Already bought from my local dealer in july, the new Bronco Seehund kit was inspected, but not assembled immediately. As always I came down with a research-disease; all sorts of sources were raked up to find informations concerning this german midget submarine. So I was able to snatch the book „Die Seehunde“ by Klaus Mattes there I found some infos about the german K-Verband in Ijmuiden/Netherlands 1945. Together with the appearance of MiniArts new „river embankment“ an idea to present the Seehund was born. Only sitting on his stand to get dusty shouldn’t become his destiny...
So it came to this realisation:

The basis for my idea:


First steps:
The MiniArt vacuparts

assembled to this part of quay wall


Basis for the display was a picture frame (bought from a supermarket at a price of 3.99 €) with dimensions 20x42cm.
To create the water a piece of seafoil (HO-railway accessory by Faller) was used; the method to use silicone was too complicated form e to show such a little piece of harbor water. The Verlinden Seehund took place in the water and the Bronco Seehund will find his place jacked up on the quay:

The backwall to beart he quay was built by plates of styrofoam (also Faller).

The undercoat of this parts is "Chaos black" (spray can Games Workshop)

Single bricks were painted by a brush; the following Tamiya colors were used: XF-9 Hull Red, XF-50 Field Blue and XF-63 German Grey – looks strange, but after drybrushing with XF-53 Neutral Grey and XF-54 Dark Sea Grey this was the result:


The water edge with XF-2 White and XF-65 Field Grey was spoted dry.
A curious drawing on the water was a later droped attempt to simulate a bit of the underwater parts of a Seehund.
The next step was wood. Some beech rods were cut to build the poles, but at first they were grated with a needle and later painted grey:


The gap between the wall and the water was filled with water thinned casein glue – on this pic not yet dried, but when dry it will appear transparent.

Some rust arround the iron rings (Tamiya pigment) and of course some gulls sh... shouldn’t be missed:


I think it’s satisfying up to, but now to the boats:
They were built OOB, only with some small adds: limiters fort he rudders and grap handles near the hatch:




The assembly went on without any problems, filling wasn’t neccessary.
Both Seehunde are of different variants and built by different wharfs. Only some openings on the „roof“ were aligned with the originals.
The boats were airbrushed: XF-24 Dark Grey after blackening the flood holes;nachdem die Flutschlitze geschwärzt wurden; the Bronco Seehund got a white conning tower due to the Ijmuiden pics:


Aging by thinned paint /XF-9 Hull Red) and some drybrushing:









The scapermarks and the tracks of walking were made with a silver pencil

This is it till now – only some little adds to the boats – and thnn: the figures!
It wasn’t easy to find a soldier with a dufflecoat to show Gen. Foulkes, but I found him!


To be continued...

Finally some pics of the mockup:








Michael

Very nice work!

I really like the discoloration on the hull.

Cheers/Jan

Hi Michael, that is a fantastic piece of work. The quay and the Seehund look the part. The setting will fool everyone except anyone living or working in IJmuiden
I first visited IJmuiden during the years I spent with Smit-Lloyd and one of the principle offshore bases was the IJ-bunker. The IJ-bunker is a large German built bunker where the midget subs were stored for maintenance and to shelter from Allied bombing missions. This is how the bunker looks nowadays:


(photo is copyright of a colleague of mine working at the VTS in IJmuiden,René Sehr)

Despite an attempt to demolish it just after the Second WW it has stubbornly survived and is used nowadays to store bulk products.
A second bunker at the root end of the Vissershaven sheltered the S-boat flotillas working out of IJmuiden, ( at 30 knots Great Yarmouth wasn't too far away). This bunker was demolished by RAF tallboy bombs just before the War ended.

Cheers,
Julian

Hello Julian,
it was also this pic of the quay at the little lock at Ijmuiden that sounds good to me with the wooden poles:


Michael

If you go to Google maps and look for the steigerweg you will find the location this photo was taken: just to the south east of the South- and Small locks. The whole area has since been rebuilt . Nice photo though !
Cheers,
Julian

Excellent project Michael!

Keep us posted please,
Tschuss,
Rui

At first I want to convert a hen but a friend (thanks Arjan!) brought Tamiyas „German tankers at rest“ to my mind. So I altered a crow; twisted wire as new feet located more forward and a rasped beak were neccessary:

... tada – gull in place:


Now to the figures (Italeri, Wolf and Hornet):

Primed with chaos black .

And back to the seals fur – some flash rust was added (Tamiya pigment):


And again the intended placement:







Michael

Nice work Micheal.

The Mini Art Dockside looks effective, did that all come from one set?. Iam curious, as I can see it coming in very handy with all the 1/35th marine subjects around and coming.

Si

Hello Simon,
I've used 2 sets of MiniArts river embankment. You can see the joint of the walkway above the 4th pole from the left; this joint will be covert with a rope or something else. The joint between the 2 wallparts is hidden behind the 4th pole.




Michael

Today was a sunny autumn day in Germany - little time to spend in a harbour, so I was nuts about flowers:


dandelion by Fredericus rex; 13 and 8 parts.

general view:




Michael

Thanks Micheal,

I do like the additions of the seagull & the dandilions, it is that sort of attention to detail that really brings dioramas to life.

Si

Hi Michael,

Looking excellent so far, I like you gull .

Kits are PDG too.

Al

'cause there's a little trouble with my figures the first Seehund ws launched; the gap between the flat bottom side of the boat and the wavy surface of the seafoil was filled with severall layers of whiteglue:

...and some pics found in grandpas old photoalbum

...as a last gimmick:


to be continued...


Michael

...and it was time to start with the figures; here the first attempt with "my" canadiens:

 
this could have been found in grandpas old photo album,

but some details have to be added. Not sooo bad for a first try, I think

Michael

Some days ago I found a kit review concerning the Bronco Seehund http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2512:bronco-models-unterseeboot-typ-xxvii-b5-qseehundq-135&catid=286:bro.

Unfortunatelly in german language, but showing some pics of an original Seehunds "roof". And that's the problem! The Bronco guys went to Brest to examine the Seehund, that was used by the french navy after WW2 and is now part of an exhibition at the local museum. But the french navy rebuilt the roof ...
Here my first attempt for my Seehund (just ready - aarghh!) with a very thin ps-material:



...and here the result with a second kits tower:



All kit material looking through the cutouts will be removed - nice job with a nearly finished model!

... to be continued.


Michael

Finished!
Without the tower corrections - an improved Seehund will follow with my next diorama; maybe a scene from "Bunker Konrad", the sheltered production plant at Kiel 1945.
Here's my 1st finished diorama - I hope you like it:












Michael

Do we like it ? - oh yes !!! nice to see it finished after a long break.

Cheers/Jan

Ps. Im sure the editors would like a photo feature on this one

Oh, yes a very nice project indeed. I cannot believe I did not see this back when it was originally posted.

Michael, I would like very much to have this whole project as a feature.

cool work, congratulations!

That turned out really nice, something to be proud of.

Hi Michael,

A most excellent project, nice work indeed.

Al

Your dio was beautifully, well masterly should I say, conducted, Michael!
Congrats, really.

(Berliner weiß bier)
Robert

What a most beautiful piece of modeling is shown here. Congrats with finishing it.

If someone is interested in some extra info about the ijbunker in ijmuiden, there is a website about it with some nice photos. It is in Dutch, but Google Translate may be of help.

http://www.ijbunker.nl/



Jelger