microwheel

Thanks Tom, Because of how small this kit is, it does pose a challenge when it comes to detailing. But I like challenges when it comes to modeling. And though I try to do a little on it everyday, there are days I can't. The wife and I adopted two kids and you know how it is with kids, there is always something they need that takes your time away from the hobby. Especially with our son, he has a lot of health issues and behavioral issues, and that makes it a challenge at times. But he's worth it, LOL.

Hi Francis, Thanks. As for the top of the door frame, it wont be a problem. The window frame for the door is molded to the side window glass. It normally cements in from the outside, against the upper lip on the body after most of the model is assembled. After researching 1.1 pics of the real car,the frame around the glass will get BMF with a thin area around the section facing the interior done in body color. Then it will get epoxied to the top edge of the door only, where it would normally sit, allowing the window to open with the door, once the door is hinged into place. In this pic you can see how the window frame is molded to the window it'self Here is how the window and frame will attach to the door This is how it will line up to the body when the door and window is hinged in.

Got a little more work done this evening. Scribed out the upholstery lines on the door panel insert and filled in the gap up on the window area of the door opening. Here is a pic of the big gap in the window post area where the side window sits. I filled that gap in and made sure it lined up correctly, especially where it goes around to where the front glass sits. Next I scribed the lines into the upholstery door panel. Here you can see how it looks inserted in the door frame. Its just resting in it to check for fit and look. Gave it a base coat of primer so could check for flaws. It looks ok so far. Thats about as far as I've got for the evening. More to come............... And thanks for the comments everyone.

Continuing from last post, in the following pic you can see how the door panel lines up pretty good with the rest of the interior side panel. Using as thin of evergreen sheeting as I have in my stock, you can see in the next pic, the rough cut out of the upholstery panel. The sheeting I cut it out from will be used as a pattern for the RH side when I get that far. I'll be adding the pattern to the upholstery panel later and will post more pics when I get the panel done. To be continued....

Started working on the LH door jams for Mini Mouse today. Got the upholstery removed for the interior door panel and a rough cut replacement, cut out of evergreen sheet plastic. I'm molding the door jams to the interior side panels, this makes it easier to fit them as well as paint them. Sorry it doesn't seem like a lot of progress , but opening doors and scratch building body side jams, and door jams, on any kit, takes time to get everything lined up right. I'm working on one side at a time so I can carry the process from one side, over to the other. First two pics show the body side door jams roughed in. The next two pics shows the side panel in the car, with the body side door jams sitting in place. Because Revell uses a separate interior tub and chassis pan, the bottom body side door jam wont be as accurate as It should be. Mostly, because having a interior floor pan that sits on top of a chassis pan creates a fairly large lip. Yes, I know. I could have cut sections out of the interior floor and grafted it to the chassis pan, to help fix some of this, but I decided not to go into that much extra work. maybe on the next kit I open the doors on, I'll spend more time on that area. I'll also be adding material to the side window lip where the notch is for aligning the side window. This will make a more uniformed lip all the way around, that can be painted semi-gloss black, for a rubber door seal look. I'll be trimming the tab off the side window glass that fits in that area since the glass will be attached to the door only. In the next two pics, you can see where I removed the upholstery from the door frame panel. I attached the panel to the inside of the door and filled in the gaps with CA glue coated with baking soda. Then sanded the edges down to blend the whole thing in to the door skin. Removing the upholstery area of the interior door panel gives it more depth when attached to the door skin. I'm making a replacement upholstery section out of thinner evergreen sheeting to keep most of the new extra depth. It will also make it easier to paint and detail with this part separate. Having to post in two separate posts due to image limits in the posts. Continued.......

The jams wont take much filling and lip building, the back edge jam will need the most work, and I may have to rework the interior door frame on the back edge itself to make sure there will be jam clearance . Here you can see how the interior panel and door edge are almost even. This would be a problem if I don't rework this area, on the interior side, to allow for a jam. But I will. Im working on the LH side first to get the process down that I want. Once this side is figured out, I will transfer the process to the RH side. I'm planning on making this a US version with the Left side being the drivers side. I also plan to open the rear trunk and scratch build a truck pan. Only draw back will be finding a single spare tire without having to buy a second kit just for that. More to come after the weekend. The wife and I are taking the motor home out camping for the weekend, so I wont be working on Mini Mouse for a few days. But I hope to get back to work on it the first of the week.

