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This is Meng's new tool jeep with the Wasp flame thrower as trialled (but not used) by Popski's private army. The kit's a decent, if unspectacular, rendering of the jeep with some areas of nice detailing, while other areas seem a little basic. The original was a one-off utilising a flame thrower taken from a Canadian Wasp Universal Carrier. For fairly obvious reasons it never went further than a few trials, and was never used in combat. Meng seem to have based the kit off the the modern replica Wasp jeep and, as such, some of the details may be off from the wartime original. It looks convincing enough though and, given the scarcity of decent reference photos of the original, it's probably as accurate as they could have made it. The only things I needed to add were some extra hoses and plumbing to busy up the build. The full build can be found here Thanks for looking Andy

Willys MB Wasp Flamethrower Meng 1/35 I've been waiting for this one to turn up for quite a while, having ordered it back in August, but it finally found it's way from China to my doorstep today. I get the impression that Meng may be having some supply or production issues, as a lot of their recent releases seem to be taking a long time to hit the shelves. Anyway, I digress. Back to the kit. This is Meng's first entry into the Jeep market, coming hot on the heels of Takom's new tool release. Unlike their rival, who's first release was a standard issue Jeep with trailer, Meng have gone for a more obscure version in the form of the Wasp flamethrower, which was a one off prototype tested by No. 1 Demolition Squadron, aka Popski's Private Army, while they were operating in Italy. It was never used in action due to the fairly obvious health and safety concerns about spewing burning oil a few inches in front of the drivers head. Makes an intersting model subject though, and there'll no doubt be be more Jeep versions from Meng in the future. I'll do a quick run through of the sprues before I start cutting plastic. Only two sprues (well, three counting the clear one), the first of which looks like a common sprue for any future versions. The second looks to be specific to the Wasp. Sprue A One piece chassis, wheels (split into front and back halves), seats, Full engine and other assorted bits and bobs. Sprue C (no 'B', so that will presumably come in a future release) As I said above, this one look to be just for the Wasp. There are a few common parts on here, such as the dashboard and bonnet, but they're modified for this version. Sprue Y The clear sprue holds just the windscreen and the headlight lenses. The main body comes as a single moulding with the front grill in place, but a separate rear door and bonnet. The wheels/tyres have got nice detailing, including the, ahem, Tirestone branding, which will clearly fox Firestone's lawyers. The seats have got some subtle wrinkles and a bit of fabric texture for good measure. The rear door has nice moulded detail on both sides. The ejector pin marks on the rear side should be hidden by the wheel arches Radiator insert which also holds the headlights. This has a separate radiator piece which attaches to the back The engine look nice. There's about ten parts to it in total The dashboard is modified for this version Likewise the bonnet, which has cutouts for the pipework No photo etch with this release, but you do get a length of rubbery hose for the flamethrower feed. The decal sheet's quite small, with just the instrument dials and the marking for the bonnet Interestingly, it looks like Meng have changed the graphic style for their instruction manuals, going with a bold outlined, partial colour style. It looks a bit overworked to my eye, but it's easy enough to follow Predictably only one marking option, given that this was a single prototype vehicle Okay, that's what you get. More to come as I get the build underway. Have to rush now, as my tea's in the oven, and is rapidly getting burnt Andy