Thursday 21 September 2023

Type 82 Kübelwagen

The Type 82 Kübelwagen (a contraction of Kübelsitzwagen, bucket seat car) was designed by Ferdinand Porsche for the German Wehrmacht in 1938 as a light-weight utility vehicle, similar to the design criteria for the US military’s Jeep. The car was based on the chassis and drive train of the Volkswagen. With its air cooled, four cylinder engine and self-locking differential, it was versatile and dependable in different terrain and weather conditions. The car was assembled at the Volkswagen plants in Stadt des KDF-Wagens, present day Wolfsburg. From 1940 through 1945 50,400 of the cars were built. Interestingly, the bodies for the Kübelwagen were made by the American owned firm, Ambi Budd. I’ve found one source that said that the company had been nationalized by the German government before the war. This model is based on the late 1943 version of the car that was used by the 65th infantry division of the Wehrmachtheer in Italy.

This Kübelwagen model, like the Jeep, is a make-over with fixed mistakes and updates.

#Kubelwagen #Kübelwagen #Wehrmacht #WWII #Jeep









 




Sunday 17 September 2023

WW II US Army Jeep

 The WW II US Army Jeep, officially designated as Truck, ¼ ton, 4 X 4, was manufactured by Willys-Overland Motors and the Ford Motor Company. From 1941 to 1945 over six hundred thousand were produced. With its Willys-Overland L134 four cylinder, 60 hp engine it had a top speed of 105 kph( 65 mph) and a range of 483 km (300 miles). Interestingly, the final design chosen by the US Army was an amalgam of the best features of the three companies in the final bidding process.

 Modelling note: I first made a Blender model of the WW II Jeep four years ago and I wanted to fix a lot of mistakes, including, in particular, the materials and scene lighting, and update it with the current version of the software. This effort took about 25 hours.

 #Blender #Jeep #Willys #WWII #Army #Truck