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The War Beetles: A Brief History Arguably the world's most recognizable and prolific automobile, the Volkswagen "Beetle" was designed amid the ominous backdrop of Hitler's Nazi Germany. Officially, Ferdinand Porsche’s brainchild was known as the Kraft durch Freude (strength through joy) car, shortened to KdF-Wagen. To most, however, Volkswagen's "people's car" came to be known popularly as the "Kafer" or "Beetle.” By 1937, after years of prototype work and road testing, Volkswagen's engineers had completed the vehicle's design. Shortly thereafter, the Beetle made its public debut. Initially involving three versions: sedan, sedan with opening roof (Kabrio-Limousine), and convertible, the Beetle's range soon came to include station wagon, truck, and streamline body variants.
Over the course of 1939 Volkswagen planners began to accommodate the anticipated needs of the military. Following Germany's invasion of Poland in September of that year the manufacturer's production soon shifted from civilian automobiles to a new vehicle, the VW Type 82 or Kübelwagen.
Conceived by Volkswagen engineers working in consultation with military personnel, the Kübelwagen would become one of Germany's most mass-produced military vehicles with 50,000 units manufactured between 1940-1945. Also to grow out of this military buildup was the Type 166 Schwimmwagen, an amphibious vehicle whose production began in 1940, the same year of the Kübelwagen's unveiling In addition to the more prevalent Kübelwagens and Schwimmwagens, which served with German forces in both the Western and Eastern Fronts, Volkswagen produced several versions based upon its pre-war Beetle. By mating the body of its Type 60 sedan with the chassis of its Type 82 Kübelwagen, Volkswagen created a beefier Beetle, the VW Sedan Type 82 E. Some Type 82 Es supplied to special Waffen-SS units received upgrades and were subsequently designated VW Type 92 SS. By combining the body of the Type 82 E with a specially designed Kubelwagen chassis outfitted with four-wheel drive capability Volkswagen created its VW Sedan Type 87, also known as the "commander's car." Most Type 87s served with Rommel's Afrika Korps in the North Africa theatre. All Type 87 Beetles featured flared fenders and enlarged running boards to accommodate their wider-rimmed off-road wheels, which included those found on the Schwimmwagen or, in the case of many of the desert Type 87s, special "Kronprinz" wheels that could be fitted with balloon sand tires or knobby treaded tires. Further distinguishing the Type 87 from its predecessor, the Type 82 E, was a large retractable canvas roof and a larger engine whose 1131 cc displacement produced 24.5 horsepower. All total Volkswagen produced 564 Type 87s from 1941 to 1944, marking an interesting chapter in the evolution of what would become one of the world’s most popular automobiles of the post-war era. CMK's Volkswagen Type 87

Released in 1998, CMK's line of wartime Beetles proved popular with modelers seeking to fill voids in their miniature German armies

Though billed as a Type 87, CMK's kit (CZ T35013) in actuality is a quasi re-boxed version of its Type 82E, augmented with a set of balloon tires mounted on Kronprinz wheels, a hole cut in its roof, and a decal sheet with Afrika Korps insignia. Though basic in some areas, particularly when compared with Tamiya's excellent desert Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen, CMK's version of the venerable Beetle is a welcomed addition to the Volkswagen line-up. Normally priced $15.00, CMK’s kit often is found on sale through Squadron.

References

Most modeling projects that I undertake typically involve a great deal of research prior to my ever buying a kit or drafting plans to scratch build a vehicle. However, in this instance, I received my CMK kit from a friend without much prior warning. It was one of those cases in which you are handed a new release and told, "Here, knowing that you like German stuff, you'll love this." So, without any previous reference work to guide me, I began orienting myself with the layout of the kit, as I looked for publications available on the subject.

