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Evening all. With my efforts to complete the on bench projects, I think I can call this one done. Just a small thing started to break up the painting monotony on the several AFV's to finish. Quick build, and paint job, so a nice one to do. One last thing to do, after I studied the images is a light dust coat on the stowage to blend it all together. Couldn't be bothered to dirty the AB tonight, so will lave to wait until I set up a paint session in a week or so. So here she is.

A little something I threw together watching the Cricket World Cup the last two weeks. This is Bronco's 1/35 40mm Bofors gun. It's a good kit, well detailed and fitting but with some frustrating points. Some sections are over complicated with detail included that cannot be seen once completed or photo etch that could have been included as molded on detail with a loss of detail. Also make sure you read ahead in the instructions as parts often need to fit into others in steps down the road, if you mess up the alignment you will have trouble down the road. It would also be nice if Bronco included some extra smaller parts as they are easy to lose. It's finished with Gunze Olive drab and weathered with MiG pigments dry mud and European dust.

Afternoon all Managed some time this week, and decided on a change from all the projects......to start a new one.. Came across this on Ebay for a tenner with shipping, so couldn't resist. A standard 1936 saloon by Opel pressed into service and on the run in '45. Built some field applied luggage rack for the rear and roof rack. The kit overall for the price wasn't bad, but the wheels/tires with....get this 8, yes 8 parts were a little excessive just to get some tread detail. The front wheel connections to are something to be desired and unless you have Tamiya/Dragon mould skills; they should have gone for different set up..too many parts to achieve very little...........but overall, not a bad little kit. Here's where she stands at present. I think primer on the body, chassis and sub components. Just need to get some weld lines on the strap steel struts to the main body and some on the main connections of the roof rack...... Catch you all soon.......

Having recently posted an A13 in the RFI section, I was keen to have another go at one of these nice little models from Bronco. I’ve had this in the stash for a number of years now, having picked it up for a bargain price at the Saumur model show. I say bargain because not only was the price good, but it came with two sets of Miniart figures, all for the desert, which was handy as I intend to finish this as a North Africa based tank. This was one of the later issues of Bronco’s A13 and I’m glad to say that they made some modifications, such as individual link tracks and corrected the engine deck. There are four options on the decal sheet, three in N.Africa and one in France. The three N.African ones are all finished in differing versions of the Caunter scheme, so hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up a paint set at Saumur, weekend after next. Also included are a couple of etched sheets which negates the need to spend out more money on AM sets. All in all, this should be a pleasant build. If memory serves me right from the last Bronco A13 that I built, it doesn’t hold any nasty surprises. Update soon. Thanks for looking. John.

Don't expect me to pronounce that correctly ... It is one of these ... a German gun on a French (Hotchkiss) chassis. The Germans made about 24 of these and lost them all in the Falaise Pocket. There is a film of Rommel inspecting a group of these here: Note: That film shows various H-39 chassis with three different guns. I think the crews in this movie are wearing Sumpfmuster 44 camouflage tops. Wish I knew, how to reproduce that?

I believe that this was Bronco’s second issue of an A13, and as such, it had the individual track links which were a whole lot better than the original (too short) rubber band offerings. I never did get around to correcting the engine deck, but I will with the two others that I’ve got in the stash. All in all, it’s quite a nice kit to build with not too many surprises. I finished it as a tank of the 10th Hussars, based in France in 1940. As far as I can remember, it was built OOTB and finished with Tamiya paints in a G3/G4 greens camouflage. The figure is from Hornet. Thanks for looking. John.

My set was second hand and missing the RAF Leading Aircraft Woman, here are the other three. DSC_0012 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr DSC_0013 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr All the figures seem to be based on the ones published in The ARMED FORCES of WORLD WAR II Uniforms, insignia and organisation, ISBN 0-85613-296-9 Officer, US Women’s Army Corps, 1944 DSC_0014 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr DSC_0015 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr Lieutenant Junior Grade, US Women’s Auxiliary Volunteer Service, 1942 DSC_0016 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr DSC_0017 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr Lance-Corporal, British ATS, 1940 DSC_0018 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr DSC_0019 by Richard Linnell, on Flickr

#2/2019 Bronco kit, painted with a selfmixed 4BO and MRP white, dirt done with filler, AK/MIG pigments and wash used, Tamiya weathering stuff, a plastic rod for the antenna. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235049231-big-badaboom148-su-152-soviet-army/ DSC_0001 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0001 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr

