91 replies to this topic

[GeeBee]

 

Main differences that I can see is that the Tamiya has a servo on the rh side, where the Revell one has the heater air ducting.  That may well be correct, due to them representing different versions, but my knowledge on specifics like that about Minis is rather limited.  The Revell also has a larger airbox, whereas the Tamiya has individual filters., which will also make the engine bays look different.  The Revell also includes the crankcase breather system, which is missing from the Tamiya, and of course plug leads.

 

However, I haven't seen the Revell kit in person, just photos. Geoff - what's your view on the above?

 

 

 

The Tamiya version is the 1275c.c Cooper S and that did have a servo fitted to the brake system, but it also had a fresh air ducting to the heater, which is missing from the Tamiya kit, also the hydraulic clutch master cylinder is also missing from the kit.

 

Cooper S 1275 engine bay

 

 

Cooper 998 Engine bay

 

 

 

 

The Revell version is the 998 c.c Cooper, which the real thing, although still had the 7" discs fitted to the front didn't have a servo fitted to the brake system, so the Revell kit is correct, also, as you have mentioned it does have the fresh air ducting for the heater, it also has the voltage regulator fitted to the inner wing and the clutch master cylinder, and the crackcase breather, inlet manifold and air cleaner is also better than the Tamiya offering, so the Revell has to get my vote for the more detailed and more prototypical kit ....

[GeeBee]

Today I decided that it was about time that the interior was built up, the cubby boxes were fixed to the side panels, the front door boxes have a couple of locating points for the boxes to fix into, the rear one's don't, but it's a simply job to fix them on, as they follow the shape molded into the side panels, a few drops of 5 minute epoxy along the sides and bottom and clamped into place and left to dry.

 

 

Once they had dried, the side panels could be fixed to the floorpan, they fix along the front edge, along the bottom of the floorpan and at the rear around the wheel arch trim and a small tab at the side of the rear seat backrest, 5 minute epoxy and a few clamps held all the parts together while the glue dried, once the clamps were removed the seat belts were fixed in, there is a small locating point at the bottom of the seat belt and also at the top of the side panel, a few drops of Cyano' glue at both points and the seat belt was simply put into place, there are some black decals to go over the decals, but looking at my reference material and my memory of the Mini back in the 60's, at least in the U.k, the seat belts fitted at the time would have been a silvery grey material, and not grey, so they were airbrushed with a mix of matt aluminium and grey, the mounting points were picked out using chrome silver fast drying enamel.

 

 

The next small item that needed detailing were the window locks, they were simply picked out with Revell semi gloss black enamel, the only thing to fix into place now was the dashboard, but this still needed finishing off, the clocks were fixed into place, the chrome trim that goes above the dash padding was picked out using chrome BMF, the switch panel was picked out in flat grey and a decal fitted that replicates the heater controls.

 

 

 

[Tompidom]

The interior is comming allong great!

[GeeBee]

Got the dash fitted, a simple job, it's fits into tabs located at the top of the side panels, almost didn't need any glue, the fit was that good, also got the BMf applied on the wheel arch trim and sill trim ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jaymcminn]

Beautiful clean work, Geoff. That color scheme is fantastic!

[Brett Barrow]

Great work on what looks to be a great kit.  A heads up to any American modelers who might be interested, this will be released as a Revell US kit in a couple months, so don't go crazy tracking one down unless you just gotta have it right now.  But judging by the quality of Geoff's I think there might be a few folks who might want one sooner rather than later...

[Paul H]

Looking great - can't wait to see the final result!

 

The Tamiya version is the 1275c.c Cooper S and that did have a servo fitted to the brake system, but it also had a fresh air ducting to the heater, which is missing from the Tamiya kit, also the hydraulic clutch master cylinder is also missing from the kit.

 

The Revell version is the 998 c.c Cooper, which the real thing, although still had the 7" discs fitted to the front didn't have a servo fitted to the brake system, so the Revell kit is correct, also, as you have mentioned it does have the fresh air ducting for the heater, it also has the voltage regulator fitted to the inner wing and the clutch master cylinder, and the crackcase breather, inlet manifold and air cleaner is also better than the Tamiya offering, so the Revell has to get my vote for the more detailed and more prototypical kit ....

 

Excellent - cheers for the info!  Btw, are those pics from the relevant 'Original' book?  They're a great series - I have the one for my '61 Sprite (which will one day see the road again...) & several other ones as reference info for a few of model kits that I'll build one day.

I could have sworn that the Tamiya Morris that I built a while back has both brake & clutch master cylinders.  The inlet was imho a decent representation of the atrociously poor flowing log manifold used by BMC, so from, what you say, it sounds like the Revell engine is really well detailed (due to the small size, and larger than life photos, I'm finding it difficult to truly judge what it is like).