Morning everyone, Got a little more done on Mini Mouse last night and this morning. I cleaned up the door opening and the LH door itself, and thinned the leading edges of the door. Filled in the gaps from cutting it out, and removed and cleaned up the interior door panel. In the next pic you can see the gaps are all filled and the door fits good. Next I scribed an cut out the LH interior door panel The upholstery part of the panel will be removed and I'll scratch build that part as a separate piece out of thinner evergreen plastic. This should help give more depth to the interior door frame part. With the LH side interior panel test fitted into place, there looks like there will be only a little work to do to scratch build the door jams. The hardest part will probably be the bottom edge where the chassis and the floor tub come together. Its a little too much in that area. That's one of the good things with the tamiya kit over this one from revell, the interior floor is part of the chassis in that kit. But ya gotta work with what you have. So I will have to spend the extra time getting it right. See next post

Great start Bradley

Thanks Jonathan, At times it might not seem like much progress, opening up doors on a kit this small sometimes requires a little more patience and work to get things right and still look like it's supposed to.

Got the hinges finished today as well as one door rough cut out. The hinges are all straight and level, though the pic of them doesnt make them look like it. I took the pics on a piece of cardboard that was a little warpy. In this pic the door is scribed all the way through all the way around, using Exacto's new No. 11 Z blades, (which seems to be thinner near the point on the back edge, than the old No. 11 blades are) with the exception of the molded on hinges.. then, using a pencil, I maked the areas that are gonna need a little work as far as gap and straightening up from scribing the door out. In this pic you can see the cut lines from the back side. In this pic the door has been completely removed. The opening and the door edges will still need a little sanding and filling with evergreen plastic strip, but shouldnt need much. I left the molded on hinges in place for now till I get the door and door opening cleaned up, and I will most likey leave them until I get the door jams made. Remember this is early in the build yet, and I still have a lot of planning out, and scratch building to do from here. I'm a slow builder on projects like this because I want to make sure I plan out and address every potentual issue as I go. So bare with this build, its gonna take awhile. LOL.

Hi Danno, not if I can help it. But as I said at the beginning, because of how small the hinges are that I have to make, I have to make sure they are gonna be strong and are gonna work. So I am averaging one hinge a day, this gives me time to test each one for strength. I have 3 of them made as of last night and started on the 4th.

Hi Byron, your Nova is looking good. Just a tip for setting glass that always seems to work for me.. I use a good quality 2 part 5 minute epoxy to install glass.. The better quality stuff that you get at hobby stores dries clear and doesnt seem to yellow like the hardware store stuff does. And because it takes up to 5 minutes to set up, it gives you a little ajustment time, you could even use the 30 minute stuff for more working time. I usually tape my glass into place, mix up some epoxy and then with a toothpick lightly apply it along the inner edge where the glass meets the body on the inside of the interior. Yes, you got to be a little careful when applying it as to make sure you dont get too much where you dont want it, and you got to work with it before it starts to get stringy, but if you get a tiny bit on the glass that you need to clean off before it totally sets up you can use a wet q-tip to remove it with.. takes a little practice and you have to work a little quick before it sets up, but it holds like a bear. And if you do happen to get a little bit on the glass and it dries on you before you remove it, a blunt tipped round toothpick will lossen and remove it without scratching the glass. At least this is how it works for me. I even use it sometimes on my dash gage area to make decent looking clear lenses.

Hi George, Great subject. I've owned my share of Chevy Vegas in my day. Cant wait to see where you go with this one. Always liked the looks of the Chevy Vegas and the Ford Mavricks.

LMAO Tom, well I'm not sure about 9 foot long, but the 75 thru 79 MG-Midget with rubber bumpers is 10ft 4 inches long and 4ft 4 inches wide.. Maybe if ya found a 74 or older MG-Midget with chrome bumpers it would be pretty close.. But I'll bet the original style Minis would be 9 foot or even shorter.. I'll have to measure one of the guys' Minis in the club at the next meeting now just to find out lmao.

