I seem to be continuing on my jeep kick lately. Up next is an early Willys MB with the original design welded slat grill before the Ford designed stamped grill was standardized for production.

Here are a few pics of one. Along with the welded grill, there was also a Willys logo on the rear plate and no fuel/water can holder.




For the conversion, I am using the Tamiya Willys MB kit and Lymes Models Willys MB Slat conversion set.



Here she is so far.



I have also added the hand operated windshield wipers and added the ignition coil and distributor to the right side of the engine, which Tamiya neglected. I also added the side wall supports below the dashboard, brake and clutch pedals, and various smaller bits and pieces throughout.


The Lymes Models set contains a laser-cut paper grill and a resin rear panel with raised Willys logo. The grill is very nice and has fine details, but it is very, very fragile. I broke it a couple times in handling and applying it to the model. I used superglue to attach it. I also found that saturating it with superglue and letting it dry well, then sanding it left it very smooth and hard as plastic. It came out great. There was no issue with the resin rear plate either. It fit the Tamiya kit perfectly.

More to come later as it gets further along.

As always, all comments are welcomed.

Hi, great job on the grill and your kit. wait to see more .
steph

Lookin good Gino!

Out of curiosity, are you going to drill out the spare tire mount?

I've gotta get the new Bronco GPW and get rolling on one too!

Jon

Thanks Steph and Jon. No, I will be leaving the spare tire mount alone. Once the wheel is on, you can't really see it anyways.

For future reference, here's a useful tip:

instead of soaking a compressed paper part in CA, (believe it or not, there is the possibility of the CA reacting with the cellulose, resulting in spontaneous combustion. I've seen it happen plenty of times when I tried to wipe excess CA from the foam padding I was reattaching on M175 mounts. The shop rag would start to smolder, then, ignite. Impressive; but, not cool in an arms room. ) soak the part in clear polyurethane wood finish. Place the part on some wax paper and let it dry. When dry, the part will be rock solid and ready for sanding, priming and painting.

looking good Gino,nice clean build,great work.

You really love your Jeeps Gino! That welded grill really does make it look quite different to the more common grill. Funny how something like that can change the look of the vehicle. I love the hand operated wipers though, I bet if you were the only one driving in the rain they were a real pain in the ass!

Very nice looking. I've been hoping someone will release a good, styrene version of this one day.

Thanks guys. I like the look of this one too.

I completed the early Willys, slat-grilled MB. I have marked it as a vehicle from 5th Army, 101 MP Bn during the Loiusiana Maneuvers of summer 1941.

Here are some pics.



Here you can see the instrument panel pretty well. Of note, I used Archer instrument transfers on it. I also put the tire pressure marking (TP 25) on the dash as well. This was accurate for WWII vehicles. The tire pressure above the rear wheel openings and on the front fenders was a post war feature.


A good shot of the Willys script on the rear.


I plumbed the engine compartment with ignition wires, coil, distributor, battery cables, fuel line, etc. I also added the support rod from the radiator to the firewall as well.



It was a fun build and I like how it came out.

As always, all comments are welcomed.

hello, superb editing.
steph

Thanks Steph. It was a fun build. I just got one of the Bronco GPWs. I might have to do it soon too.

That's a very nice looking Jeep. Great job, as always.

Thanks Russ. I enjoyed this one.

Nicely finished in MP markings Gino and its good to see you've kept the hood movable so the engine can be shown off. Great stuff.

Thanks Karl. I thought the MP decals looked good and added a bit of color to it. I like how it turned out.