Rover Mini Cooper S

Chaz Gordon
Just Love Minis, wish I could afford one - I never thought they'd become so expensive, you used to be able to buy them for pocket money anywhere.

Roger Trewenack
Thanks Chaz - my first car was a Mini, not a Cooper S, but a 1970 Mini K with the 1100 motor, and it was pretty quick. Never could afford a Cooper S, either. Closest thing to it was my 2010 VW Golf GTI Adidas, really miss that car!!

Chaz Gordon
I had a 76 Mk3 that never got on the road, but came with a 998 Cooper engine that I put into an 83 Mayfair, instant Flying machine, Wish I'd kept it

Munkyslut
Started my apprenticeship at an Austin Rover dealer in '82, loved working on Mini's 😉

Chaz Gordon
Munky, you must be a deformed Dwarf, will now refer to you as Lord Tyrion

Munkyslut
HAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!! Definitely deformed 😄

wilky
My sister has a '69 Mini K and one of those BMW Cooper S

Roger Trewenack
I noticed you said "has" - that'd be an interesting combination, especially swapping from one to t'other!

Chaz Gordon
It's not easy switching between an original Mini and most other cars, not many vehicles have the control offset of a Mini. I seem to recall the Pedals AND the steering wheel being to the left of the drivers seat centre (right hand drive) and the wheel being at an angle more common in a truck than a car.

I also remember driving the Mayfair over 120 miles at a time, and as I was on my own, adopting a cruise driving position that involved my left arm on the passenger side headrest, and my left foot in the passenger footwell. I have the feeling that at some point I may have managed to drive the car while sat entirely in the passenger seat.

Who knew that the Mini's controls would be closer to those of a revolutionary supercar than anything else on the road.

Chaz Gordon
Build is coming along great. The kit really shows why they took so long to put servo assisted brakes on the Mini, there really isn't anywhere good to put it, and I believe they had to use a remote brake pedal linkage on the LHD version. The original could be converted to LHD in a couple of hours by moving parts, and changing the steering rack and a couple of brake pipes (you could flip an RHD rack upside down, but the wheels went in the opposite direction to the wheel if you did that. All of the mounting holes were covered with plates that could be switched to cover the now empty holes on the other side.

wilky
Yes, has both ATM but might sell the BMW because she just bought a Golf GTI

Roger Trewenack
Ohhhh! Sold my Golf GTI Adidas nearly 2 years ago, and still long for that feeling. Great car!

Adrian Forest
Extremely fascinated to see how this turns into a submarine! 😄

Roger Trewenack
That was a copy/paste gone wrong - sorry to disappoint the transformer fans!!!

Phil M
awesome!

Michael Kohl
I wanna see this completed

Roger Trewenack
me too!!

Secretary at ESSMC
Now I like that comment - pity I'm not opening the boot. But it could be a diorama accessory!! !;^)}
More of the RED Top coat going on today!!

Jack Aaronfeld
Looking good so far - lets see if you can finish the Mini before I can finish the 1/12 McLaren MP4/4. I'm currently at step 4/13 so I reckon I've got quite a while to go

Villiers de Vos
Beautiful colour combination.

Roger Trewenack
Yeah, those pinstripes will be ..... "interesting" !!!!

Roger Trewenack
AAAAaaarrrrgggghhhhh - Overworked the first stripe decal - now in the bin - will have to experiment with the CRICUT!!!

Roger Trewenack
Experimentation with the Cricut didn't go as well as I'd hoped - trying to replicate the decal stripes - each stripe being 0.3mm wide, and the gap between being 0.2mm....
Ya know what? - I think I'll agree with JD above, and my good mate Harry Edmond, and just let the red win!!! (Defeated by another decal!!)
So now I can complete the final stages of assembly & decals: Re-apply rear left wheel flare, attach wipers, "1.3i" decals x 3, Rover decal, wheel hub caps, coupla cans of Heineken, and put it all together. The END is in sight - coming to the 14th Nov Club meeting!

Rui S
A Beauty 👍

Villiers de Vos
Shining like a mirror.

Jack Aaronfeld
This'll be exciting to see next week. Did you consider using masking tape for the pinstripes or would it have been too tedious? I would've used a 2mm strip, then two 3mm strips to mark where the stripes would actually be and then two wider strips (this is working outwards) and then remove the two 3mm strips in order to paint the stripes

Roger Trewenack
Hi Jack, I think you have the stripe sizes wrong - One stripe, plus the gap, plus the other stripe measures 0.8mm. (0.3mm + 0.2mm + 0.3mm)
I wouldn't like to try to work with masking tape that thin.

Jack Aaronfeld
Ohh 0.3mm, yeah I completely understand not attempting that

bughunter
Hats off for so much perseverance - the end result speaks volumes!