Fortunately, the same hobby shop that had sold my friend the kit had had the foresight to order copies of Schiffer Military History's Volume 54, VW Beetle at War Written by Dr. Hans-Georg Mayer, this book proved indispensable in fleshing out the World War II history of what later would become one of the world's most readily recognizable and popular automobiles of the twentieth century. Mayer's work weaves both color and black and white photographs and line drawings with a reasonable amount of text to cover the Beetle's various body styles and military specifications.
While not germane to my Type 87 project, I did find the coverage of usage of the Volkswagen by British postwar occupation forces to be of great interest. Though not as polished or exhaustive as those of the same style published by Squadron Signal, Schiffer's line of reference materials does offer a respectable amount of information for under $10 each. In addition to Schiffer's book, I turned to the holdings of my public library, which carries a number of books on the history of the Beetle. Two that I found helpful were Motor Books International’s Volkswagen Cars and Trucks written by Keith Seume and Bay View Books’ Volkswagen Beetle: Coachbuilts and Cabriolets 1940-1960 by Keith Seume and Bob Shaill. Also, I referenced Squadron Signal's Panzer Color series and German Afrika Korps in Action and I consulted Osprey Military's The German Army 1939-45 (2) North Africa & Balkans. While neither the Squadron nor Osprey books showed the Volkswagen Type 87 (or any version of the Beetle for that matter), they were helpful in determining uniform colors and equipment used by Rommel's Afrika Korps. Unfortunately, at the time I constructed my Type 87 Military Miniatures in Review had not released its guide to the Kübelwagen, which is, without a doubt, a must-have for modelers serious about building a variety of Volkswagens. At $19.95, this resource should be the next addition to your library on building German vehicles. All of these titles are available through Squadron or VLS. Though I did not perform any WEB searches when building my model, I have since perused a number of sites that relate to Volkswagen history and some that contain reviews of the CMK and Italeri kits (the latter being of course another re-box, this time with the very old, yet interesting Italeri Desert Army Korps figures released in the 1970s). Some of the more interesting sites include: www.ww2modelmaker.com/modelpages/rsvwdak.beet.htm and http://summerville-novascotia.com/volkswagen. I am sure that plenty others exist – just suit yourself surfing for them.
Constructing the Model I broke the construction of CMK's Type 87 into three subassemblies: the body, the suspension, and the interior. Ease of painting demanded such an approach, as the interior would have been virtually impossible to access if the vehicle had been completed in its entirety prior to painting.
The Body The first step I took in assembling the body was widening the fenders to better represent the flared versions of the real Type 87. Rather than building them up by inserting a spacer between the fender and the side of the vehicle, as was done in the actual Beetle, I flared the fenders from the outside lip. This was accomplished by grafting several strips of Evergreen plastic stock together in successive layers. Copious amounts of Zap-A-Gap and Squadron green putty were used to achieve the desired look. At this point I began priming the body with Floquil figure primer and sanding the fenders to reveal any distortions or gaps in the finish. Next, I opened the driver’s side door by scribing its lines repeatedly with a dental pick (make sure to ask you dentist for his or her worn out instruments every time you go in for a check-up as they usually do not mind donating them to you for your hobby interests). I then installed the driver’s side interior panel, as it needed to be in place to fill in the now exposed area where the doorjamb should be located. During this process I test fit several times the later to be installed open door that comes in CMK’s Volkswagen Type 92 interior aftermarket set (CZ 3008), which also includes a photo-etched brass fret and retails for $12.98.
The kit’s retracted canvas cover was void of any detail on its interior surface. I remedied this by adding folds and tie-down straps fashioned from foil taken from a wine bottle. Buckles from Eduard’s photo-etch detail set (EU 35239) rounded out the improvements. This set retails for $11.99 and is must-buy for serious detailing.
Other upgrades to the body included the installation of a photo-etched license plate and antenna mounts. I then added an antenna made from thin gauge wire. Last, after final assembly and painting, I installed new windows and windshields made from Squadron Thermoform sheets. These replaced the kit-supplied windows that were grossly out of scale.
The Suspension As I had plans to put the model on a small diorama I opted not to go into any major super detailing on the Type 87’s suspension and floor pan.
	Rather, I made only minor changes that would be noticed most readily even if the kit were being represented in a scene. The most significant of course was installing new, larger tires like the ones found on the real Type 87s. I decided to use Jaguar’s Schwimmwagen large road wheels (JA 63828), which featured wider tread tires, instead of the slick balloon tires found on the Kronprinz wheels supplied in the CMK kit.
Many Type 87s used these treaded tires and I though it might look better in the end. At $4.98, Jaguar’s update set was worth its modest expense. Turning my attention to the rear of the vehicle I enhanced the Beetle’s muffler by adding a new single exhaust pipe made from brass tubing.