Bronco Models 1/350 U-boat Type IX Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Type IX submarine was developed by the Kriegsmarine in the mid-1930s for long-range operations. The submarine's greater range adversely affected the type's ability to dive quickly as well as its maneuverability over the Type VII. While the Type IX was built and operated throughout the war, the Type VII remained in production with a number of those types remaining in service with other navies as late as 1970.

Bronco Models has tooled up the Type IX in 1/350 scale, and what an impressive piece of work this is!

Molded in light gray styrene, the kit is presented on one parts tree plus the hull, one display stand molded in black styrene, and one fret of photo-etched parts.

When I removed the kit out of the box, the one-piece hull was separately bagged. I was a little surprised that Bronco would cast the entire hull as one part but the detailing cast into the hull was sharp and well-executed from all directions. When I hefted the hull though, it seemed too light to be one piece and with a little fiddling, the separated the hull into an upper and lower half. Look at the images - the top image doesn't reveal so much as a seam line, yet you can see in the third image that this boat separates at the waterline.

The kit comes with a nice array of details in styrene and photo-etch and by the hull number on the decal sheet, this kit represents Type IXa U-40. What is also new here is a nice display stand should you build your U-boat as a full-hull model.

I am truly impressed with the major strides in Bronco Models' molding/casting quality as there is a lot of nice detail here in such a small scale. This company bears closer watching to see where they go with future subjects as their quality is going to put a number of model companies on notice - a new major player has taken the field.

My sincere thanks to Stevens International for this review sample!