Historical & Technical Background

Official designation: KdF. 7, Kfz. 1 and Käfer (Beetle) Type 87, 4x4. An all-wheel drive development of the original peoples-car, the Type 60. One reference I have states only 564 were built, another says 667 were built, from 1942 to 1944. The 4x4 Beetle was often used as a staff car. Many went to North Africa though later ones could be found with the German military in the Italian, Western and Ost Fronts. A rear mounted air-cooled engine as installed in the military Kübelwagen powers this Käfer.

First Impression

Good overall molding with fair detailing. Lots of flash to clean up. Thick sprue attachments require careful cutting and sanding. All windows and clear headlights are included though rather thick. Two sets of wheels are offered. One wheel set, on the light gray sprue, has the special rims for the smooth desert-balloon tires used in North Africa, but uses normal treaded tires on those rims! Contains same parts as in Type 60 kit #7202.

Construction Recommendations

• Saw off the steering wheel as clippers could make it squash and break.

• Carefully cut and file the body halves from the sprue using the unused roof section as a guide to get the proper width. Having the body too wide or too narrow will effect the fit of the windshield and placement of the wheels under the fenders.
• This was an open top ”sun-roof” vehicle that I imagine made it a lot easier for the rear passenger to exit when the enemy jabos showed up. For inclement weather there was a canvas cover that could be pulled forward and attached down. I opted for an open roof and scratchbuilt my rolled-back canvas cover out of tissue.
• Add a strip of sprue around the roof opening to even off the roof edges (see overhead Photo 1).
• In the front corners of the open roof are small grab handles (visible in Photo 1) I made out of copper wire.

• A muffler and tail pipe are not included in the kit so have to be scratch built. Same with two windshield wipers.
• If you are having the roof open, I recommend scribing door panel lines inside and adding interior door handles, adding a medical box to the left side interior wall below the rear side window, and add gear shift levers.
• The floor of this car had wooden slats like the Kübelwagen and Schwimwagen. Before gluing the seats down I made a slat floor with narrow styrene strips. You cannot see much of it when the model is done but what you can see adds a lot to the interior.
• Some versions had a single rear seat with a place for a radio. As the kit is not this version I left off the very overly thick-radio antenna.
• I opted to cut the engine hood open and took a VW engine from Academy’s Ground Vehicle Set that fits in with a little filing down the side of the engine.
• The windows needed a lot of sanding down to fit into the openings. (Better too big than too small though.) Paint the edges of the windows after sanding & filing them down to size, this prevents the unnatural silvered edges after the windows are installed. The windows were glued in with Kristal Kleer after the model was painted and weathered. Kristal Kleer and white glue do not haze up the clear plastic like super glue or model cement does. You may wish to consider replacing some or all windows with thinner clear styrene sheet, say from a food container.
• For the headlights we have a choice of the covered lights with slits, or clear lenses for the Type 60 version.
• The paint scheme chosen is a 1944 Dunkelgelb without camouflage pattern. The interior seat cushions were given a color to contrast with the overall color. The paint I chose was Poly S’s acrylic Depot Buff, a model railroad color. The tires were painted Poly-S Scale Black (actually a dark gray).
• The kit decals are a strange ‘white markings on a black background’ which I have as yet not seen on a WW2 German military vehicle. I used ESCI softskin decals I had in my spares box.

Conclusions

A good looking model despite the flash and thick parts. I am very please with this vehicle and it’s a great addition to my collection of WW2 softskins. I finished my model set in 1944, East Prussia, and with lots of kit (gear) inside for a well lived-in look. A major problem that could be missed by the builder is that the body is missing the engine vents above the engine and below the rear windows. These vents I had to cut in with a fine saw blade.