Revell Mini Cooper

Well I started the Mini Cooper today, waiting for the Corolla clear coat to dry. I'll take some pics soon but damn Revell quality is, well lets just say I'm used to Tamiya quality. :D

Revell and Fujimi!:rolleyes: Tamiya is the way to go!
Though I have respect for their enthusiast series! They can do it if they try!

Bloody Beginners eh Dan :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Ya cant teach us old dogs new tricks when it comes to which kits are the best ...lol

:p :p :p
j/k... Jason.

Yeah the kits are no were near as good as Tamiya......but with alot of work they can turn out good

Goodluck with it.

Well I bought the kit because it was cheap. I'm really just using it for practice. I'd rather FUBAR a cheap Revell kit than a Tamiya kit. :D

I was looking at the kit the other day and it didnt look to bad....i did think about buying it.... but no.....wait till your Opel gets here PMan

OK I can tell you're all real excited about this kit so I'll post a few updates. :D:D:D Here's a pic of the box top, I'm sure you've all seen it in the stores. I'll be sticking to the basic color scheme on the box.

I don't like how the body is molded in 4 different parts as you can see here. The window sections is going to be a real beotch to mask and paint. :mad: So far I've painted the main body and the roof with automotive paint. I really, really like the results. Last night I dicked around with the polishing compound and gave the main body a quick polish. I'll be doing at least one more coat of paint on the roof and main body.

Now as with any other car this bad boy stands tall. Here's a pic with the main chassis and suspension taped together and the wheels are on backward to give me an idea of the final ride height. I think I want to lower it somehow.

Here's the front suspension component. I'm thinking of cliping off the wheel arm and reattaching it down higher on the strut.

Any professional advice?

The rear might be a bit harder. But I'm thinking about cutting off the wheel axle and adding some material between the suspenion and the wheel axle.

Again some advice or ideas would be nice. :D

For shits and giggles here an 'assembled' pic. :D:D

Nice pics and write up so far Jason.
What a funny way to mold the body...never seen it done that way before.

As for the lowering.....going by the pics, can you cut bits out of the shocks and reattach them if you are after 1-2mm ?

Give that paint a good week to settle, otherwise all that hard work polishing is wasted as the paint shrinks and goes dull again!

What I plan on doing with my struts is drilling a hole down the middle, cutting it and taking a section out, re-glueing it back together lower and then glueing a metal pin back down the hole to make the strut strong again.

This will be done on the Celica when I get a moment!

I can't really cut a piece out and reinsert it in a different place because of the way the part is molded. I'd have to cut some space out of the chassis piece too get the proper clearance with the steering rod. I'll take pics of what I do but it basically involves solvent based glue, a brass 'pin' and some putty. So much work for such a cheap model. :D

Nearing completion. Today or tomorrow I'll have pics. Revell has the crappiest chrome plating. It's just rubbing off with no effort. Had I know I would have picked up some BMF yesterday when I was at the hobby shop. :mad:

Originally posted by G-Forces
Nearing completion. Today or tomorrow I'll have pics. Revell has the crappiest chrome plating. It's just rubbing off with no effort. Had I know I would have picked up some BMF yesterday when I was at the hobby shop. :mad:

Its shocking how it flakes of so easy. The bumpers on my Dodge i had to do with BMF

Well here it is I know you're all sooo excited and just can't wait any longer for these pics. :D

I won't be mistaken for a real car but I tried a little Guiddy/BauLak action on this one. It turned out OK. :p

OK seriously here's the real deal now. :D

..

Some thoughts on this kit and probably Revelle in general. The underbody detail is pretty shoddy. Nothing like Tamiya. I just bacially painted it semi-gloss black and painted in the exhaust. Even the suspenion components are black. :rolleyes:

The chrome included in the kit is crap. Strip and repaint what you like and get some BMF for what you actually want to see in chrome. Assembly was OK but the fit was not very good with the front bumper and the chrome grill. I guess I could take some time and fix it with some putty and a little cutting but I can't be arse. This was just an experiment in using automoitve paint for the body and practice using my air brush for painting.

Also prime every part! I didn't prime anything on the interior and it was rubbing off with just normal handeling.

Well that's it for this one. Say good nite Gracie!

Oops missed one!

Well Done :D

Looks Very Nice :)


Originally posted by G-Forces
and probably Revelle in general. The underbody detail is pretty shoddy. Nothing like Tamiya

I have to agree with you here. Most of the Revelle kits I have done in the past have had poor underbody detail.

They are fairly poor in comparison to Tamiya, but for the price, you cant ask for much better. [At least here, Revell kits are pretty cheap.]

Again, good job on the kit.

Originally posted by HuMMerMan
Well Done :D

Looks Very Nice :)




I have to agree with you here. Most of the Revelle kits I have done in the past have had poor underbody detail.

They are fairly poor in comparison to Tamiya, but for the price, you cant ask for much better. [At least here, Revell kits are pretty cheap.]

Again, good job on the kit.
Thanks. :) Yeah they are, on average, about half the price of a Tamiya kit. It was basically an experiment for me. It turned out quite well. I could have spent more time on it but once it's in a display case (one day) it should pass the visual inspection. Again, thanks. :D

Looks great! I would say that automotive paint looks superb, and the cutting/polishing seems effective!
Is that the way you will do them all now?
Nice model to have too, a bit different!

Well done!:D

Originally posted by Guiddy
Looks great! I would say that automotive paint looks superb, and the cutting/polishing seems effective!
Is that the way you will do them all now?
Nice model to have too, a bit different!

Well done!:D
Thanks. Hell yeah I'll be using the automotive paint from now on. Wide range of colors. Excellent results. It's a bit glossier than it looks in the pics. I couldn't be bother to wait for a nice day to take the pics.

Nice looking end resuilt there Jason.
Well done :)