Hi all

Now that Christmas is out of the way, I though it about time I started my next build. I have a friend who is a huge fan of the Willys MB Jeep, he often states proudly that he will have one one day, keep dream i say, but in the meantime I thought I would make him a slightly smaller one of his own.

I started with the Italeri kit from 2005, though it is from a much older mould and consequently flaws became noticable right from the start.



Firstly the spare wheel mount, which was frankly a waste of space. This was sawn off and replaced with a Legend productions update. Though little will be shown of this part after the wheel is attached, I have a thing about detail.....



Next up came the roof support poles. These, as with the Tamiya version, comes as three separate parts. Even with an expert construction, a flawless join is almost impossible to achieve. Brass replacements were formed with my new grabhadler from Mission Models, kindly donated to me by a good friend of mine. This was finished off with styrene rod and parts from the Photo-etch spares box.



The Jerry can is also similar to the Tamiya example, though neither are very good. A new one was scratch built from spare PE, styrene strip and rod. The can itself was a legend productions item with Tamiya handles and straps again sourced from the spares box.



Stowage was dug out from the spares box and the seats were textured with tissue paper and PVA glue.

After digging out some refrence images, I noticed a feature I had not modelled before; the canvas door flaps. I will build this item from wine bottle foil and add bolt detail with styrene rod.





On the other side, i intend to show just the poppers, suggesting that one has been lost or discarded.





I also wanted to include a canvas cover on the folded down windshield, which i have modelled before with some success. I dug out some more shots, as i wasn't sure if the canvas had insignia on them....they do.





A dry fit highlights any issues with fitting and suggests the finished stance. I constructed a plate to hang of the spare wheel to inject a splash of colour to the rear of the vehicle.



Extra bolt detail was added to various parts of the kit such as wheel wells and handles and now it's onto the 30.cal that will sit in the cab.

thanks for reading

stuart

So this is to be a jeep of the 101st Airborne? I like the detail so far, but if you are such a detailed-oriented person, you might want to replace the British backpacks you have mounted on there with American M1936 Musette bags. I suppose a jeep could have acquired some British backpacks during Market Garden (not sure when yours is to be set), but 4 seems a bit much. Musette bags are easy to find in Tamiya Shermans, the Tamiya Allied Stowage set, and various aftermarket companies make them. They also come in DML US Airborne sets.

Like the work on the canvas roof supports. That's going the extra mile.

Keep up the good work.

Rob

Hi there

Thanks for your comments there, I see what you are saying and have taken on board your advise changing some of the bags. This Jeep is hopefully going to be set in Bastogne, depending on how I get on with the scenic snow, so British equipment wouldn't be out of the question.

Primer and base coat are on. Future floor polish will be the next stage, ready for the decals, which incidently, are from the Italeri kit so it saved me from hunting down some 101st decals.



I added support legs to the 30.cal gun mount, though they are a little widely spread.



Priming the Jeep exposed no major flaws, so I applied the base coat of Tamiya Olive drab XF 62. I did rather fancy trying Lifecolour, but didn't have the relevant paint in that brand, almost, but not exactly right, so maybe next time..





Everything is looking well OD at the moment, so as soon as some decals are fixed, it's time to inject some colour into this baby. the canvas areas of the vehicle, including the stoawage should go some way to aid this, but carefull weathering will also need to be carried out.

Stuart

great looking jeep! outstanding attention to detail, and I love the canvas door. That is one item that I have yet to see in any aftermarket, yet makes your model stand out in the crowd and adds some character.

if you have access to some RTV and resin, you may want to cast yourself some wheels from the taymia kit, as they look far more like the real thing. Italieris wheels are a little off.

Or, if your doing a bastone jeep, dont forget snowchains. If you get some wheels with snowchains that will take care of the italeri wheel issue as the masters on most current jeep snowchain wheels are from the taymia kit. I think the Legends set has snowchained wheels in it. Or Tank workshop (now TWS) has a nice set, though the old ones were all the same hub :-(

anyway, GREAT build, and im looking forward to seeing her done!
Andy

Fantastic sequence of build and paint photos so far Stuart. Your creativity and adding details is great, thanks so much for sharing them. Looking forward to your next sequence. Cheers!

Tim

I've never heard of that tissue paper texturing idea before. I think it's brilliant. Congrats.

Chas

A fine attention to detail mate!
Love the little things to make the kit your 'own' version... Great work on the roof supports.
For what its worth, are the canvas door flaps 100% WWII? I'm talking through my hat here, but it may be a reason they haven't been modelled. Just a thought, and I hope I'm wrong!
Looking forward to more updates. Also, if you are looking for figures, MK35 make about 4 seated driver/passengers that look the business
Cheers
Brad

Great work so far Stuart, some great attention to detail here. Looks like you get the same kick out of overhauling old kits that I do!

