slusher Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Great work on the trunk.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 (edited) Next it was time to make the gas tank. Mini's have these in the trunk, and In some refference pics, some mini's even show two, But mine is going with the single LH tank. as seen in this reference pic. Your building a Mini Cooper, the photo above is a Cooper S, only the Cooper S made from 1966 had the twin fuel tanks, the Cooper and all other Mini's had to make do with just the single tanks .... Your resin spare wheel and tyre will be in the post on Friday, when I make it to the Post Office .... Great work your doing on this little Mini, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the build. Edited August 6, 2014 by GeeBee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Here's the gas tank in my 1/25 scale Politoys Mini. Note that there is a flat floor and no spare tire. Was there a flat floor cover over the spare in a 1:1 Mini? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 (edited) Here's the gas tank in my 1/25 scale Politoys Mini. Note that there is a flat floor and no spare tire. Was there a flat floor cover over the spare in a 1:1 Mini? All the info I have on the Mini Cooper, even the ones in our British Car club, show the spare wheel well and battery box with a slightly raised package shelf that rested on supports over the spare wheel and battery box. There wasnt any difference between the MK1 S and the base mini when it came to where the spare and battery were located And both were optioned with or without the package shelf. Your building a Mini Cooper, the photo above is a Cooper S, only the Cooper S made from 1966 had the twin fuel tanks, the Cooper and all other Mini's had to make do with just the single tanks .... Resin mini Wheel.jpg Your resin spare wheel and tyre will be in the post on Friday, when I make it to the Post Office .... Great work your doing on this little Mini, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the build. Yup im building the Mini Cooper, and yes you are correct that the Cooper S MK1 was optioned with the duel tanks. And thanks alot for sending the resin spare. The twin tanks were available as a option on the 1963 Mini S and above, but not all Mini S had the duel tanks, at least here in the US. Edited August 6, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynoMight Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 I never knew Mini's had trunk haha, I thought they were just empty space, boy was I wrong! Great work, Jim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I never knew the battery was in the trunk! I did learn a lot about the Mini from watching the Wheeler Dealer rebuild ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 I never knew Mini's had trunk haha, I thought they were just empty space, boy was I wrong! Great work, Jim! Mini's don't have a trunk, they have a Boot! Possible reason for the flat boot floor would be that the politoys Mini depicts a boot board, back left rests on the spare, front left, right and right rear rest on brackets. Boot boards were available on Mk I Mini's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) Hi Guys, Just a little info update. Progress pics in the next few days... As for the look of the mini and the color, the pics below will show you the look I'm after. For the exterior, I will be going with a Surf Blue color look. To get the color close, Using a conversion chart from British Mania's web site.. They have a ditzler color code for Surf Blue, which is, Turquoise Blue - code number: 12628. Now because it would cost me too much to have the local auto shop to mix up the color for me, I will be using Model Masters Turquoise mixed with a little bit of testers light blue, I figure a ratio around 8:1 to get close to the right color. Also the ditzler color code for Old English While, lists as Cream White color code number: 8177. I think I can mix this using Model Masters classic white mixed with a little bit of light ivory (not sure of the ratio yet. I'll play with it and let you know) to get the color close. The mini guys in the British car club think my ideas on the color mixing should work. Neither of them have paint for the mini in this color, so I have to do it this way. Here is a pic of a 1:1 mini in the color I'm going for. To get the interior two tone color I want.. I will be using, model masters flat Light Grey and testors sky blue over-coated with model masters semi-gloss clear coat. Here is a pic of a 1:1 mini interior, done in the colors I'm going for. Other than it will most likely be a LH drive car instead of a RH drive. As for progress on Mini Mouse, I only got a little bit to share from the past few days. Got the boot floor cover made and the brackets for it to rest on, as well as the boot lid cable brackets. here is a few pics of the work. More to come later this week I hope, as I get things done. Edited August 9, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Mini's don't have a trunk, they have a Boot! Possible reason for the flat boot floor would be that the politoys Mini depicts a boot board, back left rests on the spare, front left, right and right rear rest on brackets. Boot boards were available on Mk I Mini's. Actually Skip, The back of the boot board rest on two angle brackets that are welded on the back wall of the boot area (on the back side of where the seat area is) You can see them in this pic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) Shame your not in the U.K, as I have plenty of the original BMC Surf Blue paint in stock, infact apart from Island Blue I have every colour in stock for the Coopers, I could try to send you a small bottle of it and see if it gets through the postal system .... For the Powder blue seats, I used