M151 History

In 1951 the Ford Motor Company was given a contract to develop a new vehicle to replace the WWII era MB Jeep and its descendant the M38. The result was the M151 series of ¼ ton utility trucks, designed by Ford and later built by Kaiser, AM General Corporation, and GM. A production contract was awarded in 1960 for over 10,000 units that would be used by all US and many foreign military forces. More commonly referred to as simply a "jeep" or "quarter-ton", The M151 was produced from 1959 through 1982 and served from the Vietnam War throughout the Cold War and beyond.

The M151 had a monocoque body design making it roomier than previous jeep designs, and incorporated front and rear independent suspension with coil springs. Production of the M151 continued for just a short time when the M151A1 was introduced in 1964 with modifications to carry heavier loads and added small turn signals to the front fenders. Serious problems existed with the suspension that made the M151 and M151A1 unstable and susceptible to roll-over in tight cornering situations due to the central articulation of the suspension arms, the lowering of one wheel relative to the frame would make the wheel move inward, effectively over-steering the vehicle and causing it to abruptly overturn.

The M151A2, fielded in 1972, brought a significantly revised rear suspension with semi-trailing A-arms that greatly improved safety in fast cornering. Many smaller upgrades including improved turn signals and a one-piece front windshield with an electric wiper motor. The M151A2 can be identified by the large combination NATO turn signal/blackout lights on the front fenders, which also had to be modified to mount the larger lights. With some M151A2 units still in US military service well into the 1990’s, the M151 series achieved a longer run of service than that of the WW2 MB/GPW, M38 and M38A1 series jeeps combined. It has since been replaced by the larger AM General HMMWV.
Introduction text courtesy of Gino P. Quintiliani

Review

SKP Model has released the next product into their range of Lenses and Taillights. This new release is for the M151A2 Mutt from Academy; however I am sure that the product would be equally at home on the new Tamiya kit which was recently released. The product consists of a single photo etched fret which contains six lenses and two photo etched detail parts. The lenses and photo etched parts in the set cover the;

• Headlights
• Front indicators
• Rear lights
• Photo etched surround detail for the headlights

It looks to me that SKP Model has got this small set dead on. The headlight lenses have the straight lines behind the lens which is accurate and to my knowledge not supplied by any other company to date. The red and amber lenses also have the lines behind the lenses but these are circular rather than straight which is again accurate.

While this set from SKP Model is listed as for the Academy kit I remember that Gino Quintiliani when he reviewed the new Tamiya kit of the M151A2 stated that the lenses were a let-down but saved by the tape coverage supplied for them, This product from SKP Model will allow the lights to be on show if desired by the modeller and I believe will be far superior to clear plastic lenses supplied with some kits. The lenses are also perfectly placed on the photo etched portion which I believe will make adding them to your model far easier.

The photo etched surrounds for the front headlights have the correct number of retaining bolts, in this case that is three and when applied to the model make sure one of the bolt details is at the very bottom.

Conclusion

I have said it before and I will say it again; I believe that this product from SKP Model are the best replacement lens sets on the market today and are the most realistic product for replicating lights on your models. The price of the products in this line also has appeal as this set is only €6.4o which is a paltry sum when you think about the cost of some of the other parts we all throw at our models.

Related reviews

Tamiya M151A2 review by Gino P. Quintiliani Live links