 

Quick question though - what things (if any) do you feel that the Tamiya does better?  As a result of your build, I'm very tempted to get one of the Revell kits even though I have several Tamiyas, even though I'm trying not to buy any more kits until I've built the ones that I already have!

Edited by Paul H, 15 March 2013 - 01:34 AM.

[GeeBee]

Btw, are those pics from the relevant 'Original' book?  They're a great series,I could have sworn that the Tamiya Morris that I built a while back has both brake & clutch master cylinders.  

There are indeed from the Original book, I have 4 of them, Mini Cooper, Jag' MK2, VW Beetle and MGB, there great books, I bought them before the age of the internet ...

 

The master cylinder was a typo' I should have said, "Clutch Slave Cylinder", as your right, the Tamiya kit does indeed have the brake and clutch master cylinders in the kit

[GeeBee]

Quick question though - what things (if any) do you feel that the Tamiya does better?  As a result of your build, I'm very tempted to get one of the Revell kits even though I have several Tamiyas, even though I'm trying not to buy any more kits until I've built the ones that I already have!

 

Good question, and I'm not sure if there is anything that the Tamiya kit offers over the newer Revell offering, apart from being a Cooper S, I suppose if I was being a rivet counter, I would say the Tamiya version has more prototypical front and rear brake hubs and discs, but there really not seen once the model is put together, the Revell version is a little bit more sturdy in that direction, the hubs are slightly out of scale, but will hold the wheels a lot better once there glued on.

 

I have a further 7 Tamiya Mini kits to build, plus a further 2 of the Revell one's, you may have worked out that I like Mini's .....

[jbwelda]

really been coming along nicely and i am very impressed with that interior detail work! that dashboard instrument pod looks great!

 

based on your experience so far and your further insights into the subject, i am going to order one of these revell kits too! looks as good or better than the tamiya in almost all ways.

 

thanks again!

[GeeBee]

For the time I have spent in the hobby room today, it really doesn't seems like I achieved a lot ... got the steering wheel and the column fitted, painted the rear view mirror flat white, the instructions say to paint it satin black, but BMC changed them to white plastic in the autumn of 1964, also masked the body up to paint the interior matt white, took longer to do the masking that it did to actually paint it ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jbwelda]

dont you love those ejector pin marks? at least they are a little inconspicuous up on the headliner...but right next to the molded in sun visor!

 

great build by the way, i just always get bitten by those dumb pin marks too.

[peekay]

Beautiful clean work - always enjoy watching your wips.

 

I spent a lot of time in Minis in the 60's and that interior is pure nostalgia.

[GeeBee]

Today the interior mirror was finished off  using a small piece of BMF to replicate the mirror face, then the mirror was fixed onto the inner roof panel, before the interior goes in the bonnet needs to be held in place by a couple of pieces of masking tape, then you can turn the bodyshell over and fix the bonnet hinge into place, the only part that needs glueing into place is the part of the hinge that fixes onto the bonnet itself, the other side of the hinge is held into place by the interior pod, before commiting any glue to hold the interior into place, as always I did a dry run, and made a few marks on the inside of the body using a pencil, this gives me the locating points were the glue needs to be applied, with the interior in place (without being glued) I tried the chassis/floorpan to see if everything lined up, luckily it did, so the chassis and the interior were removed and a few spots of 5 minute epoxy were applied to the marks I have marked out with the pencil,the interior was now fixed into place permantly and held in place while the glue set, once the glue holding the interior into place had dried, the masking tape holding the bonnet into place was removed, one nice thing about this version of the Mini, is the bonnet can be opened and the way the hinge is held into place, the bonnet stays open on it's own ...... Looking inside once the interior fixed into place, the dashboard lines up perfectly with the bottom of the front window sill, Revell have really worked hard engineerring this model to fit together so well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GeeBee]

Got the wheels and tyres fitted before I finished in the hobby room, the tyres are a great fit, I'm pleased with the way the Alclad went on, second time lucky, used 5 minute epoxy to fit them to the axles, and I was pleased to see that all four wheels sat on the floor ....

 

 

 

[Erik Smith]

Looking very nice. I really like the colors you have chosen.

[Foxer]

The green on the interior now looks good ... with the interior mounter in the car.

[GeeBee]

The green on the interior now looks good ... with the interior mounter in the car.

 

It's powder blue, not green

[Foxer]

I meant the green "metal" trim on the interior sides. It seemed weird with the blue interior when sitting alone.

[Jim Whalen]

Hi,

 

Haven't been on here for a while - the build is coming along well - as expected!

 

I was surprised that you painted the inside of the body after everything else.  I usually do the inside first and then mask the inside so the window areas are uncovered - that way there isn't a build up of paint along the edges when the tape is removed.

 

Thanks for the invite - won't be at the Birmingham model show this year as I'm away so will have to find some other time to pop round.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim