While my workbench was down, I was doing research for another project and decided to pull that kit out of my stash. Well that kit just so happens to be a ship and I had many other ships in that stash box and during my research I went off on a side tangent last night and early this morning. Aside from “Pips” Priller’s sortie over the beachhead on June 6, there was an equally daring and slightly more successful sortie by the Deutsches Kriegsmarine. The 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla from LeHavre under the command of one Lt Cdr Heinrich Hoffman led three Schnellboote on a daring attack on the Eastern flank of the Allied naval force. The three boats launched their torpedoes at the Allied armada and succeeded in sinking HMNoS Svenner, a Norweigen destroyer. I had a 1/350 Bronco kit if a S-Boat in my stash and decided that it would be a good afternoon project today. A low parts count but many are quite small, and a lot of tiny PE as well
the kit
step 1 & 2, assemble the lower and upper hull. For building and painting purposes, I decided to leave the lower hull seperate until after the base colors are painted.
step 3 add partial weapons: depth charges, reload torpedoes, and bow 20mm gun, along with a few small other fittings
step 4, add the rudders and props to the lower hull. I accidentaly broke the center prop shaft while attempting to add the PE screw so I made a new one from thin brass rod
step 5 add PE to the midship twin 20mm and aft 37mm guns, railings around the gun mounts, and PE to the bridge area
step 6 was add the final PE to the bridge area
step 7 is adding the after PE railings, which I will leave off until after painting. Here are some close up photos of the PE work
Now suprisingly the kit came with no display stand of any sort, so I scratch built one
Yes, I have done a few 1/350 ships over the past few years. Mostly subs, both modern and WWII, and a few surface vessels. I have plenty in my stash, but am still easing my way into it. The kit is pretty small, right around 100mm long. I figure it will look good by my U-boats in the display case.
Who knows? In a smaller scale kit like this, there are only so many ways you can break down the parts. Yesterday I was able to get it primed with Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer. An absolute must with the paints I am using- Testors Acryl Marine Colors. Especially with PE. Today I airbrushed on a coat of Schiffsbodenfarbe on the lower hull and Schnellboot Weiss on the upper hull. I took photos as well, but did not have time to get them posted on here before work today.
Actually it is Hobbyboss that is an offshoot of Trumpeter. I had never heard that about Bronco before. As far as comparison goes, I can not say, as I have not built the Trumpter Schnellboot. Looking at an online review of the Trumpeter kit, they are engineered the same, but a tad bit different in parts. The Bronco kit has a few more parts options in both PE and plastic.
Trumpeter has quite a few “offshoot” brands Minihobby , Banner, Hobbyboss and Bronco. Minihobby and Banner use copies of other companies other kits and motorizes them like Minihobbys USS Tarawa kit or their USS Ticonderoga which were both Dragon offerings and motorized them. Bronco and hobbyboss kits are all original offerings but their parts layouts decal designs and instructions are typical Trumpeter layouts. And all 5 companies are located in the same city.
Yeah, I knew about Minihobby and Banner. Those are more cloner brands like AA. I always thought Bronco kits displayed a higher degree of finesse than Trumpeter/Hobbyboss. Those two are essentially in the same building complex. One hobbyshop owner, who was very in the know with that sort of thing, told me that the Hobbyboss brand was created to get around the importer contractual issues being had with Trumpeters US importer.
I have been nickle and diming progress on my Schnellboot over the past few days: first I painted the bare wood portions of the deck
then I did the painted metal portions
and the weapons and other fittings such as the life rafts
and not to be forgotten, the props and shafts
then the upper and lower hulls placed together for a couple photos
and posed with my Revell 1/350 Type VIIC U-Boat for size comparison
I still need to add the aft railings, do touch up on the hull white, and then glue the upper and lower hulls together, gloss coat, decals, wash, and flat top coat. But the finish line is in sight. I have one aft railing in place, glue drying right now…
