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Mini Cooper S Countryman 8/17/17 fixed photo links and added some new


Foxer

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I just bought a 2015 Mini Cooper S Countryman All4 at the beginning of the year after my rear wheel drive Infiniti G37 Coupe didn't make it up the driveway during a bit of snow ... for the LAST time! Since then, the Mini All4 has has leisurely plowed up through 6" of snow .. I'm saved! :)

I was surprised Hasegawa has a model of the Countryman so I had to build mine. The kit is nicely done, even including a PE fret for badges and logos.

Here's the box . on top. I got two so I could do a hot rod version later and an original Mini I may make to look like the new one. Also a PE fret for logos which I may not even need.

Minis  DSC3541

Here's the first photos I took of the 1:1.

Mini  DSC3481

2013 Mini Cooper S Countryman DSC7508

2013 Mini Cooper S Countryman DSC7506

 

2013 Mini Cooper S Countryman DSC7507

DSC3483

The only thing I really have to do is convert the original rear 2-seaters to 3 across in the rear. This was new for 2013. The photos show the original bucket, one gouged out and one with the new seat cushions fitted. I'll have to use some putty to shape the edges of the rear seats on the bucket. The blob on the wire is the rear power shroud that goes on the tunnel in the back.

interior original DSC 1038

interior cut DSC 1039

rear seats

Edited by Foxer
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Looking good! That is our next car purchase. Now I just need to get the kit.

Cool. I do like the car .. I still handles like a Mini and the power is not bad. I went from an Infiniti G37 Coupe with manual ... all the bells and whistles .. 330hp, plenty of torque and handling and brakes that were very well done. The only thing I really miss is the backup camera .. really got used to that with my old neck.

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Got the rear 3 seat interior made. These images are before and after the primer coat. I simplifies the center seat a bit and now debating how much of the cushion detailing Ill do. My car has the Mini oval on all the seats and overlapping on the rear center cushion. Since the kit seats have square inserts I may just leave as is. The interior color is black and not much will really show.

interior DSC 1041

interior DSC 1042

I had to order the touch up paint from the Mini Dealer as the Brilliant Copper is a new color this year and no one has it. Time to paint the chassis and finish the interior and hope the paint doesn't take 6 months to come.

Edited by Foxer
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  • 2 weeks later...

The new interior seats looked too plain without the circle pattern so I pulled out the circle template and scribed a couple. Going to have to figure how to sand the edges to make more gradual but it's better with the pattern.

interior circles DSC 1045

Edited by Foxer
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  • 2 years later...

This is what I've been silently working on for the past two weeks or so. I had stopped after finding I could not get the Mini Brilliant Copper paint my 2013 had .. from Mini Parts or any touch up paint store online. I recently saw a 2014 Mini in the same color and it clicked ... I went to Paintscratch.com where I've been getting paint and there it was .. 2014 Mini Brilliant Copper! .. and still not listed for 2013 .. why didn't the Mini Parts guys find this? The color was said to be new when I bought it in January, so it was called a 2014 color... I sold the Mini so will never know.

 

So I'm back on it and have mostly completed the chassis and interior is getting put together. Both took a lot of detail painting. I used a PE detailing set where it looked better than the excellent kit details .. not much was used! The brake disks are pe and were twirled on fine sandpaper to get some circular grooving. The body is in primer ready for some Brilliant Copper!! Here's where it is now ..

Body Primer DSC 1660

Body primer DSC 1659

Body Primer DSC 1661

chassis DSC 1662

Edited by Foxer
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Foxer did you say you sold it,? Also,if you get in a fix for Bitchen paint,try ScaleFinishes.com,absolutely the best vendor to sell,paint.Tell Jameston Shaun sent you!

I did sell the Mini but not to any fault of the car. It was a fun car to drive and had amazing room for such a small one. The tiny 1.6 engine was an amazing piece .. had more horsepower that all the old Porsches I had. The dealer was an hour away, same as my last 8 cars, and I got tired of that trip after sitting for 5 hours as they traced an electrical short in the Mini. So now I have a BMW X1 from dealer 5 minutes away and 4WD to get up my mountain driveway in winter.

I've gotten paint from Scale Finishes and Model Car World and have been happy with both. PaintScratch has started offering paint in spray cans and I hate using airbrushes .. just way too much trouble for me. I have an Iwata Revolution and a Paasche H brushes so it's not the brushes fault. I use them only when theres no other way for the paint color I want.

Edited by Foxer
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Awesome work. I too am working on a mini, but the Tamiya Morris rally version with a plow conversion. I've done the rally mini as the 67 monte carlo winner and now one with a plow. My point being, its not what I like to build, I like to build trucks but I can't stop building the rally mini, goes together well fun to build. I might be addicted to them lol. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103068&p=1447345

great work , Jonathan

Edited by GrumpyGrowly
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Awesome work. I too am working on a mini, but the Tamiya Morris rally version with a plow conversion. I've done the rally mini as the 67 monte carlo winner and now one with a plow. My point being, its not what I like to build, I like to build trucks but I can't stop building the rally mini, goes together well fun to build. I might be addicted to them lol. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103068&p=1447345

great work , Jonathan

That Mini on tracks is a cool one! (the dozer kit you pictured is one I hope makes an appearance here) I like that you're a truck builder working on probably the smallest car we have .. :D

I have another Countryman kit that I was planning on doing a custom of some sort .. after seeing your creativity I'm going to have to think more on it.. :)

Edited by Foxer
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While I was waiting for the body to dry I continued on with the Interior. It was all black with the door "loop" in a shiny black. The steering wheel has a PE ring and Mini Wings logo. The center pod that carries the huge speedometer had the Navigation display in the center with a red marker that went around the outside as a speedometer needle. I used a decal on my nav with my home on the map .. a bit small to make out. The petal surfaces are also PE. I took these photos before gluing the driver side panel on to open for these photos.

interior DSC 1666

interior DSC 1667

interior DSC 1668

interior DSC 1669

I did paint the body with Brilliant Copper but never took any photos. Here it is all masked to paint the roof and lower body moldings gloss black. I'll dullcoat the lower moldings.

body masked DSC 1670

Edited by Foxer
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Well, I painted the black roof and lower body moldings with Testor's Gloss Enamel thinned with lacquer thinner per Don Yost's video. I followed everything to the letter but it sure didn't work for me. I've done beautifully smooth lacquer paint jobs with a cheap and enamel thinner airbrush and this looks like sand. I don't know what went wrong. The coverage is very uniform but the surface is like rough and looks like fine sand. I did my Infiniti G25, for the fourth time, and is is only marginally smoother, thou smooth is not a word for this surface. The lower Mini panels might just stay as this is a good representation of the molded black plastic trim!

My only thought is that the lacquer thinner dries before the paint hits the body. Yes I did apply it directly on top of the Copper paint and the Infiniti on top of the last black paint that I sanded out and it has dried for maybe 3 months. This does not appear to be a reaction to the paint underneath. I'm posting the Infiniti photos here so they can be see altogether.

Mini black DSC 1679

Mini black DSC 1671

Mini Black DSC 1673

Mini Black DSC 1680

I know it's difficult to judge paint from just photos, but I would appreciate any thoughts on what could have happened.

Edited by Foxer
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I had a similar situation, or it at least looks like the same thing. Enamel thinned with lacquer thinner. Turns out the lacquer thinner reacted with the enamel paint. It literally was solidifying in my air brush. Fortunately for me, I had some enamel brush cleaner and was able to get everything cleaned up. But what I have read, is that some thinner just react this way. They say to use cheap stuff, but even that can cause issues. My lesson learned-always test first.

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