A War's End Shop exclusive, new made reproduction Berker Wehrmacht flashlight with our newest refillable battery included (not available separately at this time). Do not let the professionalism fool you; I made these right here in Ohio.
The Berker flashlight was patented in 1941. It was originally made from a cloth filled Bakelite material, typically in a darker or black color. It is one of the most desirable flashlights for collectors due in equal parts to rarity and just the cool factor. They have everything going for them: Bakelite, Morse code table directly molded onto the front, an interesting aesthetic and typically a nice subtle use of various colors. The closure buttons were typically red and the black out flipper tab was either blue or aluminum, although I believe the aluminum ones are probably just missing the blue knob. Its just a great looking flashlight and if you don't own one, you probably want one and if you do own one, you probably want more.
This reproduction has a 3D printed black resin main body which is overpainted in a Panzergrau color. Hand assembled from a variety of components. It has a number of nice features:
- Flip up black out cover.
- Lockable on/off button (turn to lock in the off or on position.)
- Leather button tabs / belt loop which is easy to remove and replace when worn out.
- Simplified reliable electrical contacts which are easy to maintain and tweak to perfection.
- Spare lightbulb holder with spare bulb (we used the original period bulbs we had on hand.)
- Off the shelf gray color (Behr Classic Noir) which is a fantastic German gray color and widely available at most Home Depots, so you can touch this up if you ever need to.
- Refillable battery that looks like a regular battery, not an ugly adapter (it is probably the only battery you will ever need so feel free to bend those tabs however you need to to get the best contact.)
- Solid locking closure buttons.
- Acrylic domed main lens.
- Morse code table molded on the front.
- Covered smaller downward facing lens.
- Standard E10 small light bulb base, you can use our period bulbs or potentially find a more modern brighter bulb. The bulb itself must be pretty small to fit. If you try a modern LED bulb, be mindful of the polarity which side of the bulb must connect to positive and which to negative. Old light bulbs don't care about polarity.
- It comes in a rather nice sealed box, the box is not a reproduction of anything, but these needed packaging, so I made something visually stimulating.
In order to make this possible at even a remotely reasonable price, I did have to redesign a few details, but I believe I was able to minimize these changes and even improve the functionality. The internal mechanism is simplified which made it easier to produce, easier to maintain, and more reliable. The contacts are simple brass flat stock which basically connect the battery directly to the lightbulb, eliminating a number of contact points which frequently fail on original flashlights. The brass is stiff enough to maintain its shape but easy enough to tweak here or there to maintain proper function over time. The contacts are not hiding under riveted down covers like most originals, so you can actually get to them. The leather tabs are cut from a hide I had in the warehouse. It is actually quite old, but still nice (it might actually be from the 40's). The leather tabs are unique on the Berker and on our version the tab can easily be replaced by removing the 2 pins holding it place. Each leather tab has a waffen amt which is something I borrowed from another Bakelite flashlight in my collection. The little blue switch on the side does not operate a colored shade, it operates a solid cover that blocks out the main lens to divert a small bit of light down out of the covered lens just above the Morse tafel. This makes it easier to read documents without producing too much light. Finally, an epic flashlight that actually works.
To turn it on, you turn the top black button to unlock it and push down. You can also lock the button in the on position by turning it once its on or don't lock it and just use it to tap out a message in Morse code.
Note on durability: These are made from the strongest material I have found so far for the resin 3D printer that doesn't cost $200+ a liter, This material is probably far stronger than most stuff you have seen 3D printed elsewhere. This is the same stuff I use for a lot of my black resin printed parts. They are not indestructible, but should last a long time provided you do not sit on it. It is essentially made from glue, so cracks or chips can be superglued back together quite well and the paint is readily available at Home Depot for touch up (Behr Classic Noir). I would say, treat this almost as if it is an original and it will last you a life time. Drop kick it across the parking lot at the next event and that will be the last thing you get to do with it.
Extended flashlight rant (optional reading if you want to know all nitty gritty details behind the design):
I have wanted to make flashlights for at least a decade, but it has always been a daunting undertaking. I made the Berker, not because it is the coolest, or the rarest Wehrmacht flashlight (and it is all of that), I made the Berker because after reviewing all the most common Wehrmacht flashlights, the Berker was the one that I could come closest to reproducing with the technology that I have. So it was actually the easiest one for me to make despite it looking more complicated. No matter which flashlight I chose to make, I was going to have to make some design changes to make it possible at a reasonable price. The Berker required the fewest changes. So what is actually different?
- The body is painted gray. The resin I chose to print this from is slightly transparent, which is only an issue because there is a lightbulb in it. This was discovered quickly in the first prototype. It is basically solid black in appearance but turn on the light and it would glow a bit through the body. So I had to paint it. Gray paint is common on many various Wehrmacht flashlights, I had a good, readily available color, and it looks really good. Painted Bakelite was also quite common. It is reminiscent of other Bakelite Wehrmacht gear which was painted gray, like field radios etc... I had to make a choice, I chose to paint them gray rather than selling them as really funky lanterns. If you really wanted to, you could scrub the paint off and clear coat it; it would look a lot like solid black Bakelite but I think the gray will wear and age really well.
