The history
In the summer of 1940 the US Army asked for a light four-wheel-drive reconnaissance car and gave manufacturers only weeks to answer. The small American Bantam company built the first prototype, and Willys-Overland and Ford followed with their own. The Army standardised on the Willys design, and from late 1941 it was built as the Willys MB, with Ford producing the same vehicle as the GPW.
By the end of the war around 640,000 had been built. The jeep served every Allied army on every front, as a scout car, ambulance, gun tractor, radio car and staff car, and it became one of the best-known vehicles of the war.
The build
Tamiya’s 1/35 Willys MB dates from 1997 and is an easy, relaxing build. The parts fit so well that it goes together without putty or sanding, and although the hood is closed, the engine can still be detailed. The box holds two sprues, the body, clear parts, decals and a driver figure in a relaxed pose, made from seven parts.
Tamiya offers five versions. I built the third: a jeep of the US 7th Armored Division in Belgium in early 1945, with a wire cutter on the front bumper and a machine gun mounted at the rear. It is a kit I can recommend to beginners and experienced modellers alike.
The kit
Finished
The jeep family
Four generations of the US Army’s light utility vehicle, all built in 1/35.
- Willys MB, 1941 to 1945 (this dossier)
- Willys M38A1, the 1950s
- M151A1, Vietnam
- M151A2, Grenada 1983
- Planned: Willys MB ambulance jeep, Normandy 1944
- Planned: Wasp flamethrower jeep, Popski’s Private Army
