February 2003: British SAS Jeep

I have actually been planning this custom jeep for almost 3 years! I have wanted one of these since I was a kid and Hasbro did the Desert Jeep.

I have included pictures of my vehicle as well as some real pictures of the British SAS jeeps - just to show comparisons.

One of the neat additions I did was to create a british grenade launcher rifle. You will see this in the jeep and by itself. This was a fun sub-project unto itself.

Hasbro SAS Jeep with Driver (Toys-R-Us version) This is the Hasbro SAS Jeep as it comes from Toys-R-Us. The version I had was the one from Target - that one had no driver, was a tan color, and did not have the .50 cal or its mount.

This is a sample of a real British SAS jeep. You can see several modifications they made to the jeep. The large canister is on the front of the jeep to boost the capability of the radiator. You will also notice the grills have been removed to aid in air flow.
The Hasbro jeep has the radiator canister, but does not have the removed grills (it has all the grills in place.)
On this jeep, they have mounted twin Vickers in the back and a .50 cal where the passenger sits. The driver has an extra mounted machine gun - most likely a single Vickers.
Picture of a real SAS Jeep

Picture of My SAS Jeep Here is my jeep. I have made many modifications to this, many of which can be seen in this picture.
First, I painted the entire undercarriage and then weathered the whole vehicle. I added black (grease) weathering, dirt (a lighter tan), and mud (to match the color Hasbro used.)
The machine gun mount for the driver is manufactured using plastic rod, a Hasbro M-60 tripod mount, and a 21st Century Bren gun.
The middle weapon is a 21st Century Boise anti-tank rifle (I saw pictures of these on the LRDG - Long Range Desert Group - Chevy trucks and being the jeeps were highly customized, figured it was possible. And ... it looks cool :-)
Behind the driver is the radio assembly from the Formative SOTW radio jeep.
21st Century British Backpacks are hung all over the sides of the vehicle as are two of the 8th Army helmets.

You can see more of the modifications I did with this photo. There is a captured German water can on the radio box, a .50 cal box mounted to the fender (with lots of tools in them from Formative - see later pictures.)
You can se the twin vickers I mounted in the back of the Jeep. You can also see a lot of the stuff I stowed into the back of the jeep (helps hide the seat risers Hasbro left there.)
If you look down by the legs of the driver, you will see pouches and canteens for the driver.
View of my SAS jeep from above

Right side of my SAS jeep Here you can see more of what I did with the jeep. I took a can holder from a spare Hasbro jeep and mounted it by the passenger. All extra cans were strapped down with weathered elastic (by the way, I glue everything down with a super strong glue called GOOP. You can get it at Target, Home Depot, and elsewhere.)
You can see the bedrolls I tied down (from the Hasbro WWI Doughboy backpacks.) I mounted a 21st Century pouch next to the can by the passenger, hung a map pouch off of his twin Vickers, and added a spare tire from another Hasbro Jeep (these jeeps were out in the desert for a LONG time - they needed lots of extra fuel and tires.)
Here, you can also see the custom British Enfield Grenade Launcher rifle I built. You will see more details of this in a later picture.

Here is a front view of the jeep. You can see I removed the grill bars and painted and weathered the radiator. I also added a tow rope to the front of the bumper.
If you look under the jeep, you will see the black painting and weathering I gave to the bottom of the jeep.
Front on view of my SAS jeep

Front, top View Here is a top down view of the jeep. The ammo box in between the two seats is hinged and is open in the picture. It contains hand grenades with pins in them, ready for feeding into the Enfield Grenade Launcher.

Here is a back view showing the cargo onboard (recovered Panzerfausts, Tommy Guns, etc.)

Here are the two figures I created after looking at a lot of pictures of the SAS men and looking at the new figures BBI will be coming out with.
The heads are 21st Century. The bodies are the Formative WWII Mechanic (the figure with the brown gloves.) The socks and uniform are from the 21st carded 8th Army figure. I removed the snaps at the neck and rolled the shirt sleeves.
The belt , knife, canteen, and pistol are from the 21st Century commando set. The headwrap and sandals are from Cotswold.

Here is the tool box on the front fender. The tools are from the Formative WWII Mechanic set (the same set the bodies came from.)

Here is my custom Enfield grenade launcher rifle. I saw a picture of this on the Internet and thought it would be a very cool thing to add to the jeep-sters arsenal.