Windsor & Newton Powder blue acrylic artists paint mixed with Testors acrylic thinners so it could be airbrushed, here's a Tamiya Cooper S I built last year ..... Edited August 9, 2014 by GeeBee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatW Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Yes the battery was in the boot and we had twin fuel tanks, one each side of the boot on the circuit racers and on the rally versions. My elder brother bought a new mini van in 1963, it just had a strong thin sheet of hardboard over the spare wheel painted the same colour as the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) Shame your not in the U.K, as I have plenty of the original BMC Surf Blue paint in stock, infact apart from Island Blue I have every colour in stock for the Coopers, I could try to send you a small bottle of it and see if it gets through the postal system .... For the Powder blue seats, I used Windsor & Newton Powder blue acrylic artists paint mixed with Testors acrylic thinners so it could be airbrushed, here's a Tamiya Cooper S I built last year ..... Hi Geoff, Cant hurt to give it a shot and see if the postal service would let it come through. As for the artist paints, I could look in Hobby Lobby and see if they carry those colors. It cant hurt to see. BMC colors are hard to get here in Northern MIchigan. Very few local paint shops even know how to mix them. I got lucky when I went to paint my MG Midget with the local auto parts store doing a color gun shoot of it and getting it almost a perfect match to the original color. They use DuPont based paints, and I went with a single stage paint. But to take the BMC color chart to them, they would be lost, when it comes to using it to try to mix the color. And because they use DuPont based paints, the Ditzler color codes would be useless to them as well. By the way, your S turned out great. Hope mine turns out half as nice. Edited August 9, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Yes the battery was in the boot and we had twin fuel tanks, one each side of the boot on the circuit racers and on the rally versions. My elder brother bought a new mini van in 1963, it just had a strong thin sheet of hardboard over the spare wheel painted the same colour as the body. Hi Pat, thanks for the info. I have seen the boot floor cover on some with a carpet overplay, and some without. I haven't decided yet which way to go, but I am leaning toward, just like you said, a thin sheet in body color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Morning Guys, OK this where I am at this morning with mini mouse. I started working on getting the doors hung. Because of the type of hinges I made, I have to hang the doors before primer and paint. I will have to work carefully when it comes time to primer and paint the Mini, but I have had to do this before in the past, so it shouldn't be a issue. At this point I am working on the RH side first to get a process that works for both sides. First I removed the molded on hinges from both the door panel and body area. Next, using a round jewelers file, I filed slight grooves in the areas where the hinges will be installed, this is to allow for the hinges to set flush to the door and body. Once this was done, I taped the interior panels, interior tub, and chassis to the body for alignment. Next I taped the door into place, and test fitted the hinges for alignment. Then I mixed up some two part 5 minute epoxy, and applied really small amounts to the groove in the door panel and the underside of the hinge where it will rest in the door panel groove. After this sat for about 30 minutes for drying, I mixed up a little more epoxy and did the same process with the body side of the hinges as I did with the door side, and then allowed everything to site for another 30 minutes for the epoxy to cure up enough to remove the tape from the door. I will let everything sit through today and over night to allow the epoxy to fully cure and harden, before moving on to the other door. Here are some pics of some of the process. I hope to post more detailed pics when I work on the LH door. In this first pic you can see the grooves that were filed into the areas that the hinges rest. The Door sides of the hinges have already been epoxied in to place at this point. In this pic Both the door side and body sides of the hinges are epoxied into place and setting up. In this next pic, after the epoxy has set up for 30 minutes, the tape was removed from the door and body. The next two pics show the result of how the door will swing on the hinges. ( after these pics the door was closed back up and the model set aside till tomorrow so the epoxy can fully cure). I also took time to clean up the mold lines on the front fenders (or wings for you UK guys). More to come as I get more done...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 13, 2014 Author Share Posted August 13, 2014 Today I worked on getting the LH side door hung. I started by removing the molded on door hinges as I did on the RH side. Then I filed groves where the new working hinges would be placed, using a round jewelers file. Then using two part 5 minute epoxy, I glued the hinges in place and set the model aside to dry. I then went over the edges of the hinges on both doors with a little bit of CA glue mixed with baking soda to fill in any gaps around the hinges and to give them extra strength. I plan to do just a tiny bit of filler work on the bottom hinge on the LH side, as seen in this pic, to clean up the space in the area where to two hinge halves meet. This will get done before primer and paint. I then sanded around the edges of the hinges on both doors where I had added CA glue with baking soda. When done with that I un-taped the doors and checked them for function. The next two pics show both doors un-taped and closed to give you a idea of the fit. continued below.............................