Go over to ebay and grab an older Italeri or Tamiya Jeep for about $10. BTW: It's a "Willys" jeep -- correctly pronounced "WILL-IS"

However, in popular culture, it's been pronounced "WILL-EEZ". But Mr. Willys pronounced his name "WILLIS"

Bronco, Dragon, Italeri and Tamiya all make a WWII Willys Jeep. Look for WWII 1/4 ton truck, or utility truck. Bronco also makes a Ford Jeep.

Jeep trademarked the name, and the Ford designed grill, and no one wants to pay the high license cost to use the name.

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Bronco, Dragon, Italeri and Tamiya all make a WWII Willys Jeep. Look for WWII 1/4 ton truck, or utility truck. Bronco also makes a Ford Jeep.

Jeep trademarked the name, and the Ford designed grill, and no one wants to pay the high license cost to use the name.

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Strictly speaking, Bronco makes a Ford GPW jeep, but the differences between it and a Willys MB are very slight. During the war, they were all called jeeps, a slang term probably derived from the designation of the 1941 Ford version, which was known as the GP (the Willys product didn't become the Jeep, capitalized and trademarked, until well after the war ended). Because of the trademark fee issue, many kit companies now refer to the jeep only as a "1/4 Ton Truck," which may confuse newbies.
Tamiya's is probably the best MB available, though Italeri's isn't bad (though one batch of Italeri Jeeps was issued with the cutaway grill intended for the SAS version, a weird mistake, or perhaps an excess of caution after Jeep trademarked the grill design as well as the name).
Heller also offered a Hotchkiss Jeep (built in France under license until the 1960's). Again, not a lot of differences between it and the basic Wllys version.
The primitive Monogram kit is also floating around, sometimes in a Revell box. A Snap-Tite version was once offered by Monogram, which had an open canvas top, the only version with that feature I can recall.

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Bronco, Dragon, Italeri and Tamiya all make a WWII Willys Jeep. Look for WWII 1/4 ton truck, or utility truck. Bronco also makes a Ford Jeep.

Jeep trademarked the name, and the Ford designed grill, and no one wants to pay the high license cost to use the name.

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Strictly speaking, Bronco makes a Ford GPW jeep, but the differences between it and a Willys MB are very slight. During the war, they were all called jeeps, a slang term probably derived from the designation of the 1941 Ford version, which was known as the GP (the Willys product didn't become the Jeep, capitalized and trademarked, until well after the war ended). Because of the trademark fee issue, many kit companies now refer to the jeep only as a "1/4 Ton Truck," which may confuse newbies.
Tamiya's is probably the best MB available, though Italeri's isn't bad (though one batch of Italeri Jeeps was issued with the cutaway grill intended for the SAS version, a weird mistake, or perhaps an excess of caution after Jeep trademarked the grill design as well as the name).
Heller also offered a Hotchkiss Jeep (built in France under license until the 1960's). Again, not a lot of differences between it and the basic Wllys version.
The primitive Monogram kit is also floating around, sometimes in a Revell box. A Snap-Tite version was once offered by Monogram, which had an open canvas top, the only version with that feature I can recall.

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The Italeri jeep had a canvas top when I built one years ago. I've worked on both Willys and Ford jeeps, and the Ford is almost a carbon copy of the original Willys. The front cross member on the Ford is a U shaped stamped metal part, on the Willys it is a formed metal tube. The Ford is also about 200 pounds heavier than the Willys because Henry thought it was to flimsy and added inserts in the frame to strengthen it. If I remember some metal is thicker as well.

On both jeeps the front frame where the front spring attaches by the bumper is the weak spot.

And, the WWII Willys 1/4 ton truck is actually a Bantam design. The Army gave the contract to Willys because they felt Bantam would not be able to make enough of them, then asked Ford to join in.

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Bronco, Dragon, Italeri and Tamiya all make a WWII Willys Jeep. Look for WWII 1/4 ton truck, or utility truck. Bronco also makes a Ford Jeep.

Jeep trademarked the name, and the Ford designed grill, and no one wants to pay the high license cost to use the name.

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Strictly speaking, Bronco makes a Ford GPW jeep, but the differences between it and a Willys MB are very slight. During the war, they were all called jeeps, a slang term probably derived from the designation of the 1941 Ford version, which was known as the GP (the Willys product didn't become the Jeep, capitalized and trademarked, until well after the war ended). Because of the trademark fee issue, many kit companies now refer to the jeep only as a "1/4 Ton Truck," which may confuse newbies.
Tamiya's is probably the best MB available, though Italeri's isn't bad (though one batch of Italeri Jeeps was issued with the cutaway grill intended for the SAS version, a weird mistake, or perhaps an excess of caution after Jeep trademarked the grill design as well as the name).
Heller also offered a Hotchkiss Jeep (built in France under license until the 1960's). Again, not a lot of differences between it and the basic Wllys version.
The primitive Monogram kit is also floating around, sometimes in a Revell box. A Snap-Tite version was once offered by Monogram, which had an open canvas top, the only version with that feature I can recall.

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The Italeri jeep had a canvas top when I built one years ago. I've worked on both Willys and Ford jeeps, and the Ford is almost a carbon copy of the original Willys. The front cross member on the Ford is a U shaped stamped metal part, on the Willys it is a formed metal tube. The Ford is also about 200 pounds heavier than the Willys because Henry thought it was to flimsy and added inserts in the frame to strengthen it. If I remember some metal is thicker as well.

On both jeeps the front frame where the front spring attaches by the bumper is the weak spot.

And, the WWII Willys 1/4 ton truck is actually a Bantam design. The Army gave the contract to Willys because they felt Bantam would not be able to make enough of them, then asked Ford to join in.

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Well, it was a Bantam concept. The Army rather high-handedly gave Bantam's plans to Ford and Willys, and invited them to offer comparable designs. All three companies got production contracts in 1941, and the Army tested them extensively. It would seem the Army was never serious about Bantam, as they passed much of its production run on to Lend Lease.
Willys' design won out chiefly because of its more powerful engine, and the Ford design was conformed to match it for parts commonality. Both companies' output was needed to fulfill the vast needs of the Allied war effort. Bantam simply didn't have the production capacity, and got a small contract for trailers, instead. Bantam eventually went out of business.

Well, it was a Bantam concept. The Army rather high-handedly gave Bantam's plans to Ford and Willys, and invited them to offer comparable designs. All three companies got production contracts in 1941, and the Army tested them extensively. It would seem the Army was never serious about Bantam, as they passed much of its production run on to Lend Lease.
Willys' design won out chiefly because of its more powerful engine, and the Ford design was conformed to match it for parts commonality. Both companies' output was needed to fulfill the vast needs of the Allied war effort. Bantam simply didn't have the production capacity, and got a small contract for trailers, instead. Bantam eventually went out of business.

Trademarks: making the world more difficult one word at a time (TM)

Italeri has the Jeep license for two of their kits: the basic 1/24 and 1/35 boxings.

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Italeri has the Jeep license for two of their kits: the basic 1/24 and 1/35 boxings.

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Ditto with Hasegawa and its 1/24 "Jeep Willys MB".

"Jeep" was in common usage as early as 1938 as a name for a type of Santa Fe locomotive.