The signature small craft in deWulf space, the Raumer Spaceworks Käfer is also the primary small craft carried on every deWulf Navy ship, from the smaller Augen-Class survey ships to the monolithic Sieg-Class Siege Dreadnoughts. Originally designed as a civilian small craft, its low cost and effectiveness quickly brought it into general Navy service.
Unlike other small craft, the Käfer eschews the standard “engines in back” design concept with a then-innovative engine bracket that slips around the main crew compartment. This design concept kept the main compartment simple and roomy while providing easy access to major drive components. Unfortunately this same design concept means that many standard parts do not fit in the Käfer. Fortunately, the sheer ubiquity of the Käfer means that sometimes their “non-standard” parts are more common than parts that would be considered standard.
The interior is fairly simple and straightforward. A large cargo hatch/ramp occupies the whole rear of the craft into a small cargo area. Farther forward is a bulkhead with a storage locker and parts of the ship’s propulsion system. Farther forward are three rows of seats, two on the left side, an aisle, and then single seats on the right, before ending in two side by side pilot seats. After market modifications are common, the most common being a removal of all of the passenger seats and storage lockers for more raw cargo space.
The Käfer was definitely an iterative design, and the current sketch is one of the later versions of the basic design. The name itself is modelled after another small “bug-like car” that exists in the real world, but this version is substantially more common than the real world bug! I played around with some different ideas, including having the standard “deWulf open jaw” in the front, but the rounded cylinder as a basic concept just worked out far too well.
Dollarton Proxima Shipyards 