Academy VW Schwimmwagen

With lots of medical appointments and the usual chaos of the run-up to Christmas, I’ve fallen a bit behind in documenting completions lately. At least it will provide fodder for the blog.

First up is another small vehicle. As you likely know, the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen is a shortened amphibious development of the same firm’s Kubelwagen. The main modification is the body tub, which provides for smooth transit through water and the reduced wheel base. Motive power in water was by a prop in the lower rear of the vehicle and land transit was via the regular transmission. Steering was accomplished by using the front wheels as rudders. Nearly 16,000 were produced during the war, and only 189 exist today. It is roughly comparable to the Ford GPA.

The kit is from Academy, part of AC13401, and also includes a German fuel truck and bomb loader. As with all of the Academy vehicles, detail is nice for the scale and I can’t complain about fit. Generally, with these small vehicles I finish major construction (not including wheels) and then paint. Most of them are only one color, which is what drives this approach. Then I go through and do whatever detail painting is necessary – in this case steering wheel, seats, exhaust and dashboard. I followed this by painting the tires and attaching the wheels.

Earlier I mentioned a quandary I was in regarding this vehicle, which I still have not resolved, and that is the windshield. No clear parts are provided by Academy and I don’t happen to have any clear plastic sheet on hand. I suspect the proper solution is to cut clear plastic to shape and then attach it with Clearfix. However, as I said, I have no such clear plastic on hand and want to get this one in the completed column. So for the purpose of these pictures, I will just leave the windshield empty and add windows at a later date. I will likely take the same approach with the DUKW, which will be debuting soon.

I continue to enjoy building these 1:72 vehicles. All are of simple construction, most are single color, and dealing with wheels is considerably easier than dealing with tracks (though eventually I’ll have to figure that part out as well). A bomb cart and DUKW are in process, with a Kubelwagen and another truck about to enter the construction queue.

This is completed vehicle #13 (15 aircraft, 3 ordnance, 13 vehicles for the year 2017), finished in November of 2017.