Many were not plated over. Some were, some were not. The boats I'm modeling (with one exception) carried theirs' at least through their first few patrols. A lot depended upon the year, and what bade they were operating from. Brisbane was pretty primitive, early on, while Pearl had a fully fledged naval yard. It all varied.
Also, there was no need for the high horse comment. Some of us are genuinely interested in building as proper a Gato as possible. As I said in a prior posting, the buoys are physically the wrong shape and in the wrong locations, and by a lot. Its like packaging a Spitfire Mark 22 as a Battle of Britain Spit. Yes, most wouldn't know the difference but we would. Its not a rivet counter thing, either. We're talking about the basic, major shapes of the model and actual ship. The buoys being wrong is a major error, making a wartime boat into a postwar one. Would it not be a big deal if a Griffon-engined Spit was marketed as a Merlin-engined one? The shapes would be different, positions, etc. Its no different for the Gatos. Please, I personally welcome vigorous debate. However, I would argue that saying someone interested in accuracy is on a high horse is uncalled for.
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