- The leather tabs are held on by metal pins rather than permanent stamped riveted aluminum plates. Making the aluminum plates would probably have added at least $10 to each flashlight. They were actually pretty complicated and would have required laser cutting (minimum order quantities) and a number of stamping processes plus riveting them on permanently. The complication would likely have resulted in making no flashlight at all, not a better flashlight. By making the tab held on by pins, it maintains the spirit of the original tab but makes it easier to manufacture and, as a bonus, makes it easy to replace without loosing any functionality. The weird shape of the leather is not my invention, that's how the original was shaped and held on. I just used pins rather than permanent riveted plates. The leather on the original was sort of free floating and held in mostly by its odd shape which is one of the reasons I chose the Berker.
- The latch buttons are simplified and redesigned around 3D printing. To copy the originals would have required more riveting and custom cut spring steel parts. This would have again added a significant amount to the cost of each flashlight. The buttons I designed are actually pretty slick. They impressed me the first time I put the prototype together. Original latches are normally pretty weak. These create a much tighter hold when closed because they latch the back to the front around a 360degree ridge. The springs keep the buttons in place, but the button itself does the latching; the original relied far more on the spring and the button was just along for the ride. From the outside, they look exactly like the originals and I did decide to put in aluminum rivets where the original latch would have been to help maintain authenticity from the outside at least. I painted the buttons a primer red color as the originals were made from a similar color Bakelite and dyeing my 3D printer resin has proven fruitless despite a lot of experimenting.
- The reflector is printed directly as part of the body rather than being a separate metal part and the reflective silver is painted on. Again, a separate part would have made this way more costly in time and material and the solution I came up with made it easier to make but also made the flashlight reliable because the contacts go directly to the light bulb rather than passing the current through several separate pieces that have to maintain proper contact to work. That doesn't seem like it would be a problem, but I have handled hundreds of period flashlights, trust me, it can be a problem. You honestly wonder how some designers ever expected their flashlight to keep working with all the janky connections they relied on. The fewer times you rely on continuity between two separate bits of metal, the better.
- I opted to make the contact go as directly to the light bulb as possible, leave no room for failures. It works great and the simple brass strips can be tweaked easily if you need to tune it in. If it looks a little wild in there, I did it for a reason. The top contact is oversized with some funny bends in it to ensure longevity. The length and the bends ensure that as this part flexes over time it won't deform. When you turn this flashlight on, you are basically just pushing the contact down until it touches the lightbulb directly. The other contact just connects straight to the bottom of the bulb and I did bend this contact off to one side to ensure there was enough area for the battery to contact. I admit that bit looks a bit goofy, but I opted for reliability after testing the prototype.
- This is getting a bit more nit picky, but the little black out flipper is very close to the original but I did omit a spring steel tongue that applied tension to the black out shade. Again, it would have added another part and more cost. I made the blue flipper from an injection molded plastic as I believe this would make it more durable since the flipper end kinda sticks out from the flashlight a bit and might catch things. These are broken on many originals, so I know its a problem. It maintains a reasonable amount of tension just due to the material and fit.
- The small covered light that points down on the Morse tafel is not quite as round as the original. Auto cad would just not let me do it. I do not know why but sometimes it just does not let you do certain things. Nope, not with that radius you're not / chamfer, naw, not today, not here. I can only deal with that so much before I have to walk away for a while. Perhaps in the future, I will revisit the drawing but that's not something I look forward to. Also the lens on mine is clear. I have seen some originals where this is a blue lens. I don't know which is more common and the original patent is not really much help either as it bares only a rudimentary resemblance to the real flashlight. Berker could make a hell of a flashlight, but they weren't terribly precise when drawing it. I think the mold maker probably deserves more credit for its excellence than the original designer.
- The black out cover and the backing plate that holds in the lens are made from a treated black cardstock which is water resistant, reasonably stiff and durable. The originals used a sort of phenolic sheet material which I could probably have obtained but I did not want to cut it. I inhale enough toxic fumes in the shop as it is.
- During my initial planning, I did not intend to even try to make the inside look correct as it really doesn't need to be, it just needs to work and look correct from the outside but I apparently could not allow myself that comfort so we ended up with an inside that has some differences to the original but is still very presentable. There are some good pictures of originals for sale on various sites, compare for yourself.
That concludes the noteworthy differences. It seems like a lot of little changes, but since I pride myself on accuracy, I wanted to put all of these out there in advance and not leave some of you wondering why I did this or that. If I did not make these changes, there would be no flashlight; I know because this has been on the project to-do list for probably a decade and its these little things that stopped me every time. If I listed the things that I was able to replicate exactly, it would be longer. If I hadn't been the one to make this and I saw it in a movie I would just be super excited to see it, holy #*$^ that's a Berker, did you see that? That's awesome, no notes. Even if they opened it up in that movie to change the battery, I would still just be excited to see it. If you ever watched a WWII movie with me, you would understand the gravity of such a statement. I hate most everything, but not this.
