As my Volkswagen project winds down, my new project is the Revell Original Mini Cooper and while this kit has 128 pieces, this car is tiny when compared to the current modern Revell Mini Cooper which had less pieces when I built it many years ago. I plan on painting this Mini Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red with a Tamiya TS-26 Pure White roof. If I can scare up the materials, I may try to produce a Union Jack roof decal for this Mini. Other than the roof decal and maybe some engine wiring, this model will be built OOB.
Hey, I bet it will be as awesome as your other builds too. Oh, by the way, Airfix had a 1/32 scale version as well. Now talk about Tiny! The Mini is Small anyway! This one is teeny. Good luck and I will check this out at my Local Hoby Lobby.
Oh, I found some Oooold Pactra Dark Forest Green. That’s what color mine is. Yep, painted with a brush too. The paint was still viable! Humbrol Deck Bleached Teak for the roof with an overcoat of Clear gloss. Can’t wait to see yours done!
Back in the early '80’s we ran autocross with a Brit. He used to race them. Said it was the most fun and scariest thing he ever did with pants on…170 mph in one of those. No idea how true it was.
Owned a couple of America’s back then, couldn’t get rid of them soon enough.
Great Mr Mike! Yes the original Mini was nearly half the size of the new one! Mr brother bought a light green Mini Van from the factory in Oxford in 1963! We only lived about 20 miles from the factory so he got the bus to Oxford, to save the delivery cost to the local Mini dealer who was on the corner of the street. One problem? As he drove it home it jumped out of first gear! That was a problem with the earlier 1961 version! When he got it home he jacked the car up and took the wheels off and saw the rust in the bottom of the wheels where it had been stored on an airfield just outside Oxford for the previous two years! He took it to the dealership and they changed the gearbox straight away!
My mother passed her driving test aged 62 and bought the Mini Countryman Estate with the outer wood trim.
I started with assembly of the basic engine and I painted some of the parts needed for it with PollyS Dark Green. I also painted some pieces with gold, stainless steel, flat and semi gloss black. The wheels got a coating of flat white around the rims. I’ll coat this with gloss clear in a few days.
The engine has been assembled and ready to be installed in the chassis…when I get that built! I must say that this engine went together very well and I haven’t lost any parts yet! These parts are tiny!
Wow they are small. Didn’t realize the size differenced as I consider the current minis to be pretty small! I do recall watching a race of all original mini’s and it was such a blast. Engine looks great, lot’s of detail.
Brings back memories… A friend of mine at trade school had a hot-rodded Mini Cooper. We rebuilt his 1275 in engine class.
Instead of the two Stomberg / SU carbs, he fitted a huge side draft Solex carb. Trouble was that it fouled the firewall behind the instrument cluster… so he simply cut a hole there for the stacks and air filter. Whenever I went for a ride with him, you had to keep the windows rolled down otherwise your ears would pop when he accelerated to WOT! …sucked all the air out from the interior.
I finally got some Tamiya Grey Fine Surface Prime on the Mini chassis and I installed the engine. I painted the interior floor with Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black and the body parts got a coat of Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer.
Your progress on the Mini is looking great! I have the Tamiya version of this kit started but was delegated to “Shelf Queen” status and needs the paint stripped. VWs are my favorite but the original Mini runs a close second. Good luck with the rest of the build.
A little time this afternoon at the paintbooth! I painted the body and other pieces with Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red, the roof with Tamiya TS-26 Pure White, A second coat for the interior platform with Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black. Now to let this dry and maybe a couple of coats of Tamiya TS-13 Gloss Clear to be added.
