Tamiya Mini Cooper Racing Progress! *Detailed*

[tc3house]

Alright, I went against my better judgement and I started a project while I was still busy with another. Since I dont have a food dehydrator it takes a couple of days for the paint job on my Mazda MX-5 to dry. So decided to get started on something a little different from my usual models. I won this Mini Cooper after winning the A-Mains at an R/C track a few months ago. This will be the first kit I have attempted engine/brake wiring on.

Here are my plans for it: Key * - done

Italian Red body
Pure White roof
Wired and detailed engine*
Brake lines front and back*
Brake light wiring*
5 Point Rollcage
Detail Interior
Mild weathering to the chassis
Take Better Pictures











Which seat would look better?

[z33guy]

im liking the black seat better. But i dont know if that would look cluttered or not tho.

[Towelboy80]

I like the black one but for a Mini (not the New Mini I think?) I'd choice the green one.

[Blowncivic1320]

That looks awesome, you should put the black seat just because it would look funny (get a driver also so he will looked crammed in there)

[Midnight Racer]

I would go with the black seat.Love the engine.

[Chain]

Nice engine details. Considering the size of that mini, you did a very good job of it tc3house.
Is this the 1/24 scale?

As for the seats. Really up to you.
But I have some suggestions, no criticism though.

You gonna follow the racing mini right down to the time line? If so, then the cobra seat would be out of its era. Otherwise I would stick to the mini's stock seats.

Green seats inside an italian red mini?hmmm, depends on what the interior colour of the mini gonna be also.

I believe this stock also has a spare seat, 1 specially for the driver and also spare tires and rims.
What you gonna do with those?
Perhaps cut the back booth and leave 1 spare tire in the back or both tires on top the mini?

Oh btw, I understand this mini has got some severe problems with the disc connecting to the rims of the tires, you had any problems with it?

Overall, tc3house, its your mini

Good project built so far tc3house

[tc3house]

Green seats inside an italian red mini?hmmm, depends on what the interior colour of the mini gonna be also.

The seats aren't painted yet

I believe this stock also has a spare seat, 1 specially for the driver and also spare tires and rims. What you gonna do with those?
Perhaps cut the back booth and leave 1 spare tire in the back or both tires on top the mini?

As for the seats, it came with 2 regular seats for the front, but the racing Mini has only one seat (the green one in the photo). It also comes with a bench seat for the back on to which part of the 3 point rollcage connects to.
The extra stock rims are an idea, but I havent seen many race cars with spare tires in the back, or on the roof . Also the extra rims don't come with extra tires

[Chain]

Originally posted by tc3house

The seats aren't painted yet
As for the seats, it came with 2 regular seats for the front, but the racing Mini has only one seat (the green one in the photo). It also comes with a bench seat for the back on to which part of the 3 point rollcage connects to.
The extra stock rims are an idea, but I havent seen many race cars with spare tires in the back, or on the roof . Also the extra rims don't come with extra tires

My bad, the green seats do look painted in the picture.
Well, anyways, forget the roof part, cos come to think of it, I realised now that yours is the racing version and not the rally version, my mistake.

The rally version had 2 spare rims with 2 spare tires. That explains it.

[Valentino]

Great job !!!!!!
As for the seat, let's keep it original, go for the green one.

[chaos]

Wow...excellent job on the engine details. What wire do you use?

[bigfrit]

WOW, looks fabulous untill now !
You sure are making a very nice job of it !

As for the mods you're going to make ... It's a mini with the old grille, right, not the squared out one... making it one of the first modelyears of mini to come out... I fyou want to make an true-to -original mini of it, you should respect that only the green seat shouldbe use, and that the 5-point roll-cage you 've planned should be left for the original 3-point, if I m not mistaken ...

If you do want to make a car that is like a modern intetrpretation of the classic mini car, you could go wild on it, without bothering too much about the authenticity... because so many old mini's have been racing on so many different trims and specs...

anyway, you're dong a very, evry nice job ! Keep it up !
Olivier

[flyonthewall]

Great work!

[simdel1]

very nice looking kit so far. its nice to see the exposed brake cylinder with the brake lines coming off it.

as for the seat, if it is the racing mini, it was intended for racing. so i would go with the black one. besides, mini's are still raced and the rules require them to have the same type of seat as the black one.

as bigfrit said, it all depends on weather you are doing an old racing mini, or a modern racing mini.

here's a few pictures of the modern racing minis...just for inspiration.

theres a hell of a lot more here if your interested. just click n the gallery links on the right

http://www.mini7.co.uk/race_dates.html

[hrmodeler]

Looking great so far!