MINI WRC countryman, 1:32 Airfix

[richellis]

Mini Countryman WRC

1:32 Plastic kit from Airfix

The MINI countryman is the largest car in the MINI range, as you know the MINI is now owned by the German car maker BMW who reinvented the range attempting to keep the spirit of the original MINI alive. The Countryman takes its name from the Austin Mini Countryman that was built in the 1960’s as an estate car version if the Mini. The BMW MINI Countryman has a big range from the base MINI One, to the top of the range Cooper All4, with its 4 wheel drive system and John Cooper performance and styling upgrades.
I have seen kits of the road going All4 Countryman in 1:24, but now Airfix have released the WRC in there popular 1:32 scale.
The John Cooper MINI works WRC car was unveiled in 2011 and was MINIs re-entry into the rally scene since the 1960s. Using a BMW engine, and built by Pro-Drive the MINI entered the WRC in 2011 where it raced a few times, but took to the WRC fully in 2012.

When you open the box you will see 3 sprues moulded in Grey, a single clear sprue and the cars body shell. This is moulded in white and captures the shape of the MINI well, there are various holes on the shell to locate the various bits and bobs. On my sample I can only see a couple of faint mould lines, just above the rear lights, that will require a swipe with a sanding stick to eradicate. You will need to paint the car red, before adding the various grills and vents to the openings, and the roof will need to be masked for its coat of white, I would add part C20 to the roof before painting as it’s also white on the finished model. Finally the A and B pillars will need a coat of Black paint before the windows and decals can be added.

The chassis is a single part and includes the inner wheel arches and some basic detail of the protective and aerodynamic plates under the car, the cabin floor is also on this sprue, and this has a good level of detail showing the pressings and shapes of the floor, as being a Rally car there is none of the carpets and sound deadening found in the cars on our drives!

The rest of the parts come over 2 grey sprues, the level of detail is very good for the scale, the roll cage is a multi part item that looks like it can be built before adding to the chassis, this will make it easier to paint and detail the car’s interior. I will follow up with some build feedback soon. The parts are well moulded, and as you would expect from a new kit there is no flash on the parts.
OK, let down time, the tyres are poor again, the wheels look good and mirror the cars wheels but again the tyres have no tread or sidewall detail and they have the same disc to glue in the rear. The MINI Cooper needed some work to get this to fit so I hope this is better.

There is a clear sprue that comes in its own bag, it holds the windows for the car as you would expect, and it also has the lens for the headlamps, and tail lamps. They are clear and don’t look too thick. they locate into the shell with lugs around the roof.

A decal sheet is included, it contains decals for the windows, both to include the sponsor logos, and thankfully the black trim seals that modern cars have, this will save masking and painting the edges of the windows. Thanks Airfix!
The decals cover the MINI driven by the British driver Kris Meeke, who for Top Gear fans took Captain Slow against the Olympian bobsled (Skeleton) racer Amy Williams in Lillehammer, the decals look good, well printed I hope the white in the checker flag covers the red without going pink so I look forward to giving them a go.
Conclusion
A nice model from Airfix, the scale is unpopular with some but it will allow you to cross with Scalextric parts especially the tires to give a well detailed model. Simple enough to be a quick build, but well detailed to be a nice build!

Review sample courtesy of

[MartinSK]

thanks for nice review. This is my wife's favourite car, so I will build this for her:)looking forward to see this mini wrc on our market. Martin

[Richard E]

Picked up one of these at Modelzone today with the intention of cross kitting it with Airfix's Mini Cooper to make a track racer based (loosely) on the one make Mini Championship cars.

First impressions are that it's a nice looking kit.

[Séan Pádraig]

I picked one up from M/Z with the 20% off... it seemed a shame not to really.

As has been mentioned above the moulded tyres lack of any thread detail is the only real negative I could see (The same lack of thread detail was true of the road cars kit but less of a issue).

I know that at this scale there is an option to use some scalextric parts but from what I've seen the tyres would still be slicks as well so no real advantage other than not having to mask the wheels for painting.

I am still looking forward to biulding it all the same.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Séan Pádraig

[MartinSK]

I can't wait until it will comes to Slovakia, so I ordered this mini wrc on ebay...looking forward to buit this car.... for a change from planes:)

[Windy37]

Just about to start this model . Struggling to get the correct shade of red for the body though .