This rifle setup was used by the SAS (that is at least what the article said.)
he interesting aspect of this rifle is they wrapped copper around the barrel of the rifle and the grenade launcher.
So, I used a Hasbro grenade launcher attachment, super glued it to the Enfield (after drilling out the grenade launcher, the Enfield barrel and inserting a portion of paper clip to add stability and strength.)
I then used fine copper filament and wound the barrel with it. The inside of the launcher has a grenade with a copper wire attached to the pull pin.

		This is the Hasbro SAS Jeep as it comes from Toys-R-Us. The version I had was the one from Target - that one had no driver, was a tan color, and did not have the .50 cal or its mount.

This is a sample of a real British SAS jeep. You can see several modifications they made to the jeep. The large canister is on the front of the jeep to boost the capability of the radiator. You will also notice the grills have been removed to aid in air flow. The Hasbro jeep has the radiator canister, but does not have the removed grills (it has all the grills in place.) On this jeep, they have mounted twin Vickers in the back and a .50 cal where the passenger sits. The driver has an extra mounted machine gun - most likely a single Vickers.

		Here is my jeep. I have made many modifications to this, many of which can be seen in this picture. First, I painted the entire undercarriage and then weathered the whole vehicle. I added black (grease) weathering, dirt (a lighter tan), and mud (to match the color Hasbro used.) The machine gun mount for the driver is manufactured using plastic rod, a Hasbro M-60 tripod mount, and a 21st Century Bren gun. The middle weapon is a 21st Century Boise anti-tank rifle (I saw pictures of these on the LRDG - Long Range Desert Group - Chevy trucks and being the jeeps were highly customized, figured it was possible. And ... it looks cool :-) Behind the driver is the radio assembly from the Formative SOTW radio jeep. 21st Century British Backpacks are hung all over the sides of the vehicle as are two of the 8th Army helmets.

You can see more of the modifications I did with this photo. There is a captured German water can on the radio box, a .50 cal box mounted to the fender (with lots of tools in them from Formative - see later pictures.) You can se the twin vickers I mounted in the back of the Jeep. You can also see a lot of the stuff I stowed into the back of the jeep (helps hide the seat risers Hasbro left there.) If you look down by the legs of the driver, you will see pouches and canteens for the driver.

		Here you can see more of what I did with the jeep. I took a can holder from a spare Hasbro jeep and mounted it by the passenger. All extra cans were strapped down with weathered elastic (by the way, I glue everything down with a super strong glue called GOOP. You can get it at Target, Home Depot, and elsewhere.) You can see the bedrolls I tied down (from the Hasbro WWI Doughboy backpacks.) I mounted a 21st Century pouch next to the can by the passenger, hung a map pouch off of his twin Vickers, and added a spare tire from another Hasbro Jeep (these jeeps were out in the desert for a LONG time - they needed lots of extra fuel and tires.) Here, you can also see the custom British Enfield Grenade Launcher rifle I built. You will see more details of this in a later picture.

Here is a front view of the jeep. You can see I removed the grill bars and painted and weathered the radiator. I also added a tow rope to the front of the bumper. If you look under the jeep, you will see the black painting and weathering I gave to the bottom of the jeep.

		Here is a top down view of the jeep. The ammo box in between the two seats is hinged and is open in the picture. It contains hand grenades with pins in them, ready for feeding into the Enfield Grenade Launcher.

Here is a back view showing the cargo onboard (recovered Panzerfausts, Tommy Guns, etc.)

		Here are the two figures I created after looking at a lot of pictures of the SAS men and looking at the new figures BBI will be coming out with. The heads are 21st Century. The bodies are the Formative WWII Mechanic (the figure with the brown gloves.) The socks and uniform are from the 21st carded 8th Army figure. I removed the snaps at the neck and rolled the shirt sleeves. The belt , knife, canteen, and pistol are from the 21st Century commando set. The headwrap and sandals are from Cotswold.

Here is the tool box on the front fender. The tools are from the Formative WWII Mechanic set (the same set the bodies came from.)

		Here is my custom Enfield grenade launcher rifle. I saw a picture of this on the Internet and thought it would be a very cool thing to add to the jeep-sters arsenal. This rifle setup was used by the SAS (that is at least what the article said.) he interesting aspect of this rifle is they wrapped copper around the barrel of the rifle and the grenade launcher. So, I used a Hasbro grenade launcher attachment, super glued it to the Enfield (after drilling out the grenade launcher, the Enfield barrel and inserting a portion of paper clip to add stability and strength.) I then used fine copper filament and wound the barrel with it. The inside of the launcher has a grenade with a copper wire attached to the pull pin.

February 2003: British SAS Jeep

Related Links