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Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - 11:43 PM UTC
Special Hobby have announced the return of the CMK 1:35 VW Typ 83 Kastenwagen - now rebranded as part of their Special Armour range.
1/35 VW Typ 83 Kastenwagen - Item # 100-SA35005 - Price: TBA
In the late 1930s on Adolf Hitler’s direct impulse, Ferdinand Porsche, a German automotive designer was developing a car suitable for wide masses of Nazi Germany. This development gave birth to the so called KdF-Wagen vehicle, named after the Kraft-durch-Freude slogan, literally meaning Strength Through Joy, the car to be better known as the VW Beetle in the post war era. In 1938 as the war was getting closer and closer, the development of military versions began, producing two main branches of the type, the first of which was the Typ 82E with rear wheel drive and the other was the Typ 877 with all four wheels drive. These vehicles were widely used by Third Reich’s military and other state sectors too all the way through the war. Many various subversions, conversions of the main type and also various improvements and upgrades arose during the war too, some of them being for instance a wood gas drive conversion and others. One of the quite important subversions based on the Typ 82E was the series of Typ 83 and Typ 86 Kastenwagen vehicles, characterised by a box-shaped wooden superstructure mounted on the rear of the car body. The two Types differed from each other by having a different interior of their superstructures depending on the roles the vehicles were used in. The large internal space of the Typ 83 was mostly used for mail transport with the Reichspost while the Typ 86 saw service as an ambulance car.

The model of the Typ 83 was once available under CMK label, cat.no T35018. But, as it has been sold out for a rather long time and modellers kept asking for it, a decision was taken to get the model back into our production. Now the model is to be available again as SA35005 within Special Armour range of kits. On opening the kit’s box, the modeller will get two sprues with grey styrene parts, the car body with its rear portion cut off to allow for the superstructure to be mounted on and also one sprue of clear parts. The decal sheet brings markings for two options, one grey-coloured mail transport car and one ambulance car with nice camouflage scheme.


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Comments

This is a really cool version of that kit. Really like the ambulance option.
JUN 15, 2017 - 08:13 AM
How are the these VWs to build? I've always been kinda interested in the wood gas version.
JUN 15, 2017 - 10:09 AM
Well, the one I built was a little iffy. The smaller parts seemed more flash than actual part; I had to scratch my own banana-style bumper guards as the sprue attachment point practically ate them, and the tail light assembly (known as the "Pope's Nose") was not the right shape at all. Otherwise, it worked out fine.  photo WP_20151228_002_zpsqetkp38z.jpg" BORDER="0">
JUN 15, 2017 - 12:21 PM
How do you access the engine bay? From the cargo bed?
JUN 15, 2017 - 02:03 PM
There is a hatch over the engine for servicing etc. inside the box body
JUN 15, 2017 - 07:26 PM
Yes, I was about to say that but you beat me to it. It would be similar to what VW did for the Type 4 series of cars, especially the Squareback model.
JUN 15, 2017 - 11:08 PM
Built one of these several years ago and seem to remember replacing the engine bay with one from one of Dragon's Kubelwagens as they had better detail. If the engine is actually under the floor boards ala Type 4 then that won't work here as the engine cooling shroud is completely different. Plus it is doubtful that you'd actually see anything much anyways!
JUN 16, 2017 - 02:27 AM
Well, I doubt it is exactly like the Type 4 layout as the pancake engine was a later 60's design, but since the upper portion of the deck lid would be blocked by the cargo box they would have to have some kind of access to get around that. I hardly believe they would be okay with having to drop the engine every time they wanted to do simple adjustments.It wouldn't have any effect on oil changes or on adjusting the valves, as those can be accessed from below. I've spent many hours underneath old Type 1's and 2's doing just that.
JUN 16, 2017 - 02:39 AM
Do not forget that this version was only build and used AFTER the war! So the camouflaged version is just fantasy!
JUN 16, 2017 - 10:56 AM
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