I’m about to set up a section of the Scale shop called Small Scale Customs, where I’ll sell cars for model railway layouts. The difference is, I’ll be taking other people’s cars and detailing or customising them. Some of the cars will be ones that occur to me but I’ll also be taking commissions.
The race ready Mini is the third car to be added to SSC’s forecourt, after the Capri and Beetle. I noticed that the little car was all decked out in sponsor’s logos and race numbers but was lacking a roll cage. I drilled the fastening lug out of the chassis and popped it open then fashioned a roll bar, rather than a full cage- I figured if this was an old school rally car I could get away with it, from a paper clip.
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Whilst I was in there it seemed right to do a little painting. The distinctive oval speedo was painted white. I would have put decal dials on it if I’d thought to look for any. The switches arrayed under the speedo were painted silver, as was the gear lever. If I do this again I’ll remove the little plastic knobble and replace it with a wire leaver and add a handbrake as well.
One neat little detail in the standard kit was the Recaro style bucket seat for the driver. I painted the plastic tub red and left the padding black. The other seats and the door inlays were painted tan. I guess this was a stock Cooper and the passenger seating stayed. In reality, the rear seat would have been taken out to save weight, but I wasn’t quite ready for that level of scratch building.
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With the internal detailing completed I superglued the car back together. External detailing only goes so far as picking out the door handles with silver. I may add a sump guard to hide the hole where I drilled out the attaching lug.
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The car’s finish is a bit too shiney for a working race vehicle, but I reckon it’s between rallies and has been spruced up and cleaned ready for its next outing.
The car can be bought for £6 (plus £1 p&p), payment by PayPal.
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