Foxer Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) 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. Here's the first photos I took of the 1:1. Â 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. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
jeffs396 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Neat looking 1:1 and kit Mike, keep at it!
charlie8575 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Cool, Mike. Coming east next month? Bring the van and this, even if it's for the "in progress" table. By then, we should have most of the snow cleared.... Charlie Larkin
Len Woodruff Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 Looking good! That is our next car purchase. Now I just need to get the kit.
Foxer Posted February 21, 2013 Author Posted February 21, 2013 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.
robertw Posted February 22, 2013 Posted February 22, 2013 I'll be interested in seeing how this build goes. I picked up the kit a few months ago but haven't started on it yet.
Foxer Posted February 24, 2013 Author Posted February 24, 2013 (edited) 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. 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 August 17, 2017 by Foxer
charlie8575 Posted February 24, 2013 Posted February 24, 2013 Nice job with the interior mods, Mike. You could say "molded like this," and I wouldn't really see much of a difference from that picture. Charlie Larkin
Rob Hall Posted February 24, 2013 Posted February 24, 2013 I like that color...someone in my neighborhood just bought one, in that same color. The kit looks good, I've got the Revell New Mini and several of the vintage Mini kits, but don't have the Countryman kit yet...
Foxer Posted February 24, 2013 Author Posted February 24, 2013 (edited) I should have put up a photo of the 1:1 when I was talking about it .. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
Foxer Posted March 4, 2013 Author Posted March 4, 2013 (edited) 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. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
Foxer Posted July 3, 2015 Author Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) 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. Â 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 .. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
superbike-shaun Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 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!
Foxer Posted July 4, 2015 Author Posted July 4, 2015 (edited) 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 July 4, 2015 by Foxer
GrumpyGrowly Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) 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 July 6, 2015 by GrumpyGrowly
Foxer Posted July 8, 2015 Author Posted July 8, 2015 (edited) 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 .. 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 July 8, 2015 by Foxer
Foxer Posted July 8, 2015 Author Posted July 8, 2015 (edited) 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. 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. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
Foxer Posted July 9, 2015 Author Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) 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. I know it's difficult to judge paint from just photos, but I would appreciate any thoughts on what could have happened. Edited August 17, 2017 by Foxer
dragstk Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 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.
superbike-shaun Posted July 10, 2015 Posted July 10, 2015 I can see your house on my GPS, wow,that is cool (just kiddin )sorry,I can't advise you on what happened I only use,spray,cans.I do like the effect though, Shaun
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