However, I was wondering about the following comment you made:




Why would British equipment be anywhere near Bastogne? I take it this is set during the battle of the bulge when the only allied combatants were the 101st and 10th armoured, both US divisions. Any British equipment would be far to the North with Montgomery and not in Bastogne i'm afraid. Please correct me if i'm wrong however!
Also as Brad raised the point about the door flaps being possibly post war, I can't help i'm afraid but would advise against basing your research on contemporary photos, as the jeep remained in service for many years after the war, and while beautifully preserved, many modern examples have been subjected to their 'owners touch', and so might not be historically accurate. You can't beat some original pictures!

Good luck with the rest of the build, look forward to seeing this progress,

James

Thanks for the comments guys.

I see where you are coming from with the stowage, though I believe there would have been apportunity somewhere along the lines to aquire these items. It has been stated to me that Jeeps often picked up any form of stowage they could use, even German, so I am perfectly willing on this occasion to let this detail lie, though this is worth considering for leter builds. In any case, you can't beat accurate refrence pictures to base your builds on.

In terms of the canvas doors. I tracked down a picture of a Jeep taken during servive which has the poppers to accept the door and to back this picture up, I have found the following statement:

''Army Jeeps also came with canvas 1/2 doors. They attached with 7 complex snaps to the side of the body. These snaps are not the kind of snaps seen today. Both the snaps and the ½ doors were next to useless, and that is why you almost never see them in pictures.''



I also found some information on the windshield cover, as follows:

''The Windshield Cover is another item that is seldom seen today''

''The windshield cover consisted of 2 long pieces of OD canvas sewn together at the top and both sides. The bottom was left open to allow the windshield to slide into it, and then the bottom was closed with snaps. At the top, there were cutouts to allow the loops screwed to the top of the windshield to come through so the windshield could to be folded down and secured with the hood clamps. Occasionally a star was stenciled to the windshield cover since it covered the star painted on the hood when folded down. The purpose of the windshield was to protect the glass from falling debris, and to stop the glass from acting like a mirror and reflecting sun/moon/star light to enemy observers thereby giving away your position''

Hope that settles a few things

Thanks for the feedback so far, more to come

Stuart

Ola Stuart

Looks good so far. I like the stuff you have done so far to it. And it definately will look perfect when all painted and weathered up. I cannot comment on the accuracy of all things since my knowledge of allied stuff is simply not big enough. I have a couple of questions though.
Looking at the bags which are obviously tied to the side of the Jeep it is missing the detail of where it is tied on to. They are missing the straps. Now they kinda look like some magnetic force is keeping them into place. And the backpack that is hanging on the other side somehow looks a bit odd. I saw you first had other bags on the side. Which IMHO looked a lot better. The shovel looks a bit like the first thing to be ripped off when going through heavy brushes or at the first pothole. The above points I think could have deserved the same amount of attention that you have done to the rest of the vehicle and it would really make it a very good model.

I'm very curious how you are going to weather the Jeep.. It is a nifty vehicle. And your looks good so far,

With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Just an FYI - Canvas half doors have been modeled in the past. Resin sets that I believe came from Ordanance models (I'd have to check the stash at home), they also produced other items for Jeep details like a version or two of canvas covered wndshields, stowage baskets for the rear, fording gear, chained tires, and up armor, etc. You can still find some of this stuff out there.

Sidenote - DecalStar also did half-doors for the Tamiya Famo too.

Steve

Oh man. Again, great work so far. Earlier I mentioned about the British stowage, and now I see you swapped out two bags for this other one, which, I gotta say, looks even worse! It's a super-stiff made-up bag that looks like a block of plastic or wood. I have zillions of these bags, coming with the old Tamiya US Infantry, and it's a bag that doesn't even exist with a too-small shovel on it. TAKE MY ADVICE! Dump it and get some M1936 Musette bags. I've already told you where to get some. Ask around...someone may be willing to just GIVE you some. This build is WAY too good to have those bags on there. Do it justice! If this kit warrants all the other work you are doing to it, you may as well get the stowage right (or close to right).

Rob

Hi all

Aaaaah! I have left the Jeep in the kitchen for the matt coat to dry, but am worried that I made the dull coat too think. I have been experimenting again! Future and Tamiya Dull Coat mixed very weakly as an overspray onto the decals.

Since the last post, I have applied a layer of Future/Johnson's clear in preparation for the kit supplied decals. They went on a dream with the aid of some warm water and Micro Sol.

Then came the scary moment. Why I choose to experiment on important builds, I will never know. I have applied the mixture and am scared to go back in there to see if it has turned a very matt white. Well i was thinking off adding snow to the diorama.

I will update you shortly as to it's fate.

Stuart

He He, watch that tounge Christen.

Well here's the news, some bad some good:

Bad

The Tamiya Dull Coat was either mixed too strong, or the two were simply never meant to be together. As feared, the Jeep has developed a mottled white effect on the surface. I have ecountered this before and so knew what to do to rectify the problem, not that it's a very fun job.



To return the paintwork to its original finish, all you need is a cotton bud and a lot of patience. Simply work the bud onto the surface to remove the powdery white layer. I don't know why you are able to just do this is unknown to me as you would imagine that it would be perminent.



