COBI Willys MB & Trailer Set 3132

COBI's Willys MB & Trailer is a 1:35 model built from 200 blocks, 17.5 cm long with the trailer, produced under original Jeep licence. The wheels turn on rubber tires, a heavy machine gun is fitted, and accessories stow in the trailer. Two figures of the American 101st Airborne Division are included, down to the Screaming Eagle patch printed on their shoulders.

Jeeps arrived by glider

The 101st Airborne came into Normandy by parachute and by glider, and the jeep came with them.

A Horsa glider could carry one jeep and its trailer, or a jeep and a six-pounder gun, and it was landed in a field at night on the strength of a tow rope and a pilot's judgement. That is the reason the Willys is the size it is: the Army's specification set a maximum height of 36 inches and a weight limit, so that it would fit inside an aircraft and a glider. The windscreen folds flat for the same reason.

Once down, a jeep with a trailer carried the ammunition, radios, mortars and supplies that paratroopers could not jump with. An airborne division without them was a large body of men with rifles and three days of rations.

In the COBI range

Set 3133 is the Willys MB on its own at this scale. The large 1:12 versions are sets 2804, 2805 and 2806.

Specifications

Pieces: 200 · Figures: 2 · Scale: 1:35 · Official Jeep licence · Trailer, machine gun and accessories
Model dimensions: 17.5 × 5 × 7 cm (6.9 × 2.0 × 2.8 in)