Mini Cooper-A surprise gift for Dad.

[tuned.by.twenty]

Small update-the body is in white primer now. Note the panel lines; this is one of the kit's strong points. They're nice and deep, which should allow me to skip any washes to darken them. The roof and bumper can go into paint soon, but the main body needs a panel scriber to touch up one small panel line around the hood. I have more to show, but am going to hold off until I can get a few last things taken care of.

[Ferrari TR]

Nice progress.
Be sure to fit the grill to both the body and bumper before you paint.

[tuned.by.twenty]

Thanks for the tip, Ferrari TR!

Time for the latest on the Mini. Tonight I had some time so I sat down at my desk and got to work. First up, the front suspension was weathered and installed, along with the interior tub. There was a slight gap, so clamps were needed to hold the parts together while the glue was drying.

With that set aside, I pulled out the dashboard and started to detail it. The main gauge decal was applied, and the vents were painted black. The steering column was also installed.


Moving back to the interior, the seats have wrinkles molded in, and I wanted to highlight them. Last week (or the week before, I forget), I mixed up a wash for the recesses. I wanted to go with thinned smoke, but the jar's lid had fused itself on, so I had to settle for black instead. Looking at it now, this should work better as the wrinkles will be more visible once the glass and roof are installed.

That's it for now. The interior is close to completion, and the wheels as well. All I need now is the time.

[tuned.by.twenty]

More paint has been flying! The roof has its first coat of white now, which will be wetsanded and painted again. After that clear can come, and it'll be set aside to cure.

While the white was out, the hood also got a coat. A while back, while out running errands with my father I parked next to a red Mini which happened to have two white racing stripes on the hood. I casually mentioned that, to which my father responded along the lines of "I like them". That of course means that his mini Mini will have stripes. After a wetsand and second coat, the stripes will be masked, and the body will be painted.

The front bumper however, could go straight to red since the stripes don't continue down onto it. Clear is up next, followed by polishing.

That's all for now, but with winter coming fast I'm now trying to wrap this up as soon as I can.

[mrawl]

Looks great. Nice write-up too.

[tuned.by.twenty]

Originally Posted by mrawl

Looks great. Nice write-up too.

Thanks!

Today I had a bit of time to get some paint out again. The Mini's hood and roof both received their second coats of white, so they're now waiting on masking and clearing, respectively. The front bumper was able to go right to the clear coat, but a minor problem showed up. The clear went on too heavily at first, 'eating' into the red paint a bit. It pulled it from some points and high spots, revealing the primer underneath. (The picture seems to exaggerate the damage)

With that said, it actually won't be that hard to fix. The bottom lip has to be painted semi-gloss black later on, so the spot of primer showing through will be covered. The 'mesh' has to be painted as well, so that's not a problem either. The others can simply be drybrushed red, as they'll mostly be covered by details yet to come. When it's all done, it shouldn't even be noticeable.
Once I get this Mini all sorted out, I also have a Thunderbird to build for my mother. I found it at my favourite little out-of-the-way hobby shop, on sale for only $3, so I grabbed it since she loves her 'Birds. But with winter coming soon, the Thunderbird will probably have to wait until early 2009.

[tuned.by.twenty]

Time for some progress. I've decided that I want this done in time to present it as a Christmas gift, so I need to make use of the little warm weather remaining. Today was decent, so I quickly got everything ready. First up, the racing stripes on the hood were masked off with 6mm wide tape strips.

It was given a quick mist of white to seal the tape and set aside while the roof and bumper were given their turn with the spray cans.
The roof was given two mist and two heavier coats of clear. I think one more will be put on whenever I can paint next, and then it'll be polished before it's masked for the matte black trim.

As you can see there is a bit of orange peel (the camera makes it slightly worse), but it's nothing serious.
The bumper was given another good coat of clear, but when it was placed down on the counter it promptly flipped and smudged a tiny portion of the clear on one side. It'll be wetsanded and touched up.
And now, the most important part of the build; the body is red!

It was given a few coats of red, and looks pretty good. It'll be wetsanded to remove a tiny bit of dust and the orange peel, before a final coat is given. After that it's clear, polish, and then the matte black trim will be masked for and painted.
Now we're getting somewhere.

[tuned.by.twenty]

The Mini is back!
The weather outside has put an abrupt halt to any further painting, so for now I have to keep busy with polishing and detailing.
The front bumper was polished tonight and is ready for the matte black trim (whenever it stops snowing that is...)
You may remember that the front bumper suffered some minor bubbles in the last clear coat, after it fell over while drying. A little wetsanding took care of that and everything was good to go.


Here it is after polishing.



It's still nowhere near perfect-this one part seems to be the cursed bumper...but it won't matter. Once the red is touched up and a bit of weathering is done it shouldn't look any different than the rest of the body.
Next up I hope to wetsand the body soon to prepare it for the final red coat, and once that's done the tape can be pulled off and the whole thing will be cleared. The roof needs one more coat of clear before I polish it, and after that there isn't all that much left.

[JTninja]

Very nice! Cant wait to hear about his reaction

[tuned.by.twenty]

UPDATE:
In case you didn't figure it out, the Mini was not completed for Christmas. December saw the coming of -40 degree weather which put all painting to a halt. However, I've been making some good progress this week, and some warm weather is expected to come any day now, so the Mini is back on track.

Here's where the interior and chassis stand as of now. The door panels have been detailed with silver and glued in place. The shifter has also been finished, and the e-brake handle (not shown) is ready to go in. The dashboard is awaiting some possible final detailing, and the small gauge which sits atop the steering column is ready to go. The upper dash still needs paint, but it's simply a case of spraying on some matte black. Nothing too complex.

The wheels are all decalled, and once some paint is touched up, the fronts can be clear coated and fixed to the backs.
The body has been wetsanded to take care of some minor trash and orange peel, so when the nice weather comes it'll be given one final coat of red, followed by clear. After polishing it, the bumper, and the roof will be masked for the black trim. The mirrors are still awaiting paint at this point.
Once all of the final details are taken care of the Mini can be put together and given to my Dad. Hopefully it can be done soon, or if not there's always his birthday at the start of March.

[endac]

Looks really good, nice idea for a present. I was thinking of doing the same for my dad but with a model ship.