OV-10A Bronco 1:72 Revell The Bronco was conceived as a light attack, long loiter aircraft of modest size, enabling it to operate from roads close to the combat zone. As so often seems the case, the final design turned out to be much larger and heavier due to the requirements of the avionics and ejection seats, thus limiting its use to conventional airfields. The twin boom aircraft first flew in 1965 and was destined to serve with the US Navy, Airforce and Marines as a replacement for the Cessna O-1 & O-2. The Marines were the first to take the OV-10 into service as a forward air controller operating in both night and day missions. Whilst the Bronco is best known for its operations in Vietnam, it also served in later conflicts as late on as the Gulf war before being retired in 1995. The USAF received Broncos in 1968 and deployed the aircraft in the forward air control role, using smoke laying methods as well as later using laser target designators. Eventually it carried its own ground attack armament including rockets, machine guns and bombs. Seven export contracts were signed, including Germany, Columbia and Indonesia. Eagle eyed readers will no doubt have already spotted that this is not (thankfully) the original Revell kit from the 1970s. It's the much more modern Academy kit, originally released in 1999 and now repackaged in one of Revell's familiar large-but-flimsy boxvelopes. The kit features clean, crisp mouldings, fully engraved surface details and a respectable level of detail. All together there are 115 parts spread across four frames of grey plastic and a single frame of clear plastic. Two decal options are included. Assembly begins with the tandem cockpit. The seats are not brilliant compared with the most modern kits, but they could easily be swapped out for aftermarket items or jazzed up with some photo etched harnesses. Remaining details include the pilot's control column and instrument panels. Decals are provided for the instrument panels. Once complete, the crew compartment can be sealed up inside the fuselage pod. The nose cone is moulded separately and Revell recommend 8 grams of weight. This seems a little conservative for what looks to be a natural tail-sitter, so I'd be tempted to cram in a bit more. The slab-like wing is next, and it contains no surprises such as separate ailerons. Each of the engine pods includes structures for the main landing gear bays, both of which have some structural detail moulded in place. The rudders are moulded in place too. The propellers and engine faces are pretty basic but good enough, while the undercarriage is similarly complete but not overly well detailed. The canopy provides what is possibly the greatest challenge in building the kit, with no fewer than four parts being required to capture accurately the shape. A decent selection of ordnance is included: 2 x LAU-10 5 inch rocket pods; 2 x LAU-3 2.75 inch rocket pods; 2 x AIM-9 Sidewinders air-to-air missiles; 4 x Mk.82 Bombs; and 1 x 150 gallon fuel tanks Two different options are provides for on the decal sheet. The first is for a Bronco of VAL-4, US Navy, Binh Thuy, South Vietnam, 1969. This aircraft is finished in olive drab over grey. The second aircraft is a US Air Force Bronco of 19 TASS, Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, 1971. This aircraft is finished in overall tactical grey. The decals themselves are nicely printed and include a fair smattering of stencils. Conclusion Academy's Bronco is a solid kit which, although starting to show its age, is still capable of being built into a faithful and convincing replica. It's not as detailed as many of the modern kits we are used to today, but it has recessed panel lines and just about enough detail to pass muster where it counts. Overall this should be a straightforward kit to build. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Hi Everyone, I’ve not been posting completed models for a while although I managed to complete a bunch over the last year. Starting to catch up now. The first one is OV-10A Bronco in Vietnam markings of VAL-4. I have a mixed feeling about the kit and about the effort I did to get it completed. The kit can be assembled out of the box with moderate effort (only sponson to nacelle fit is really poor) and will definitely result in a decent model that would 100% look like a Bronco (it’s probably impossible to do a Bronco kit that would not look like a Bronco). But that works only until you see Bronco photos… Below is the list of errors and omissions I was able to find and tried to fix: - Empty undercarriage bays. Front bay is also almost empty on a real thing – reverse side of a landing light and some wiring only. Main bays have engine covers inside (Academy kit represents an aircraft as if its engines are removed), a lot of wiring, hydraulics, etc. I tried to scratchbuild at least engine covers and added some wiring. - Too small and simplified engine nacelles in particular anemic intakes over propellers should be noted. I tried to enlarge those with plastic and putty and drilled intakes through. - Wrong weapons sponson. In real life machine guns are placed asymmetrically, while kit has completely symmetric sponson. I tried to fix this. Also sponson shape is incorrect being a little narrower and with wrong angle of the front edge. - Short wing and short tail booms. Some reviewers also wrote about wrong wing angle of attack which I was not able to measure but seems to be true as well. Wing span is around 8 mm (!) shorter. Mostly outside of booms so easier to fix. Tail booms are approximately 3 mm shorter. The above is per my matching to real thing photoes. Tails are sitting at right height which leads to wrong angle on booms upper side which is more pronounced on a kit compared to real thing. I did not do anything about it as fixing booms represents pretty strong surgery and lengthening wing without adjustment of booms would result in even greater proportions distortion. - Simplified undercarriage. Some enhancement was done by replacement of plastic parts with metal tubes. Given the weight of lead I had to hide into nacelle to avoid tail-sitting – not sure if original plastic undercarriage would survive at all. My metal gear only marginally carries the weight. - Wrong shaped wing pylons. The kit ones are shorter and place rockets at wrong angle to the wing. Fixed it. - Fuel tank has the wrong shape. The thing is too pointy. I only identified it when starting to apply decals so live with it as is. - Cockpit details OOB are heavily simplified – here I just used CMK interior set. - Inconsistently applied panel lines. Academy did pretty decent panel lines on the wings (however they marked wing walkways with panel lines which is wrong). However, Academy ignored panel lines on the nacelle and sponson. Even cargo door is not properly shown! I tried to reapply missing panel lines to the possible extent. Some other non-OOB additions included Zunies from Crusader kit, LAU-10 launchers from Hasegawa weapon set (kit have extremely tiny Zuni warheads), LAU-32 launchers from Italeri OH-6 kit, CMK interior resin, Eduard PE set (which I only barely used to do some external features), and an excellent AOA decal which actually inspired me to buy and assemble the whole thing. Not much of a background story of the chosen subject as VAL-4 history is very well known. AOA provides almost 20 different options and I selected specific aircraft because of unique spinners colour which is said to be golden per AOA instruction. Overall conclusion – quite a lot of effort done to improve the kit but I know I went only half the distance to make a fully correct copy of a true thing. Also this is the subject that desperately needs a new 1/72 kit which would be of the correct geometrical shape as a minimum and would maybe provide a better level of details in the cockpit, undercarriage. And on top of it a wider choice of loadout other than standard LAU-3/10 and Mk.82 as Broncos carried almost everything what was available in Vietnam. Hope you enjoyed A great modelling year to everyone! Dennis

