Tom Chalfant - Bronco Type XXIII

[trout]

Did some research last night and I found that there is just not a bunch of photos and of those out there, there are a differences between them.
Look at this photo, the rungs on the front are not square, they are arched (look at the shadow).

This next one I love the wear and tare on the paint, but you will notice it is on the conning tower only, not the hull (a little at the bow - some streaks)). Apparently they used a different paint on the hull. Also notice the black band at the top of the conning tower, I thought it was the paint worn off, but I found another (different) with a similar paint job.

This next one is the other boat that had the black near the top. It is docked with the aft end down, but it shows some of the Merriman effect along the waterline. The rungs on this one are square. It does not show chipping on the conning tower, but a bit of rust and fading. The antennae is attached to the side (like Manfred has shown).


Anyways these are some of the observations so far....very interesting (to me at least).

[trout]

Working on some weathering.
Did a little salt weathering. I had a very dark gray base layer down. Then after it was dried put some water in areas that I wanted the paint to be chipping off. Sprinkled salt on those areas and let that dry. Then sprayed a top coat over it.

Then rub the salt off.

Used the same technique on the wood planking braces.

Painted a mixture of black and brown to simulate carbolineum (Reference used http://www.rokket.biz/modelsweb/rokket/u557/paint.shtml - finally found the source)
A little grunge between the planks.

The next step will be a dry brushing of a lighter brown on the edges and tread path. Then some rusting between the planks.

[trout]

Manfred,
Sorry we are at 77F or 25C so very nice for painting. Thank you for the information on the scope, will build a new one.
Peace,
Tom

[MFR1964]

Tom,

I still have to wait for next spring for painting, don't have a sprayboot, i have primergrey in stock for the upperpart, and darkgrey for under the waterline.
As for your scope, it looks the same as the attack scope of the type VII or IX, scrap the one of Bronco and make one of your own.

Manfred.

[trout]

I am still working on things. Made this past weekend a four day weekend and you would think I would have had a lot of time for sub work, but that was not to be.
I did work a bit on the Thunder Tiger Neptune SB-1 I bought from Mike. That should be water tested in the next day or two.
But for the Type XXIII, it is painting small parts and getting details added. I think I found the base coats that I like.
Here is the new gray (Dunkelgrau 51) on the deck compared to the plastic color. The original gray I used was way too light (almost looked white in certain lighting conditions).

This is the paint I used.

The hull base coat is this rattle can. It is a nice dark gray (or grey for our friends across the pond)

Other than that began painting periscope (should I make a mold of the scope just in case it gets knocked off some day?), I am not thrilled by the boxy look of the scope. Did it really look like that?

Anyways putting stuff on and will document later.

[trout]

David,
Great questions!
I have read two different scenarios.
1. Keep prop lower in the water - most likely answer. Even the Hai and Hecht kept the aft end low, shown in pictures from the 1950's and 60's
2. Loading torpedoes - but that, I would think, was just while in port.

I am not sure if early versions ran at designed water level. Will look for pictures and see. As I understand it, all could be trimmed to run at designed water level. It was not a case of not being able to, but more than likely more efficient to run aft end lower.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I knew I was going to get beat up over this. Right you are, sir. But, weren't the early versions of the class floating at the 'designed' waterline?

You've made your case, Tom. I now slink away to a corner of the Cave to curl up into the fetal position and chant, "get your facts straight before you hit the enter key, get your facts straight ...".

Wonder why the trim change? Weapons expenditure, maybe?

M

[trout]

Beginning of this WIP I mentioned that in real life the 1:1 models seemed to always run this way. See photos below.........

[crazygary]

Nice "crayon" work there, Tom!!

Stayed inside the lines and everything!! Hah!!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Why are you going with the ass-heavy waterline?

M

[trout]

Thank you David. That was to give enough room for the float to drop because of the angle I have the sub sitting in the water. Here is a crayon drawing.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Love what you did with the snorkel induction head-valve -- raising it up into the sail is a slick idea.

M

[redboat219]

Was going to ask, when you where going to cut out the top hatch when i remembered you already did. Nice job!

[trout]

Still working on it. In between life happenings.....I get bits of work done.
Did a bunch of sanding and reconstructing weld lines (which are washed out by the flash). The light gray came out a lot lighter than I wanted, so I will redo that. The bottom base coat will work. It is not black, but a very deep, dark gray. The new upper deck color will clean up the lower dark gray paint.

[alad61]

Just watch a couple of Walking Dead episodes that'll be as good as 60 grit paper...

Anyway where is your boat at Tom?