And her's the result, not a flawless finish, but I assure you that in natural light, you can hardly notice a thing.



Good

What can you see as a possitive to this event? Well, it may just be the optomistic side of me talking, but I like it when events such as this happen, as I feel it develops you as a modeller and gives you more confidence in the future. If every build flew along seamlessly, ok you would probably develop in certain areas, but in the end, what would you have to remember about the build. Besides, the result of the painting was that I discovered a new paint effect, while its uses have yet to be discovered, the mottled effect may come in useful one day.

Panic over, now all I have to work on is the stowage,

Stuart

awesome job , brings back memories, my father had a willys which was done up as a company hq car for the 101, with the 30 cal in the back along with the radio. did you know that not of those jeeps were 4x4? i beleive his had a flat 4 under the hood. oh well your doing a great job

Ola Stuart

If I may give you a little bit of good advice and safe you a lot of tears and extra time you can normally spend on other usefull things such as weathering. Toss the Dull coat in the bin. It is rubbish. It always dries white. And sure you have done a great job on cleaning it up. But You better could take normal Mat OD froM tamiya. Dripp in a couple of drops of Buff and then add a couple of drops clear X22 into the mix. It sounds odd to add some clear in the mix but look at painted metal... it is never flat... It always has a satin shine to it. If you make your vehicle too matt it looks dead lifeless while having it with a slight shine which may only be noticeable in certain angles to the light makes the colors more lifelike. Look at the round parts of this Steyr Ambulance to see what I mean.

And the drops of buff is to make the green a bit lighter. OD is probably among the most rotten colors to weather. It is easier to make a slightly lighter tone darker with weathering then vice versa. I did it on my Russian still to finish BA1


Your salvage operation was quite succesfull. But since you say it happened to you before and as you say it is not a fun job. I thought I might give you something with which you can avoid this situation.

With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

Yes Stuart, everyone has made the Tamiya dull coat mistake once in their modelling lives. Its supposed to be added to gloss colours to turn them matt, not to be used on its own, unfortunately Mr. Tamiya forgot to tell anyone.

Unlucky, but congrats on rectifying the problem.

James

Thanks Will Rob and James, I was lucky this time, though it could have been a lot worse!.

Just a quick update.

I have started to apply base coats to the the items on the Jeep. Each part needs painting to the same standard as the rest of the Jeep. I often see exceptionally well painted vehicles with sub standard painted tools. This really lessens the impact of the kit and looks more like an afterthought.

I really liked a baseball bat detail pointed out to me in an old picture, now this will set the rivet counters out there crazy, as this is extreme artistic licence, but what the hell. I simply made it out of a strip of styrene rod and wittled it down with the edge of a craft knife into the shape of a bat. Hope you like it, here it's modelled by a half finished figure...



The paintwork is all over the place at the moment, so it all looks a bit half finished. You will see I have reconsidered the stowage yet again. I have also added the elbow pads to the Jeep, which I missed the first time around, though they aren't painted yet.





Very strappy at the moment, I am thinking of discarding the tools mounted on the side, as they fit really poorly and would look a lot better stowed elsewhere on the Jeep.

As you can see, even with mainly 'first coats' applied to the Jeeps details, there is already an injection of colour, adding a little extra interest to the OD scheme.

attached some US stowage to the side and attached the straps to the bed roll. The baseball bat came out quite nicely, really glad I spent the time to make it.

After a few simple washes, some drybrushing was needed to bring out a little more depth. The darkness of the basecoat has made weathering harder than it had to be, I will apply a lighter shade next time. Do you think the drybrushing on the open areas is a little too much? I quite like the result, as its brought more interest to the OD paint work.



I have some PE chain to go onto the 30.cal and then it's onto the wheels. There is still lots of weathering to do on the stowage and seats not to mention the wheels and a touch of pigment on the chassis. Where do I start, this is such a scrappy build; lots of small items all with different painting techniques.

Thanks for reading

Stuart

The build is still really 'bitty', lots of small parts to paint, though the end is in sight. I have managed to get the wheels looking more decent. I did compare these with the Tamiya ones and found little difference, so used the Italeri ones.

These were painted as usual with a base coat of Humbrol 33 Black enamel with highlights of progressively lighter shades of grey enamel.



You'll agree that it looks a lot more like a Jeep with the wheels on.

I have also lightened the canvas door with a little drybrushing. I am happy that the stowage attached so far has lightened the shade of the Jeep; I was a worried that the shade was too dark, but am happier now.

The spare wheel on the back has been attached allong with the rear plate. If you ever needed an example of silvering, here it is. I didn't take the time to prepare the surface with Future, and the reult is quite noticable in this image.



This can be rectified with a steady hand and some of the black base coat, though it would have taken less time to just do it properly to start with.

Onto the base and figures soon, though I am currently waiting for items to arrive and wages to appear, so I appologise for any delays. In the meantime, there is plenty more weathering to do on the Jeep and its stowage.

Thanks

Stuart