Hi Jeff Thanks. Yes I did drill out and clean out the hood latch piece. And yup it is a outstanding kit. One I had a lot of fun with as well. You should really like building it. Just remember, though, as you go, everything on this kit is a really tight fit and alignment is critical. So test fit, test fit, and then test fit some more, as you go. Especially if your adding lots of detail.

Hi Jonathan, dont seel yourself short on the quality of your detail work. Your quality of detail is looking on par with anyones to me. Everything I do and have done over the years has been refined through trial and error. And being away from the hobby myself for almost 30,and not having the quality of eye site I did in my younger days, I find it takes me alot longer to detail anything than it used to, and I still have to find new ways to do old tricks lol. And sometimes I find things that I want to do as far as detailing goes, doesnt always find its way from my head to my hands.

Hi Geoff, I have been talking to the Mini owners in my British car club the past few days and a couple of them are looking to see if they have any paint left over after restoring their cars.. if they do, they will supply me with what they have, which will allow me to choose between a couple of different original colors. One of our Club members even has a 1960 mini and he is going to let me come by and take alot of detail pics anytime I need to.

Hi and thanks guys. Theses hinges need to be done slow and carefully.. needless to say, because of how small they are. The floor monster likes to try to eat things as I work on them.. I make sure that I cut and shape extra material as I go for just that reason. Im sure by the time I get 4 good ones done, I'll have made enough parts to make a dozen of them lol.. I am working this morning to try to get at least 2 more hinges done, and if possible, and all goes well, I'll try to get all 4 done. I'll post more pics in a day or 2 after I get all the hinges done and start working on the body cleanup.. there are a few mold lines on the front fenders (or as they are called in the UK, WINGS), that have to be sanded down, and a bunch of other body work that needs to be done once cutting out the doors begins. Especially for the door window frames, since they are molded to the door glass. And I still have to design and plan out hinges for the rear trunk hatch, before I can think about cutting it open.

Hi Dominik, when the wife and I take the midget out for a drive, sometimes we stop by the supermarket. When we park in the parking lot.. the midget only takes up half a space.. you should see peoples reactions when they come in after us and think they see a empty parking space between two full sized cars only to find out there is a pint sized miget keeping them from parking there.. lmao. what I mean by a brass strip is a thin strip cut off of a sheet of brass. I usually get brass sheeting from the hobby store, most times found in the train section, and then cut a strip off it for making things like this, as well as engine bay hose and fuel line tie down straps.

Hi James nice start. Its good to see someone doing a datsun. I remember when Nissan was selling everything here in the states as Datsun. Or maybe they just decided to change the name.. Heck I dont know.. I just know one day I was seeing Datsun commercials and the next thing I knew it was Nissan. Anyways, the 510 was always a cool looking little car in my book.

Outstanding work on the dash Fred. THe detail stands out and very realistic looking.

Hey there Tom, lol loved your comment.. I totally know what ya mean.. Back when I was building model in the 80's and 90's most of the kits and the aftermarket stuff was all made right here in the USA..... Well there were the import kits too. Now most of them are manufactured in China. But then most of the cars these days arent made in the countries that the corperations represent.. Look at Chrysler for example.. I beleave fiat owns the biggest part of them now.. And most of the Britsh cars that were once produced By Britsh Leyland are now produced by BMW and even the MG nameplate is owned by China now. Go figure. But hey, as long as they keep making quality kits... I dont care where they are made, I'll still build em.. After all isnt that what us modelers do? lmao.

Hi Tom, glad to hear you havent had any rubbing off issues yet. I like how your build is turning out and looking, and I will follow along with ya as you go. I look forward to seeing where you go with it.

Hi Glenn I was thinking about just that color scheme earlier, also gave some thought to a british color they called sandglow, I actually got alittle of that paint left in a batch the autoparts store made up for me when I painted my 1.1 mg midget. But thats if its still good. Look at the mg in my avatar for the color Im taking about., but I havent made any decission yet about a final color. Got lots of work to do before that has to be decided on lol.

Thanks guys. Hwdy Fred, I hope to get another hinge or two done tomarrow.. Mean time Im studying the heck out of the kit parts to plan out the build process for opening the doors and detailing.. We'll see how it goes lol