Wild Willy Mk1 M38 Featuring Super Sophie

The Wild Willy 1 was not a model i thought i would ever want in my collection until i was asked by Moosey of Tamiya101.com to make one to go with his on the next DVD.


I was lucky that my Greatmate Dunkman had a new built unpainted one in his collection. Unfortunately Dunky didn't want to part with it. I kept on pestering him for it and like a Top mate that he is he gave in.


Thank you Dunky you are a Star.


I then contacted Matt Hicks who kindly painted up one of his superb Wild Wendy 2 figures. She looked stunning. ( Thank you Matt ) Matt kindly painted the face , eye and hair colour of my little girl Sophie from a photograph. He also painted her wearing a Superman outfit ( If you have seen the latest DVD the Outer Limits from Tamiya101.com you will see why ).


The body was completely taken apart and all the mould lines removed from the bonnet.


The whole body was lightly rubbed down for a good key for the primer. This was applied and set to dry. Next came the pre-shading process.


This is what i use for all my matt finish military vehicles. I applied matt black lines to all the edges and folds on the body with an airbrush. Once this was dry i mixed up a suitable shade of Olive Drab and lightly overcoated the body with this. The Matt black stripes show lightly through the top coat. I then made a lighter mix of Olive Drab and shaded the center of each panel to make it a slightly subtle effect of weathering on each panel.


Once this had dried thoroughly i rubbed in HB pencil lead to all the areas of the body that would have been worn in service.


Next came heavily mixed oil paints for staining and rust marks. I then painted in silver chip marks randomly over the body for that more weathered look.


Once all this had dried thoroughly i masked off the seat and sprayed it Matt Dark Brown, the rear wheel arches were masked and sprayed matt black.


The spare wheel was assembled and sprayed Matt Buff, the Jerry can was given a plasticard back filled and sprayed dark aluminium and the belt strap was continued over the back with plasticard strip. ( It looks awful with a big hole in the back of the jerry can )


The roll cage was masked and all the inner bar parts were sprayed silver and the fire extinguisher masked and sprayed red.


The whole body was overcoated in gloss clear and all the decals were applied. Once all the decals were on the body it was again overcoated in Matt clear to bring the model to a more realistic matt shade all over.


Next came the moment to fit Matt's superb figure of Super Sophie.


She went in beautifully and the arms and steering wheel were matched up. I also installed the masked and sprayed blue Nitro's bottle which was detaled with chrome foil. Lastly i added a Scale Skateboard that my Top Mate Scollins gave me to make the jeep look a bit cooler.


Thanks allot Steve i knew this would come in handy.


Next i fitted the spare wheel, jerry can, roll bar, lights, winch ( Winch also has a cable fitted ) and screen to the body.


The final stage of the body build was to mask the windscreen wiper track on the screen. I then thinned out some Matt earth paint and lightly sprayed a dust coat over the model, with an upward sweep of dust from the front to the rear of the body. This gives a realistic looking light coating of dust. The windscreen was lightly dusted over with paint and then the mask was removed from the wiper track to reveal a freshly wiped screen.


The wheels were sprayed in Bright Alloy paint and the tyre lettering painted in my usual runner Matt yellow. ( Sorry Simen I know you don't like it )


The model was taken on set at Shell Island for filming and will hopefully appear on a Tamiya101.com DVD soon.




I would like to thank the following members for their help with this model.




Dunkman ( Dunky, For letting me have this great WW1 model)




Toymkr73 ( Matt Hicks, Gorgeous Super Sophie figure )




Scollins ( Steve Collins, Scale Skateboard )




Dino F ( Dean Feltimo, for the fantastic Studio photography )




I am sorry its such a detailed description, but if it helps TC members in any way then that is great.




Hope you all like this version of the Classic Wild Willy 1.




I never thought i would have a WW1 in my collection, BUT NOW I AM GLAD I DO !!!!!!!!!.




Cheers Rad