Revell Gato Class Submarine

Scale 1:72
Reviewer: Les Venus
Parts: 266
Materials: Injection moulded Plastic, Mesh, Brass
Cost: £46.65

Our thanks go to White Ensign Models for supplying the etched parts that will go into the full In-Progress Review (IPR) – Ed

References

Squadron Signal Gato Class Submarines in Action was my chosen course of Reference for this model. This series of books are really excellent and are readily available on a number of subjects. As you can see there are bags of pictures in b&w and colour and all of them are useful. What staggered me was the long history of the Gat class and the extraordinary variations in type through its history. If you’re building a Gato get this book its great and excellent value too.

First Impressions

You know I have seen this kit for some time now and have ignored it. It wasn’t until I got my current submarine fetish after this year’s Scale Model World that I decided that this was for me. Indeed I cannot recall ever seeing this model made up. I’ve seen a stack of U-Boats made up but never a Gato so hopefully this will be the first I’ve seen at a show and I plan to get it ready for Hendon in May!

For me first impressions couldn’t have been better as this huge box nearly 4 feet long was at the foot of the Christmas Tree……..good old Santa he really helps my wife so much at prezzie time! After the frenzied unwrapping you’re confronted with the box top that you can see above which is equal to Revell’s two Type Vii C U-Boats for evoking a strong will to buy!! I don’t know about you but it’s great to see the return to action shots on model; boxes with this it’s depth charges and really does add to the buying compulsion.

Opening the box though is something else because you’re confronted with the two largest pieces of injection moulding I’ve ever seen in 40 years of modelling! What’s more impressive is that they are not in the least warped but to be sure its stays this way I’ve taped both halves together. Beneath the huge halves you’ll find nicely bagged up bits including the deck plates bow and stern sections conning tower and so forth. All in all it has a huge wow factor so well done Revell and the other wow factor has to be the price……excellent value if size matters!

Instructions

Instructions are typical Revell clear and easy to follow but I would like to see better painting flags but in truth no-one really gets this spot on and hey it’s all part of the fun.

Read some more about this great piece of kit…