Customizing and improving the Tamiya Morris Mini Cooper Mk.1 1966 "Gulf" #24048 1/24 scale English

Cars

Customizing and improving the Tamiya Morris Mini Cooper Mk.1 1966 "Gulf" #24048 1/24 scale

by Edwing Merlo Paredes © Modeler Site

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No doubt, one of the icon cars in 1960s pop culture desired and adored by a lot of people was and still is the classic Mini, the original was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis and receiving then the magic touch from John Cooper who added to the tiny vehicle an engine with excellent performances, leaving it ready to compete with the most famous and legendary competitions of the 60’, a legend was born, thus it was named Mini Cooper and still is to the present day.

In this tutorial I’ve made a road vehicle version with own elements of a rally car, and decorated with the Gulf emblems and colors.

The kit used to build this model is the Tamiya 1/24 that ran in Monte Carlo rally 1967 (#24048). It’s cheap and is being manufacturing from time to time and can be easily purchased in many online shops

Construction

Body

Once all the parts comprising the body were separated, I proceeded to sand them to remove all the most visible imperfections such as flashes, mold marks, etc

On starting the model, the body and hood were built according to instructions.

But then I spent hours detailing the engine. If I would have followed the assembly way Tamiya proposed, I mean like in the real car with the hood opening back, all the detailing achieved would remain almost hidden.

This is why its visibility is almost null with the regular construction unless you remove the hood to show the engine, and even so, it will not be not visible.

The solution to show all the detailed work made to the engine was to glue the front fenders and hood like if it were a single part and then cutting to separate this whole from the rest of the body. This is why in some pictures you can appreciate the hood as a separate part and in others you may see the vehicle with the complete front separated from the body.