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SAS Willys Jeep (1/35 Tamiya Kit)


Scargsy

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OK so I'll be building this oldie, first made in 1974...

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I managed to pick it up in a local hobby shop recently (well not very local to me these days but there's the internet and I thought in these uncertain times local shops could do with some support).

Price paid (hope we don't have to include postage!)...

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Looking forward to building it - shouldn't be too complicated, no decals or PE to worry about and I have fond memories of building a couple of Tamiya Ford M151 Mutt kits as a kid (newer toolings though). I'll post the sprue shots, etc. once I get started (planning to try finish or at least move along my Unarmed GB entry first).

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Excellent choice, Scargsy and welcome to the GB. Great to have you here. And no, you don't have to worry about the postage! I'm looking forward to seeing it in progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

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So here's the bits - 3 sprues...

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Instructions are typical Tamiya of the period, a folded B+W sheet - clear and simple, there are Japanese and English copies included, there are a nice few reference photos and figure painting guide included in them.

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Not too many steps to build this up, some of the parts have prominent seam lines (like down the leaf springs.

I started on the chassis, those springs and drive shafts were quite a pain to get all lined up, especially using Tamiya Extra Thin as it dries so fast.

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Then built up the upper body before attaching that to the chassis. I added the front grill and bonnet at that point too as one of the body sides wasn't quite aligning with the chassis, so thought it best to get everything together and aligned before the glue set.

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The headlights are just moulded plastic 'rounds' - no clear parts in the kit, hopefully I can paint them easily now they're behind the grill...

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So that's as far as I've got - will need to do a bit of filling and tidying once the glue has set, though it seems quite advanced already!

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  • 1 month later...

Small update this weekend...

I added some of the smaller details - suspension dampers and handles - dash compass, etc. then built up some of the stowage (lots of jerry cans) - they will need quite a bit of cleanup given the number of them.

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I built up the crew, took a bit of fiddling to get the driver so he'd sit correctly and hold the wheel - I needed to use a bit of blu-tac to help hold the wheel during the process.

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After that I've given the body and wheels a quick light blast of green - the jeep will be painted in a desert scheme but I imagine these were repainted in the field, or at least came out of the factory in olive drab - so any nooks and crannies hopefully will have a bit of green paint in them!

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Blimey, I'd forgotten about this kit - my brother built one in the early-ish 1990's.  I remember we couldn't find anything to make a condenser hose out of, for some reason, and the Tommy gun hung around the house for months afterwards, as for some reason he didn't include it in the build.

 

I'll look forward to seeing how you get on with the build - it's got off to a great start.

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Many Jeep kits have a ridge down the centre of the hood. Your kit appears to have no join. This should actually be scribed as the two halves of the sheet metal hood are folded inward and welded. It's only a little detail, which many people miss, but it would be nice to see it done right, even if the hood gets covered in jerrycans!! Watching with interest.

 

You can see the join line/groove below on my 1943 Ford GPW.

 

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Edited by Army_Air_Force
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 06/08/2021 at 20:45, Army_Air_Force said:

Many Jeep kits have a ridge down the centre of the hood. Your kit appears to have no join. This should actually be scribed as the two halves of the sheet metal hood are folded inward and welded. It's only a little detail, which many people miss, but it would be nice to see it done right, even if the hood gets covered in jerrycans!! Watching with interest.

Thanks for the info - might be a little late and too adventurous for me to scribe it now.

Audrey II here has a line too, though she's had a lot of filler and other work over the years...

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She's in a bit of a sorry state at the minute but myself and my brothers are hoping to get her back to running condition as a surprise for our dad's birthday (need to sneak her out of his shed without him noticing).

 

Work on the kit is about as glacial as well at the moment, only managed to prime the figures then get some base flesh colour on them so far, need to hurry up as the GB deadline is looming!

 

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A small amount of progress has been made, I started some paint coats however the Vallejo paint just didn't want to play ball, gumming up the airbrush, splattering or being too thin and runny. I decided to give up on the airbrush and go back to the hairy sticks for this one.

 

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So many bad seams to fix up on all that stowage (there's still more stuck on the sprues!), quite tedious work - hoping I'll get it finished in time.

 

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