Bronco Type XXIII in 1/35th scale

[MFR1964]

Brace yourself, she's arrived !!!!!!!!



Some goodies out of the box.



Made a quick dryfitt to see how big she is.



Tried one of my electric torpedo's, there is light at the end of the tunnel.



She stands big, enough room inside to place a 2.5 SD, before i will start a thread i'm going to investicate some books, there are a few questions for me conceirning which version they made, for now i'll keep her in storage waiting for her turn to be build, be patient.


Manfred.

[trout]

Thanks for making us on the other side of the pond envious....... I look forward to you tearing into it and seeing what you will make of it.
Maybe Mark will create a photo collection of just Type XXIII for us to use as a reference?
Peace,
Tom

[redboat219]

Looks like the kit and your torpedoes are a perfect match.
Can't wait to see how you'll tackle the stern linkages.

[herrmill]

If it can almost be done in 1:72, then it should not pose too much of a problem.

[redboat219]

See what you meant by almost...

[MFR1964]

It was a stroke of luck Tom, one of our dutch subbuilders had found a shop in Germany, he gave me the link, and the rest is history, they are now out of stock at that shop, lucky me.
As for the matter of pictures, i have the book Von Original zum Modell Type XXIII in Pdf, never collected more pictures about the XXIII, simply because i´m busy with my other models, so i have to start roaming the web.
I will start to build this baby after i´ve finished the works inside the shop, she has to wait, there are many things to think about like, how to split the hull, what kind of SD will be the best, and for me the most important question, which version did the guys of Bronco made, i´ll poke up the gerbill running inside my head.

Romel,

They are indeed a perfect match, now i have to think about how to make things work, as for the linkage to the rudder, there is a neat solution i´ve learned from the guys at our dutch forum, wrap a string a few times around the rod of the rudder, keep it under tension with two springs and connect it pull pull to a servo, i´ve seen it in action at a type XXI model, works like a charm.


Chuck,

Like i described before i´ll take another approach, had the nightmare you showed with the V80, it was a close call, but it worked, now i want to have a go at the string method, first have to build a rigg to test it.


Manfred.

[Warpatroller]

I have the same book, "Vom Original zum Modell: Uboottyp XXIII", mentioned above. Mine is an actual printed and bound copy, not a PDF..

The Bronco model appears to generally represent a "typical" late configuration of the XXIII boat. It has the late style Balkon Gerät hydrophone array under the bow, the ladder rungs up the front of the tower. The depth sounder opening under the keel is missing though. I believe boats with the late Balkon Gerät would have the depth sounder in the keel.. The Balkon Gerät could have been done better, including how it mates to the hull.

It must be noted that the XXIII boats were NOT all clones of each other. Variances can be seen from boat to boat, especially with the flood hole arrangement on the towers. Also, some had ladder notches running up the tower sides, and no ladder rungs on the tower front. Two boats, had a test tower variant, with an inward facing mantle (splash guard). One lone boat had the anechoic, sonar-absorbing, rubber-tile coating. Codenamed Alberich, after an invisible dwarf from Germanic mythology. Bronco seems to have mostly based their tower on the Fritz Kohl drawings.

The periscope is not accurate on the model. The schnorkel head has been simplified, and the secondary shaft is too large in diameter compared to the primary shaft. My "later" resin 32P schnorkel head looks better. The Bronco schnorkel does look better than the early 32P head. That one was really awful and only had one shaft. The kit propeller has 3 blades, but that is where the similarity ends with props seen on the real boats. I would suggest to David (though I kind of doubt I have to), that he NOT duplicate the kit prop in white metal. The hub is too large in diameter in relation to the blades, with a far too bulbous tip on it. The blade pitch is wrong. The blade shape is wrong. I have posted some photos below showing what the real prop looked like in comparison to the kit prop. Bronco made short cuts on the main hatch spring and other details.

The sectioned deck planking looks a bit strange to me. Of course the planking and rope railing were only used in port, and were removed prior to patrol. Unlike how it is depicted on the box art.

At least it is 1:35 scale though! That makes up for the detail mistakes, from apparent lack of research..

The real boat used a double pushrod, bell crank set up for rudder actuation. The rudder throw was 25 degrees to both port and starboard according to the drawings in the Rossler and Kohl book. The stern plane throw was 26 degrees up and down.

All my nit picks aside, over all, they produced a good model.. Most people wouldn't know the difference.. The areas of inaccuracy definitely could be fixed if one wanted to fix them..

Of course I served on a XXIII, so I know her intimately! Seriously though, all they need to do is look at some photos of the real boats.. That propeller is not even close. Since David will need to make a replacement for it anyway, he should be able to fix that issue. Gantu, if you guys remember him, had the supposedly correct diameter measurement of the real XXIII propeller. I don't remember specifically what it was.. I think he or I had posted it on the Subcommittee forum a few years ago.

Steve

Prop comparison photos:









Close up of main hatch and spring:



Rudder linkage plans:

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good stuff. Yes, a new wheel is a must. No helical twist -- how did they miss that?! We were to receive a test-shot. But, that never happened. I still don't have a kit in hand.

[MFR1964]

Steve is right about the version they made, there will be a lot changed on my boat, i'll go for the late version with the different floodholes at the bow, and will add some more on the conningtower, which also misses the horseshoe shaped resquebouy including the rack, there is some work to do.

Manfred.

[Kazzer]

Good stuff. Yes, a new wheel is a must. No helical twist -- how did they miss that?! We were to receive a test-shot. But, that never happened. I still don't have a kit in hand.

It's their loss! Some people never learn.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

We gotta get some in-house, Mike .... God! I love spending your money! I'm working (with Manfred's input) up a specific 2.5" SD for this kit.

[Kazzer]

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.co...ws/bronco.html

David, there is no rest for you....... Mike are you going to carry this one?

Yuuuup!

CLICK ON THIS ONE!!!!

[Outrider]

I wonder if Mike sold out of these Bronco kits today... I got an e-mail that kits were in stock. This thread has had a lot of activity in a short period of time, something that makes me think folks are ready to buy.

The interesting news is that there's a package with a fittings kit and a SubDriver on offer, so David is now officially behind on two more projects. There really is no rest for the wicked, is there?

We were getting ever so close on the little Type 214...but my guess is that the 1:35 Type XXIII will sell very well, something that seems not to have happened with the smaller boats. I'm hopeful this Bronco kit will turn in to a good entry level project. The hull is reasonably priced and the size seems pretty good. (Big enough to see, not too big to haul around.)

@warpatroller: Thanks for the nice Type XXIII photos. I have the 1:72 kits around because I think the Type XXIII to be an excellent, though obviously limited offensively, submarine. I'm hopeful these would make it into the "rotation" as they are such a nice complement to the Type VII (and, hopefully, Type IX) boats from Revell in 1:72.

[vital.spark]

Mike, I checked out the web page and didn't see anything regarding a fittings kit from David for the XXIII?

Like Outrider, I'm still interested and waiting for the 1" subdriver and fittings kit for the 214 and other small sub's!

Regards,

Myron

[Warpatroller]

Mike - I placed an order for the Bronco XXIII kit today. For two of them! I hope you have them in stock and ready to go :biggrin:

By they way, you have the model listed on your site as being 1:32 scale, it is actually 1:35 scale.. Just a typo I assume..

Steve