Tamiya Mini Cooper
I bought this kit a while back, and I finally dug it out and had a chance to knock it out over a week or so. By far the smallest 1/24 scale car I have ever built!
This kit has been around for a while, and it is quite detailed despite its size. Like most Tamiya kits, the quality is excellent. The model is molded in white, clear and black with a small chrome sprue as well.
For the body, I decided to go with Testor Lime Ice lacquer with a gloss clearcoat. Painting a body this small with rattle cans was a little tricky, and the paint went on heavier than I intended. Fortunately it didn't run or sag anywhere so I was able to work with what I had.
The engine and front suspension are very detailed, with everything but wires included. The front steering is positionable but assembly was a bit tricky.
I painted the undercarriage semigloss black, and installed the exhaust. The muffler is painted bright yellow.
The interior is spartan, but accurate and detailed. I painted the floor black and sprinkled black flocking for carpets, then painted the seats white and glued them in. Once the seats were in, I thought they needed a bit more detail so I decided to paint gray cloth inserts in the upholstery.
Once the seats were complete, I added the dashboard, steering wheel and gearshift. unlike a lot of car models, the interior sides are glued to the body shell and not the floor before the car is closed up. It did make them a lot easier to paint.
The door panels are painted body color, with black seals and Bare metal chrome trim. The open area of the panel shows the molded detail on the interior sides.
Once the interior was complete, the glass was glued in place and the body was snapped on. The fit is excellent, but snug. It took a little effort to get the body in place.
The roof of the body is molded separately, partially since it is painted a different color and also to allow access to the surprisingly roomy interior.
The roof was painted gloss white with gloss clearcoat, and the drip rails painted to match the body. I glued the roof on with just a few small drops just in case I ever need to remove it. I also added the mirrors, door handles and other trim.
AMT Lotus 24 - Vintage 1967 kit
A while back I saw an ad on Facebook for a guy selling a bunch of models he picked up from an estate sale. I met him to check out what he had and found some pretty cool stuff, including this vintage AMT Lotus kit.
It's not super accurate, but it does a fair job of replicating the Indy 500 version.
Instructions are pretty simple. Decals are a little cracked so I won't be using them. I will order new ones once I need them.
Parts are molded in green, chrome, and clear with black vinyl tires.
Being a vintage kit, the mold quality isn't the greatest. Lots of flash and thick pieces. But everything is there, and the plastic hasn't gone brittle like some old kits I've worked on.
I decided to go ahead and build the kit from the box, without any significant modifications. I wanted to see if I could make a nice model out of this with just a little extra work and a nice paint job.
The first step was to glue together the body halves around the drivers compartment. The fit on the body was pretty poor, it took quite a few rubber bands to keep everything tightly held together.
Once the glue was dry, I installed the engine and transmission. They will be painted in place. Since most of the engine will be covered up, I don't need to detail it.
After spraying the body with white primer, I filled all seams with Tamiya gray putty. The engine and transmission were painted steel and aluminum. I also painted the cockpit and seat.
It took a couple of filling and sanding sessions to get everything smooth, and once I was happy with it I shot another coat of white primer.
When test fitting the engine cover, I found that the openings for the velocity stacks were too small. I had to make them longer to fit this version of the engine I chose. Fortunately the inside of the cover was marked with lines to modify the openings.
Once I had the openings recut, I test fit the cover again. It was a little warped but a rubber band held it in place pretty well.
I also started assembly on the wheels and suspension while working on the body. Most of the suspension parts were molded in chrome, but a few were painted silver for variety.
The body was painted yellow, then masked for the stripes and painted with two coats of British Racing Green. After a few days to dry I sprayed three coats of Gloss Clear. The body was then wet sanded with 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit sandpaper, then polished with Novus #2. It's not quite a mirror finish, but I got very close. The lack of detail on the body made sanding and polishing very easy.
The top view shows the offset suspension this particular car has. This is the oval track version, offset for turning left. The standard track version is symmetrical.
All that was left was to add the mirrors, gas cap and exhaust system, then glue the engine cover and windshield in place. The final model isn't perfect, but looks pretty good for a fairly simple kit.
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