Mini Cooper

Subject:
1964
Mini - Cooper
Kit Used: Tamiya 1/24th Scale

Review & model by:
Ed Findysz
Pictures: R. Forys

I have always been the kind of guy who likes muscle cars and sleek sports cars. But for some reason, I have always been interested in the diminutive nature of the Mini Cooper. At 6'3", I doubt that I would be very comfortable in the car even though the information supplied on the model box notes that it would fit 4 stout British males or females. I think that Tamiya should have left out the stout females comment, but it was good for a chuckle. Maybe British women aren't as sensitive to references to weight as American women. Yeah right.

[The first Mini was introduced at the London Motor Show in October of 1959.]

Before I started the build, I did some research on the internet. I obtained pictures of the vehicle and an engine firing order diagram. I also learned the first Mini was introduced at the London Motor Show in October of 1959. The Tamiya kit actually represents a Mini from 1964. Furthermore, I found a review of the kit to see what problems I might encounter. From what I found, the only issue with this kit is that the hood does not shut completely after final assembly. The engine air intakes cause hood and firewall interference. I also wanted to try some weathering techniques I had been reading about. Many used cars on the road today have nice paint jobs, but their chassis and engine compartments show use. Thus my intension was to use some weathering in these areas.

[I thought that the chrome really made the kit look good.]

Tamiya has always been known for making high quality kits that fit together well. Except for the hood issue, that is true. The kit parts fit together well and the chrome was very nice. Since this was my first Tamiya car kit, I could not believe how shinny and perfect the chrome looked. When I completed the model, I thought that the chrome really made it look good. The other observation I made is that this kit body looks closer to 1/32nd. It is not a scale mistake, just the fact that the 1:1 car is so small. Don't let the small size fool you, Tamiya packs a lot of detail in this kit. The engine and transaxle are well detailed and the intakes look good after careful painting. All the necessary under the hood details are supplied as separate pieces including the brake master cylinder, distributor, coil, radiator, and both coolant pipes. The wheels are good and are not plated, which is correct for this vehicle. The top is separate from the rest of the body for ease of painting. The same goes for the side door panels. That being said, most of the time spent on this kit is painting. It gets tedious with all of the masking and painting necessary. The interior requires 5 different colors with the worst being the two toned seats, door panels, and head liner.

[The engine was wired with model master red plug wire material.]

Assembly starts with the engine and transaxle which are molded separately. They were painted green zinc chromate and given several black oil washes to bring out detail along with adding grime. The intake was painted Floquil bright silver and the air cleaners black. The engine was wired with model master red plug wire material. I made plug boots from pieces of stripped telephone wire. Installing the boots on the engine side was easy since the spark plugs were molded into the cylinder head. However, on the distributor side, I had to glue them directly to the face of the rotor cap. This proved somewhat problematic since the glue joint was rather brittle, but after several re-dos the boots stayed in place. I painted the exhaust manifold Floquil platinum mist and tried a weathering technique I read about. I ground up some black and rust color pastels which were added to thinner. Then this mixture was stippled all over the complete exhaust system. In this case the effect maybe a bit overstated, but it provided for a rusty look with texture.

The chassis assembly is molded with interior floor, firewall, front wheel inner fenders and engine compartment as one. This is where the fun begins when painting. The directions call for the underside and engine compartment to be painted flat black. Furthermore, the interior floor was to be painted grey. The part in which I forgot was that the front inner fender wells should be painted body color. Mine ended up in black. To be honest, it looks fine on how it turned out. The chassis was then given a NATO black wash and then dry brushed with Model Master rust. Frankly, I don't really like the MM rust since it dries more to a semi-gloss finish. However, once a coat of flat clear was applied, the rust blended in nicely. The suspension components were painted per the instructions and installed with no issues. After a coat of Floquil platinum mist on the wheels, I checked the stance of the car and all four wheels touched the ground.

[The interior requires 5 different colors with the worst being the two toned seats, door panels, and head liner.]

Moving on to the interior, which caused me the most frustration during the build, the easiest part was painting the headliner since it was molded separately as part of the top. I took the opportunity to paint the inside and outside of the top Tamiya gloss white. Then the fun began. Half way down the interior walls, the color call out is for white, so I used Tamiya color again. After I taped the white off, then I painted the lower half of the walls Gunze Sangyo aircraft grey. I washed the ribbed detail of the side panels with Floquil weathered black which is more like a very dark grey. It provided a nice contrast and helped to bring out the detail. The separate side panels and part of the dash were to be painted body color. Using Gunze Sangyo dark green, I sprayed these parts. The details on the side panel were picked out with bright silver and installed. The green of the dash was masked off and the instrument panel was painted flat black. Again, the details were picked out with bright silver. The steering column was also painted in flat black with the turn signal assembly in bright silver. The wheel spokes were painted in bright silver. The wheel itself was painted with MM rust and then washed with burnt sienna artists oil for a wood grain look. The seats were a two toned affair using body color on the outside while the inserts were painted aircraft grey. Since the seats are not gloss in color, I sprayed them with acrylic flat clear to tone them down. As with the side panels, I used a pin wash of weathered black to bring out the ribs of the seat inserts. I found masking off the seats correctly was very difficult, and had to do some touch up on the green.

[The foil applied to the front wheel wells does not go all the way around based on references found on the internet.]

The body is very nicely molded and only requires some sanding to remove mold seams on the front fenders. The outside of the body is painted Gunze Sangyo dark green. The attraction I had to spraying the body with acrylic gloss was for fast drying time. The body was let to sit for a couple of days before handling. As soon as I picked it up, I realized that I was leaving finger prints on the finish. I guess my "heavy handed" painting method required more drying time. Using automotive wax, I was able to fix the situation. Bare metal foil was applied around the window frames and side moldings. The foil applied to the front wheel wells does not go all the way around based on references found on the internet.

[Bare metal foil was applied around the window frames and side moldings.]

Even though I had modified the engine mounts and air intakes, I still had trouble with them during final assembly. The intakes interfere slightly with the firewall and the engine still sat too high to clear the hood, or bonnet if you prefer. Since I put a fair amount of time weathering the engine compartment, I posed the hood open with a section of black steel line. The only other difficult process of the build was getting the body over the chassis. You really have to stretch the body to get it around the fender wells. Once together, this little model looks great. Even though I was not totally satisfied with my work, the finished kit seemed to draw attention wherever it was displayed. I would definitely recommend this model to anyone who is fond of the Mini and can put up with all the paintwork.

[Once together, this little model looks great.]