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Revell's Original Mini Cooper Final Assembly


microwheel

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Morning guys,

Last night I finish up the second boot hinge and got the boot lid hung in place on it's hinges and tested for fit and operation. The process for making the second hinge went pretty much like the first.

To hang the lid on its hinges,I first cut off the molded on hinges from the lid, then I cut groves in the lid with a round jewelers file. Using a rotor tool and a tapered cutting bit, I cut notches on the body side for the part of the hinge that rests on the body area. I then, taped the lid in place on the body with scotch tape.

Next I mixed a little bit of two part five minute epoxy and applied it to the groves in the boot lid and the notches on the body and set the hinges in place.

Once the epoxy had set up for about 30 minutes, using a toothpick I applied a little CA glue around the edges of the hinges and dusted the wet CA glue with baking soda to give them extra strength and to fill in any gaps around the hinges.

Once the CA glue dried, I cut small strips off a sheet of 400 grit sand paper and lightly sanded around each hinge to blend them into the body, just as I had done on the doors.

The pics below will show you the results.

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And yes, during this process I tacked the bumper into place to check for clearance, though I didn't take any pics of that process. (it was a long night)

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Here is the boot lid sitting open on it's hinges. I still need to make a upper latch for it. (might do that with the chrome handle) I'll work out that idea later.

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Here is a shot with some of the boot detail sitting in place. I also still have to make the boot lid side strap brackets.

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A side view with everything opened

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And one looking down from the top

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Continued below........................

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Finally a pic of everything closed up and the roof just resting in place.

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Once I get the boot lid strap brackets made and the lid catch plate made for the boot latch, it will be ready for clean up and primer. I hope to have it in a first coat of primer by the first of the week.

That's all for now.. More to come when I get more done.

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Howdy everyone,

Didn't get a lot done on the Mini this weekend. It was pretty busy here. We had company for the weekend and I also have been working on my 1:1 MG Midget getting it ready to put a new clutch in it. You have to pull the engine to replace the clutch.

I did get a little time to clean up the body and get some primer on the Mini. I'm using Tamiya fine white primer.

Here is a few pics for now of the Mini in Primer. The roof is just setting on it for test fitting. I have just a few blemishes to clean up before paint. Don't mind my messy workbench lol.

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I have a few more pieces and parts to clean up and primer, and hope soon to get some color on it.

I plan to also start working on assembling and detailing the engine soon.

Stay tuned, and thanks for checking my build out.

Edited by microwheel
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This is fantastic! the work on the door and boot hinges, and the inside of the boot is absolutely amazing.

The boot board is perfect, the fuel tank looks to be a later model 9gal (common upgrade), but the only thing missing is the details on the inside of the boot lid... there is this type

28G0110_28G110_classic_mini_cooper_mk1_m

and the double skinned (this is what I would go with on the mk1)

800600001absms025a.jpg

I've been lurking these forums for a couple weeks - just getting into scale models again. I had done a 1:24 (fujimi) scale replica of my 1:1 Mini (I have 3 1:1 minis - one driver, one project, and well... the remains of another).

I'm building a Mini speedster right now (similar to the minispeed/vmax car) and a stock cooper s from this same kit you're building (edit- oops, no mine are the tamiya kit).

I am absolutely blown away by your model, thanks so much for sharing :)

Edited by Oldmanpants
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Prior to December 1966 the MK1 Coopers had a simple board on the inside of the bootlid held in place with self tapping screws, the Revell version is a pre-January 1966 model, so should have the following panel on the inside of the bootlid

post-2058-0-82813400-1408475461_thumb.jp

The boot carpet should have a very fine carpet fitted to it.

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Well corrected, Geoff. I had not considered the inner boot lid skin... hiding the inner lid details. cheers!

Anyways, it's absolutely outstanding and has inspired me to get back to work on mine, as well as my (non-existent) modelling skills so i can maybe one day worry about the inner boot details at scale myself

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Finally had time this morning to get some color on the Mini. A special thanks to GeeBee here on the forums for sending me the paint all the way from the UK. Once the paint dries out a few days, I'll color sand it and polish it out, then I can finally begin assembly and detail.

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More to come as I work on it.............

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Hi Fred, thanks buddy, no the roof isnt painted yet, but it will be Old English White. Which is almost a Ivory color. And then the drip rails along the edge of the roof will be body color. The Body color is called Surf Blue, which is almost a turquoise blue.

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Well I started on the interior today, since I have to wait on the body paint job to gas out and dry.

I picked up a few supplies at Hobby Lobby to work on it with. I was going for a powder blue for the seats and carpet. GeeBee sent me a link to a site for the colors, but it would just take to long for everything I wanted to come in by snail mail, so I went to hobby lobby and found something I think will be fairly close to powder blue. It's Ceramcoat's Blue Danube Acrylic. It's pretty thick and needed to be thinned down with testors acrylic thinner. I tested it out on a piece of evergreen sheet plastic to make sure the mix was right and that it would dry out quickly. Also while I was there I picked up some plain white embossing powder for the carpet. I first sprayed a coat of testors flat light grey over the main floor tub as well as masked off the interior side panels and spayed the same color on the rear side panel inserts and the seats. Then I mixed up some of the blue danube acrylic and then masked off the areas of the floor pan I didn't want coated, and shot a heavy wet coat of the acrylic on it. I allowed that coat to dry completely and then hit it with another medium coat, and while that was still wet, coated it with the white embossing powder. Once that had dried I repeated the step and gave it another coat of embossing powder to get the consistency of the carpet I wanted. Once that dried I sprayed a few more light mist coats of the Danube Blue over that. Once every thing dried I pulled the making tape off and set the parts aside to dry out completely. I still have to mask off the areas of the seats I want to keep light grey and spay the seats with the Danube Blue, but it working out pretty good so far. I'll have more updates in a few days.

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First heavy coat of Danube Blue applied and almost dry.

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Another wet coat of Danube Blue applied ready for the first coat of white embossing powder

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White embossing powder applied and waiting to dry.

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A few mist coats of Danube Blue applied over the embossing powder

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The end result after everything was unmasked

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Continued...............

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Continued from above....

I masked off the side panels and sprayed the side panel inserts light grey, as well as spraying the base coats of light grey on the seats. The seats centers will still need to be masked off and a few coats of Danube Blue added.

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More to come in a few days.

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Thanks everyone. Sorry I haven't had any updates in a few days, the wife and I went camping for labor day weekend, so I didn't get time to work on the mini until today. I did get a few more things done with the interior and hope to post a few pics sometime either tonight or tomorrow morning. Now that the body has gassed out for a week or so, I hope to color sand and polish it out tomorrow.

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Ok guys, here is a few pics of what I got done today. I got the seats installed. Made a set of front floor mats. started on making a set of static front seat belts (the inner ones are done), and though the kit comes with the side sholder belts, I plan to make a more realistic set to go with the inner lap belts, especially since the doors on the mini will be able to open. Got the gear shift, emergency brake handle, and peddles installed. The car is gonna be a LH drive car as would have been shipped to the US. Started work on the chassis, well got some detail color on the front anyways. And finally assembled and detailed the dash.

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More to come as I get it done..............

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