Willy Goes to S. Korea

Reposted since it's complete:


I found an incredible deal on Craigslist, just north of Seattle, WA that I couldn't pass up. A gentleman was selling his Wild Willy 2 with Tower Hobbies 2TXP radio, battery and charger for a very fair price. I had always wanted a Willy, but could never afford an original M38. So, I went up and bought the WW2 from him. He's also a Tamiya enthusiast but not on TC (hope he joins). So, this WW2 has NEVER been run outside. Only indoors several times and the body and chassis are PRISTINE. The previous owner did not paint the fiddly bits or Willy, so that gives me a good jumping off point. It also had the original MSC.


I'm a US Army guy, so I love military paint schemes. But I wanted something different. This WW2 was modeled after the M151 Mutt Jeeps of the early 1980's. This includes the old late 1970's/early 80's US camoflauge paint scheme winter verdant, and Willy wearing the 'wash-and-wear' Olive Drab uniform of the US Army cold-war era. But most importantly, it's a US Army, 8th Army, S. Korea Jeep. Which means that Willy has patches from the 2nd Infantry Division, Sun/Dust/Wind goggles for his helmet, 'Whoopie Light' which is a Convoy light and rotating orange beacon, LED lighting for the headlights, turn signal indicators and taillights. Kit headlights are from Ebay with the Hilux clear P Parts headlight lenses. The original WW2 were dremeled out and the reflector housings used as templates. The model also has a TEU-105BK ESC with standard 540 silver can motor.


The Korean Tiger on the spare is hand-painted, all interior accessories are 1/6 scale. The canvas top was made from an old US Army issue tent, cut to shape and screwed on with a wire frame at the rear. The windows were made from plastic lunch bags and buckles came again, from 1/6 kit. The top was soaked with a mixture of white glue and allowed to dry, then dusted with pastels.


The 'Convoy Follows' sign was custom done by PatchesofPride.com and backed against a piece of sheet plastic. The mirror was built from a coat hangar, solder, an plastic I beam and pen cap.


I really enjoyed this project and do plan to upgrade the wheels to a more scale like tire in the future.

Build thread is here:http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=72194#entry525276