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 13, 2014 Author Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) These next few pics hopefully give you a idea of how the doors sit opened on their hinges. Next up will be working on the boot hinges and getting it hung in place. Then it's on to cleaning up the body work and getting it ready for primer. To be continued............ Edited August 13, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron5150 Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 This little guy is turning out great man nice door work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I'm really enjoying watching your progress in this delicate operation! Per your comment on thickening CA, I have used Zap-A-Gap for many years as my adhesive of choice because it has some thickness to it, not like water like some CAs. It works well for those little gaps and sands well. Recently I came across Bob Smith Industries Maxi-Cure, extra thick CA, that they call their 10-25 second variety. This is usually sold with your local hobby shop's label on it, so it appears to be their product. This stuff is thick like honey and I'm finding that I like the control I have when putting a small dab on a small part tab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 13, 2014 Author Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) I'm really enjoying watching your progress in this delicate operation! Per your comment on thickening CA, I have used Zap-A-Gap for many years as my adhesive of choice because it has some thickness to it, not like water like some CAs. It works well for those little gaps and sands well. Recently I came across Bob Smith Industries Maxi-Cure, extra thick CA, that they call their 10-25 second variety. This is usually sold with your local hobby shop's label on it, so it appears to be their product. This stuff is thick like honey and I'm finding that I like the control I have when putting a small dab on a small part tab. Hi Tom, I have used Zap A Gap myself for many years. However because of where I live now, I would have to drive 4 hours to the only hobby store on my side of the state that still sells it. The little hobby store that is only a hour away from me sells the Extreme power labeled brand which I'm sure is produced by Bob Smith Industries. It works OK though for what I use it for. I use the Medium level stuff. I'm not found of the thin or extremely thick stuff because it's a little more work to control it when applying it. I seem to be able to work with the medium stuff the best. I mostly use it for gap filling anyways, and it works well for that when mixed with baking soda. I mostly use Tenax-7R and Ambroid Pro-weld for assembly, and for those times I need a strong bond between different materials, I like 5 minute and 30 minute two part epoxy. There are times I still use Testor's liquid cement as well as Tamiya's liquid cements, but not very often. Edited August 13, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 13, 2014 Author Share Posted August 13, 2014 Just a quick update, took care of the over sized gap on the bottom hinge on the LH side door. you can see how the gap is a little too much in this pic. And in this pic, it is corrected. More updates as I get more done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Looking good, your paint should be in the post to the you on Friday .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pim Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 cool progress is it just me or will a set of torque thrusts look great on this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFchronos Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Nice progress, the doors look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynoMight Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Jim this is great, absolutely great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 Thanks for the comments guys. Just a little update for today, Started working on the hinges for the rear boot lid. Got one made so I had a process down to go by. It took about 4 attempts and a couple of hours, but in the pics you will see the results. To make the boot hinges, the material I used is similar to those used for the door hinges. I started with a piece of thin diameter piano wire, to this I cut two pieces of brass sheet stock and bent it around the wire leaving enough to act as a tab on both pieces. Then I cut and shaped a piece of evergreen round rod flattened on one side to the shape on the boot lid molded on hinge and for the body side added a piece of evergreen thin flat trip. then I drilled a hole in the end of a piece of evergreen round rod and cut two pieces off of that to act as retaining washers. every thing was glued together away from the pivot points with very tiny amounts of two part five minute epoxy and, once that hardened enough, the glue points were once again touched with CA glue coated with backing soda to give it extra strength. The below pic shows the first hinge completed and in the pic you will see some of the material I used to make it. Look at the tooth pick and paint bottle to get a idea of just how small the hinge is. CAN YOU SAY EYE STRAIN?! I sure did when making it. Good thing I have a good magnifier glass. especially with these old eyes of mine lol. Another pic to give you I idea of just how small these things are to make. Anyways that's it for today. Have to make the other hinge for the boot lid, then attach it to the boot lid and body. I'll post more in a day or two when I get the other hinge made and get the boot lid attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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