1/35 - DFS-230B-1 light assault glider by Bronco Models - box art+3D renders - release May 2018

[Homebee]

 

After the 1/72nd kits (link) Bronco Models is to release in April 2018 a 1/35th  DFS-230B-1 German light assault glider - ref. CB35039

Sources: 

http://www.moxingfans.com/new/news/2018/0410/4606.html

https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5641574082

 

 

 

 

 

V.P.

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Homebee

[Aeronut]

I do hope it doesn't have the amount of errors their Horsa had.

[The Tomohawk Kid]

3 hours ago, Aeronut said:

I do hope it doesn't have the amount of errors their Horsa had.

What errors?

 

Thomo.

[Aeronut]

1 hour ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

What errors?

Size and shape wise the Mk I is OK but it is let down by a lot of detail errors. 

 

All cockpit glazing bars are depicted as being external yet the two either side of the centreline were internal only. The nose wheel leg is missing the cross tube for the tow bar. The lower part of the cockpit is missing any of the prominent ribbing (it was fabric covered rather than ply) Also some aircraft had a landing lamp in the nose and a flare chute under the pilots seat. In the cockpit there is an awful lot of detail missing, the gaiters at the foot of the control columns, the accumulator alongside the pilots seat. In the gangway between the seats there should be a tube for a Very pistol and the parking brake lever on the pilots seat side. All aircraft had numerous circular reinforcement rigs for access patches in the nose's fabric.

Whilst on the subject of access patches, the kit's rear fuselage has them depicted as open holes, they're in the right place, but they would have been fabric covered. The one place where the kit depicts fabric covering, the rudder, is overdone, and it takes an awful lot of filler to sort out.

The rest of the airframe where is should be fabric covered is left billiard table smooth, and the ribs on the rear of the wing were prominent (and there's a lot of them). The shape of the join line on the outer main plane (and this applies to those who bought just the tail and outer wing boxing) is wrong if you are intending to show the wing off the aircraft, they forgot about the gap required for the flap actuating ram (it was a rather large lump of pneumatics) which was covered only after assembly with a strip of fabric over a foot wide with a couple of transverse supporting ribs. Another area where there was fabric added after assembly was the wing to fuselage joint, Here Bronco have the metal fuselage wing joints visible, in service the would have been faired in by fabric. In front of them on the top of the fuselage are the six Punka vents, they are probably the right size for a 1:48 kit but not on a 1:35 one.

The main undercarriage legs are little on the skinny side and are devoid of the jettisoning cams and release cable detail. A Brake line wouldn't go amiss either. The landing skid's shock absorber is like the main legs, a touch skinny and it doesn't really look like the stack of rubber blocks and metal sheet spacers that it was.

The bulkhead on the rear fuselage has the wrong arrangement of openings and a mass of missing interior stringer detail (not that you can seen it anyway) yet the bulkheads provide the openings for the control cable runs (but not the fairleads).

The kit gives you Control run conduit in the main fuselage, just don't bother fitting it after the main spar as the control runs to the tail were under the floor.

Under the tail section the kit gives you a rectangular blade shape, this is meant to be the tail support strut this was really a telescopic tube and pivoting foot.

Finally, under each wing centre section there were four bombcells for parachute containers (and access panels on the upper wing surface for the winch) with external hinges and bungee cord attachments whilst outboard of them the tow cable attachments were in the front, angled face, of a small keyhole shaped fairing and not the simple rings supplied in the kit.

 

NOTE this is just the Mk I most of which will apply to the Mk II apart from replacing the landing skid shock absorber with a twin Oleo set up and scratch building a whole new nose from the main fuselage forward as you can't just stick hinges on a Mk I and call it a Mk II.

[RHWinter]

Well, THAT IS A LOT! But fortunately not important to me, as I am planning to use obe or two for a diorama, showing them (quite) crash-landed.