Bronco 1/350 German Long Range Submarine U-IX
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The German submarines of the Second World War remain one of the more fascinating subjects of naval warfare, both from their operational record and their loss record. Surprisingly, though, there have not been many kits of these submarines in standard scales until recently. Now we have 1/72 and 1/144 kits of various U-boats, and the smaller scales are starting to catch up as well. Flagman has come out with a nice 1/350 Type VII U-boat, and now we have the Type IX from Bronco. Here's hoping that the trend will continue and we will see a bunch of new 1/350 WW2 submarines in the near future.
The Kit
Bronco's U-Boat is nicely done in gray plastic, with two sprues of plastic, a two-piece hull, and a fret of photoetch. A small decal sheet provides markings for two vessels, U-37 and U-40. Although the kit does not specify precisely, this is a Type IXa U-Boat, the first of the Type IX family. As such, your options are somewhat limited, as only a handful of these were made. However, the differences are slight, and it would not be too tough to alter this kit to make a IXb or even an IXc (although I'm sure that we will see boxings for these variants from Bronco before too long).
Assembly is very straightforward, and in fact, with some care, you could have this model completely built in an afternoon. The only real challenge is with the hull, which has a horizontal seam running the whole length of the hull, which will be challenging to fill and keep the surface detailing. I recommend taping over the various vents and limber holes before filling the seam, to protect them. For the lower hull, the propeller shafts, guards, rudders, and dive planes are all nicely done and will require little more than some gentle cleanup work.
Flipping the sub over, the upper deck is nicely detailed in the kit, and the surface detailing will really stand out with some careful washes and dry brushing. The sail has a photoetch railing that will be fun to roll, as it is an inverted truncated cone shape. Getting all of those stanchions even will be a bit challenging, and it would have been a very nice touch if Bronco had included a plastic form to shape that piece on. Perhaps that is something they could include in future releases. While on the subject of photoetch, two styles of railings are included, although the instructions don't indicated which railings go with which boat. Some additional research will be needed.
The deck guns are nice out of the box, but the more fastidious modelers will likely spruce these up with aftermarket generic photoetch details. The kit includes a nice oval stand with solid arms to hold the finished sub. This is nice to see, as it is impossible to display a full-hull submarine without a stand of some sort. The decals are simple, providing two small sail decals for the U-40 option and nothing for the U-37 option. The U-37 is finished in dark gray with a white camouflage above the waterline, and black below. U-40 is similar, although without the white camouflage. Instead, it has a dark gray striped camouflage on the light gray.
Conclusion
The simple assembly, coupled with the complete package in the box (it is nice to see photoetch railings included) makes this a great one-stop model for those looking for a break from their latest long-term project. With assembly and painting, this model could be done in a weekend without much difficulty. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.