After building the Eastern Front StuG III my dad stays in the east and started the Bronco SU-152. DSC_0011 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by Reinhard Spreitzhofer, auf Flickr

OV-10 Bronco Replacement Metal Undercarriage 1:32 Aerocraft Models - For Kitty Hawk Kit The 1/32 Kitty Hawk Bronco is a good kit. However the undercarriage is a weak point (literally) in the kit. New brass ones have been made by Ali of Aerocraft models. Metal Undercarriage legs In this set you get new replacement cast brass undercarriage legs for the kit. The new parts are direct replacements for the kit parts. The quality of the castings are some of the best I have seen and much better that other metal sets. There are some slight casting marks to clean up but these are small. The front leg does fully articulate so can be used in any direction. Conclusion It is great to see Ali back in the game and this is certainly a needed set for the Kitty Hawk Bronco. Very Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Here I present my latest build, an OOB build of a Vanguard Class SSBN using the Bronco kit. The only bit of work needed was the mating of the hull halves. Primed using Halford's grey primer, German tank grey for lower hull and Halford's satin black was used overall. The sub was 'Kleared', decaled and coated with Tamiya satin varnish. Das Boot was masked to leave the deck exposed, with VERY low tac masking over the two decals and painted with Humbrol matt black and the sonar array was glossed with Klear. Five masts were fitted into fin and a couple of Tamiya figures were added to complete build. WIP here: Stuart

Well, here we go with another WiP, this time it'll be a submarine. Now, don't expect a long epic build as they don't happen with modern submarine kits. The WiPs subject is the Vanguard Class SSBN in 1/350 by Bronco. The Vanguard class is currently in service with the Royal Navy after replacing the dated Polaris Class and its replacement, the Dreadnought, is already on its way. This is a big box, it's only that size due the length of the hull. Box contents: hull halves, one sprue, PE, base and instruction booklet. Eight page instruction booklet. Hull halves. The sprue. Like most submarine kits, even more so with modern types, has few parts to contend with, so this shouldn't take long. It will be interesting to the size comparison between the Vanguard and Polaris SSBNs. Stuart

