot of �Gs� inside the mold.
Thanks to Roger Todd of Britain, who gave me the trick, this works perfectly!

After setting, the mold is opened to show the perfect molding with brass inserts:





� to be continued�

[Aidan]

You guys should be locked up, it's not fair, why cant I do that

[MichelB]

The idea to swing the moulds around on a rope is just pure MacGuyverism! Great!

[bgire]

The idea to swing the moulds around on a rope is just pure MacGuyverism! Great!

I'm grateful to Roger Todd of Britain, who explained this to me four years ago...
And you're right: as a professor, I've been nicknamed "McGyver" for long by my pupils...

[miggs]

One of the best I have ever seen.

[bgire]

Hello Folks !

Guess what will happen when the Gato sub is finished?
She�s launched!







More to follow� later

[Aidan]

Aw come on now you two, thats outragous, you do realise that your making the rest of us mere mortals feel terribly inadequate, launching a Gato on a Dio, thats f@@king brilliant You realise now that you have to make a 1/700 scale Mayor, local dignitories, Officials, High ranking Naval personell and loads of people for the launching ceremony, plus some good looking woman with a bottle of champagne to christen the boat

[Bob J]

Hey Aidan,
Look on page 8. You will see the girl with the champagne, band, and the mayor! I agree these guys are killing me!

Bob J

[bgire]

You realize now that you have to make a 1/700 some good looking woman with a bottle of champagne to christen the boat

Yes, of course.
Jean just asked for my my opinion about painting the ladies skirts colors : white with color stripes or colored spots?

Suggestions welcome....

[bearcat]

You deserve some bottles of champagne for this diorama, but please no chics. The best movie ever made; Gettysburg. 4 hours long, only one chic for two seconds.

[bgire]

Two more views of the twin slips:





The christening platform is ready. Just need some people there...

[gtb -red]

this is sooooooooooo unfair!!!

[aleccap]

Incredible !!

[bgire]

Hello Folks!

Our Gato sub launching is coming�.
Doing the crowd on the christening platform�











To be continued