This is the Mini Cooper of Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon who, against all odds, won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. The mini was never designed as a potential racing or Rally car. Yet, Stuart Turner who was Competitions Manager at BMC during the mid '60s started hiring paid drivers and mechanics, prepare spare parts and plan service intervals during the Monte. It lead to the success of the mini, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four years on the trot and probably changed the face of Rally driving forever.
I have to admit, so far I have been really impressed wit this kit. Generally speaking, a lot of Revells latest car kits contain a lot more plastic then their Tamiya counterparts but at a cheaper price. There's very little to no flash to be found on the sprues or parts and this model at least is also falling together quite nicely. So far, I haven't come across any fit issues (fingers crossed).
Mould lines are kept to a minimum. These on the front were the only ones on the whole body. Since they weren't in close proximity of tiny details, they were also quite easy to remove. After a little experimenting, I found that Ultimate sanding sponges are ideal for giving the whole body a quick scrub in preparation of priming.
Before:
After:
Some engine parts ready to be put together:
Those same engine parts ready for painting:
Finished engine. The original Mini's came with an olive coloured engine block. Didn't have any olive paints lying around so I mixed up some Tamiya X-15 (Light Green) and Tamiya XF-71 (Cockpit Green) to get something close to olive. All the metallic effects were done with Alclads.
Also made a start at the interior. Still some work to be done before this part of the build is finished though.
Currently waiting for some more Zero Paints to be delivered before I can crack on with the rest of the build.