Pitot Probe for OV-10 Bronco 1:32 Master The latest release from Master Models in their series of replacement pitot probes have recently arrived at BMs London offices. It is well up to their usual standard and very sharp, so care should be taken once fitted. It is so much better than the styrene ones found in the kit. [AM-32-109] – Has been designed for the lovely North American OV-10 Bronco from Kitty Hawk Conclusion Master Models must have a tremendous machining set up to be able to produce these pitot probes and to produce them with such finesse. The always look great on the finished model. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Piotr at

Because of an extended enforced break from modelling at the moment, I've not been able to post anything for a while, so the number of shelf queens that I've got has increased. Therefore the only things that I can post here in the RFI thread, are some of my older models. This one is the Bronco kit and if my memory serves me right, I built it about seven years ago. It's not a bad kit to build although, as this was the early release, there were one or two items that required changing. The tracks are Bronco's workable tracks, the main gun came from the barrel store and I used Eduard's etched set for the Comet. The early issue has a mantlet without the canvas dust cover, so I sourced one from Accurate Armour, along with the return rollers and the main gun muzzle brake. Celerity also had field replacement front track guards which were squarer than the rounded kit supplied items, and these were made from plasticard. I do remember that this was quite and enjoyable build, so I hope to pick up another one of the later issues and build it again. That will then free up this one for the “butchers” table, as some of the components will go into making SKP's A30 Challenger into something better than what you get in the box. Thanks for looking. John.

Hi guys! So i'm afraid i've very much caught the submarine bug. Having started with the Kursk here, I've moved onto Bronco's HMS Vanguard, one of the 4 SSBNs handling our nuclear deterrent. The kit is simply stunning to put it simply, there's so much detail from the towed sonar array right towards the bow sonar. I painted the submarine three different shades of black (believe me I did! The photo set up I've got is a bit rough though...) to account for the sections below and above the waterline as well as the main 'deck' and fin. The bow sonar dome is Tamiya acrylic gloss black and the trident missile is simply NATO green and white. Weathering was kept basic because 1. This is only my second submarine so I'm trying to keep things easy for myself and 2. the reference photos I saw of it showed it to be relatively clean. Again, sorry for the quality of the photos, they may just look like variable photos of a black pudding but thanks for looking! Sam

This will be my entry for the 10th Anniversary GB. It's Bronco's offering of the British Cruiser Tank A10. It'll be a struggle to finish it as I'm doing another in the M3/M4 GB, so having said that, I'm going to go against the grain for me, and build it (almost) out of the box to save time. I haven't decided which version I will build yet, I'll decide once I get started. John.

I've had this in the stash for a while, and have spent a couple of hours on it on-and-off between projects. The build has been nice so far, I had feared that the model would be complex, but I am not finding it anything more than an enjoyable challenge. The parts fit nicely, and the plastic is pleasant to work with. My only issue is my own fault, that being losing a tiny piece that would attach the wheel to the axle. I will have to manufacture one out of stretched sprue, making the whole assembly less solid, but other than demotivating me, it is not much of a problem. I have not yet tried any of the photo-etch parts- my ongoing 232 project, where I used an Eduard upgrade set, has made me a little less enthusiastic to work with the medium. Therefore, this will probably be a slower build, as I chip away at it, rather than my usual focused builds.

Hi everyone GAZ-69 from Bronco, 1/35. The model is made for the customer. Best regards Martin

My next armour project arrived in the mail today. Tamiya 1:48 quick build this ain't! Looking forward to getting started, this will take longer I think than some of the recent kits I have built. Anyone know what the British markings are?

New Chinese company with some interesting and new subjects: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/newkitnews/geckomodels.html regards, Jack

Morning all, been hunting and emailing to no avail on this one an wondering if anyone has any ideas. I have a a bronco versuchsflakwagen 8.8cm flak 41 auf sonderfahrgestell (Pz.Sfl.IVc) kit which I have found is missing an entire sprue. I emailed both Bronco and Hannetts as they are listed as the UK distributor but over a weeks gone by without a response. As it stands the kit is unbuildable an I'd rather not have to either buy an entire new kit or get rid of this one.

Bronco Models programme catalogue 2017-2018 is on approach. Source: http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=24755&mode=thread&order=0 V.P.

So, yes that's its full name, late start I was away for the start. Based on the Grille 10 platform was used for testing in Denmark during 1944. Now, annoyingly I cant upload photos, photobucket's having a nope moment, soon as it allows me I will upload a pile of sprue shots. What I can say is its very nicely moulded with a very detailed manual of which 2/3rds is constructing the gun. Time being you'll have to make do with an image from online I'm afraid