Revell's Original Mini Cooper Final Assembly

[Darren B]

Wow this is gonna be a real treat and I love the hinges, the original mini is my favorite ride, I will be watching this one with great interest.

[microwheel]

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.

Edited July 24, 2014 by microwheel

[TFchronos]

Cool project and great progress, I'll watching this for sure.

[microwheel]

Cool project and great progress, I'll watching this for sure.

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.

[slusher]

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.

I really enjoy builds like your project Jim, i build box stock so i get to learn something and i am a slow builder also....

[DynoMight]

I would go insane building those hinges Great job Jim. Another great model in the works.

[Tom Geiger]

Great progress and a lot of work to make those tiny little hinges the size of rice grains! Kinda like neutering fleas!

And going back to the thread about how much you'd charge to build someone a model... well those hinges are worth hundreds of dollars at shop rate.

[microwheel]

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

[microwheel]

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.

[Jaguar man 21]

I wish had the skill to do that to my mini

[Tom Geiger]

Jim - Just a thought. Instead of scratch building the door panels, maybe vacuform them with thinner plastic?

This project does look good. I can see the quality in the ROG Mini. I haven't got one yet but I just got the Trabant wagon and the quality is excellent, also pressed in Poland.

[microwheel]

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.......

[microwheel]

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....

[Tom Geiger]

Wow! Great precise work on that door and jamb! No criticism here about the speed you are working at, you are working consistantly and moving forward on a very intricate assembly. Kudos to you! I'm enjoying watching.

[slusher]

Very impressive work.

[DynoMight]

Really good job on the door! I attempted to open the doors on my '36 Ford, but everything seemed to not align anymore, so I had to glue to doors back in.

[Jaguar man 21]

This looks awsome keep up the awsome work

[microwheel]

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.

[1 bad55 stan]

Very impressive work!You are a skilled man with a lot more patience than me.. Keep us posted...

[blubaja]

Good luck with the top of the door frame! Bottom looks good so far!

[Tom Geiger]

Thanks for the daily updates. Us detail nuts do see and appreciate the hard earned progress on this one! And it's like having a favorite show that you can watch every day!

[microwheel]

Good luck with the top of the door frame! Bottom looks good so far!

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.

[microwheel]

Thanks for the daily updates. Us detail nuts do see and appreciate the hard earned progress on this one! And it's like having a favorite show that you can watch every day!

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.

[Tom Geiger]

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.

Bless you and your wife! You've taken two kids with an uncertain future and gave them a good life. Beats the heck out of building a model any day!

[microwheel]

Bless you and your wife! You've taken two kids with an uncertain future and gave them a good life. Beats the heck out of building a model any day!

Thanks, yup,but model building is my get sane again time lol. Our daughter graduated this past year and is off getting ready to start college this next month. She's going into the medical field like my wife. She got a ton of scholarships, so there is very little financial add that she needs. Our son, even with all his issues, has the potential to do just as well. My wife and I always tell the kids that they didn't ask for the problems that they have, and to never let their issues hold them back. Both their birth parents were drug and alcohol abusers, and they neglected and abused both kids. As did their birth grand parents, whom they lived with for a while. when they were little, and were also heavy drinkers.