Converting the Bronco type XXIII to RC

[greenman407]

I found these color pictures in one of my Books, Manfred knows the one. They clearly show a Yellow stripe. Taking a picture of a picture doesnt usually produce good results but I think that you can make it out.

[MFR1964]

There was something odd about the plancked modules they used on this boat during maintenance on the shipyard, accourding to the drawings i have, the wooden deck has to be longer,
But with this kind of info, a picture of the real thing will have to back up this theory.



When hunting down my little archive about the type XXIII i found this one, the front boat has a wooden plancking beyond the bollards, proving to me that it was indeed longer, this was my first clue.



Second clue was, those strange rails on top of the deck, they go all the way, from the tower beyond the bollards, only be seperated by the batteryhatch.



They apperently made some modifications during the builds, at the background the railtype and in front some kind of lips, i personally think those lips where used due to having less metal at the end of the war, by saving material, this matches with the higher U number of the front boat.
As a matter of fact, they did two things at one time, designed a way to fasten those wooden modules and a kind of barrier to prevent those guys from slipping from the wet deck, clever move.



I still had some styrene in stock to do the job, used the "wooden" deck planking as a mold for getting the styrene straight onto the deck.



The styrene itself has a H shape, allowing me to "click" in the wooden deck modules, the only drawside is, i have to replicate such a module myself, Bronco delevered four of those modules, and i need to have five, so it's back to the shop to fix me one.



Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Slowly i'm getting there, before i started cutting into the exhaustcover and tower, i've studied as much pictures as i could, it took me some evenings to determen which holes i liked the most.



The holes profided by Bronco are modified into this, complete with the bars inside.





As for the tower, i took a gamble, and decided not to place the railings, and went for the later version, they placed more floodholes and added bars inside to offer the crew more grip around the tower, i was inspired by a picture of the U 2322.



Even the front needed some modification, those two diagonal floodholes above the dingy holder, main motivation to add all those floodholes is, there will be a lot of type XXIII's being build, i will try to give mine a different look.
Right now i'm working at the "wooden" deckplanks, i've discovered some nice things on the pics which i've not noticed before, looking at the right pics the puzzle came together, and it made sense why they did that in such way, be patient.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

David,

Good to hear that you've hit the water, turningradius twice the lenght, hmm, not bad, must be the direct driven rudder, as for the CG, i'm aiming at direct under the conningtower, as with most of my boats.


Those two XXIII's at the meeting, one is mine, the other from a fellowbuilder nickname GJB at our dutch forum, which gave me the link to get my hands on the type XXIII, lucky me, he even drove the boat that day, as expected the conningtower gives a bit of a problem, much to heavy, he still has to strip down all internal stuff inside the conningtower to get the weight as low as possible when at the surface.


Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good stuff, Manfred. I see a few other Bronco 1/35 Type-23's started.

Got my 23 in the water today and popped its cherry. Had to move the c.g. forward before it was manageable in pitch. Fast and a very good turning radius -- about seven-feet.

Film later.

David

[MFR1964]

Despite it was a bit cold and started to rain, we had out yearly submeet, lots of new models, old friends, and made new friends, enjoyed driving my boats.
The 212 was lost for some time, but the emergency bouy saved the day, i could pull her in like a fish on a hook, no water inside after this adventure.

Enjoy this short vid,

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Thanks Sam,

I wish that was true, she nothing more than a empty shell, the SD is scedualed next coming weeks, f*ck!! David is going to hit the water first!!!!, i hate it when i'm not the first one, my only excuse is, he sabotaged me with sending my SD too late, yeah, that must be it


Manfred.

[goshawk823]

Awesome stuff Manfred. Looks like your damn close to getting her into the water. Now get those torpedoes working...lol.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thank you, sir. I read your threads with continued interest.

David

[MFR1964]

The guys of Bronco indeed made a nice kit, never suspected i was able to get my hands on the type XXIII so soon, and as a bonus on 1/35 scale !!!, looks nice together with my 1/35 type VIIC, have to adjust my static display in the future to display both boats.

No type IX for me, there is still a type XVII waiting to be finished, it's on hold now, but it will be finished.

You can steal whatever you want laddy, as long as we share our idea's with everybody, it's OK with me.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

My poor SD! LOL.

Good honest, rational engineering there, Manfred! What a wonderful kit Bronco developed.

Revell of Germany's releasing that 1/72 Type-9 later this year. You ready for it, pal?

Hey! I like that trick with the planking. I'll steal it from you. (I copy only from the best).

David

[MFR1964]

Thanks for the offer for more terra cotta guys, if She Who Must Be Obeyed knows you can get live size one's, i'm in trouble, allready have some halve scale one's of the sitting figures, if she had the chance she would litter the garden with them.

And now back to where i've ended the report of yesterday,



Since it's possible to split the hull without making major damage, i had to find a solution fore those wooded deckplanking, this is the first stage of getting them off.



You can lift all three off together in one move.



This construction gives me also some more strenght to those flimsy parts, added a stainless steel rod of 1 mm underneath, which is bended 45 degrees on one side and 90 degrees on the other side, allowing me to 'hook' them at their place, gravity will do the rest.



Gave the single one the same treatement, it 'unhooks' the same as it's bigger brother.



All little screws are now in reach, followed David as for making the same ventholes on top.



When i've unscrewed everything you end up with this, a pile of styrene parts.

Using this construction with the little screws makes it possible to take her apart when needed, causing as less damage as possible, i'll probably will glue down the nose part with CA, but that can be cut free when needed.
Now this hurdle is taken, i can turn my attention to the SD, and start molesting David's design again.


Manfred.

[herrmill]

Manfried, your split hull reminds me of an old double-barrel shotgun I used to have. Nice work!

BTW, if you need anymore of those terra cotta warriors to add to your collection, let me know. I shipped several full size replicas a few years back to one of my customers for a grand opening event.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Your Majesty (ouch! .... that hurt!)

[MFR1964]

You may say majesty.

Manfred.