The Biber

• Scale = 1.3/4" to 1ft. ( 1:6.8)
• Model length = 51"
• Hull Beam = 5.1/2"
• O/A. Height = 13"
  

Another 50 or so attacked the Nijmegen Bridge held by the allies but were unsuccessful in penetrating the fourth torpedo net (having destroyed the first three).

For those of you in the UK who would actually like to see the real thing, a captured "BIBER" is on display in the Imperial War Museum. Lambeth, London.

The BIBER is one of the models we have bought in from John Darnell of ‘Darnell Models’ it has been available before, but only as a kit.

This single screw model has been primarily designed for 4 channel radio and pump operated submerging, this is fully possible as the hull with its short ends has a large interior volume.

If the modeller fits the torpedoes either side, then motorises these (instead of the submarine itself) you could drive the model from their props, using the torpedo motors for steering!. The only drawback with this method is that it does not work too well if you intend to make the model submerge by using forward power only.

The WWII German BIBER ( or Beaver) was a one man submarine, the hull was approximately 29’6" long with a beam of 4’ 6". These midget submarines were primarily designed as a defensive weapon and were larger and more seaworthy than their predecessors. Most were built by AG Weser, Bremen.

The single crewman or pilot sat upright in the hull and looked through the windows in the small conning tower to help him navigate, they also had a small 2" periscope. They had a small petrol engine that gave a range of 130 nm @ 6 knots, submerged they used a torpedo engine for power, this gave a range of 9 nm @ 5 knots. They were quite a clever design, perhaps a little too complex for successful operations.

Their main armament were two torpedoes, one slung either side of the hull, these were released by compressed air and allowed to run to the target, unfortunately the BIBER had a habit of bobbing up to the surface when the torpedoes were fired, this made them rather vulnerable to retaliation. They were really dogged by poor torpedo performance.

As stated previously the BIBER Beaver ) was primarily built to combat the Allied invasion forces sea supply lines, over 324 were actually built and they had some small successes, a large force was assembled on the coast to carry out this actual job, however they were unreliable and suffered quite a few miss-haps (premature firing of torpedoes that ran amuck in harbour) this resulted in about 75% of the fleet present being either sunk or damaged.

The British T Class

Completely revamped molds give this model new life, cleaned up edges and quality GRP work, make this a much easier build.

Royal Navy T Class (Group 3) Submarine

• Scale = 1 to 48
• Model Length = 68 1/2"
• Hull Beam = 7"
• Height = 12 3/4"

The Royal Navy decided in 1930 to replace its rather unsatisfactory fleet of O P & R class submarines as well as the ageing H class. The requirement was for two classes of submarines, one to be a medium sized coastal type suitable for use in the North Sea and Mediterranean, (this was the S Class) and the other a long range ocean going type, this was the T Class. During design due note had to be taken of the limitations of the London Naval Treaty’ requirements that allowed the Royal Navy only 16,500 tons of new submarine construction.

To make the class worthwhile the Royal Navy’s main requirement was for a submarine displacing about 1,000 tons, fairly heavily armed and with a patrol duration of at least 42 days. Also required was simplicity of construction, ease of handling a greater torpedo armament than earlier classes and an increased speed of diving.

The design was finalised as a ocean going saddle tank type, the lead ship class prototype Tritonwas approved in the 1935 programme, construction was commenced in 1936 and she entered service in 1937. After successful trials and with slight dimensional modifications a further 21 boats were ordered between 1936 to 1939.

Once WWII had started it was decided to order a further 40 units to be known as Group 2 boats, although they were slightly modified to the (then known as) Group 1 submarines. In total only 31 were built of the Group 2 boats, the 9 cancelled being replaced with new A Type boats.

The T Class operated successfully throughout WWII although 16 boats in total were lost, 13 in the Mediterranean) and remained in service (considerably rebuilt) into the 1970’s Our model is based on P324 Thorough one of the later Group 2 boats, with the enclosed gun shield.

As a footnote, it was the disaster to the ‘Thetis (later Thunderbolt, lost Mediterranean 1943) in the late 1930’s that resulted in far better provisions being put into place to rescue submarine crews in the event of a disaster. These provisions are still in place today, although of course much improved.

Our set of white GRP mouldings consists of :

• 1 No. Hull.
• 1 No. Conning tower.
• 1 No. Set rudders/vanes.
• 1 No. Curved gun shield

Uses a Sub-Driver 3.5/2