Daihatsu Copen - Aoshima

[TK-427]

Hi all,

Been a while since posting here and still trying to finish a previous build. And truth be told, I've actually finished this build, but I learned a few things along the way that I thought I would share.

So my mother in-law now owns her dream car - a red Copen. It's a hard top convertible - very nice. Fun to drive too - not much power but it's got a 700cc(ish) turbo engine. The turbo sounds great and it's like a go-kart in the streets. Not the best for long haul, freeway cruising as it's very small - you can see my truck in the reflection below. Deceptive, but the truck is about twice the size in every dimension. In any case, fun to drive and she loves it.

I thought it might be fun to build a model of one for her (she's cool like that) and I found an Aoshima version (they actually do quite a few different versions) and a KA photoetch set to go along with it. First time using photoetch.

So I set off attempting to get this done in a week before her birthday. HA! Laugh! Paint work on the body turned out to be painful and the weather while hot, was humid so drying time was long. Anyway, it started off pretty well.

All scrubbed up and dry. Not many parts and looked pretty straight forward to build.

Seats needed filling in:

Got the interior done without too much fuss - photoetch is tiny and needed careful hands for some parts. Pedals are much better than the kit parts.

Interior done (better shots at the end):

Onto the body. Started well with Tamiya liquid grey primer after sanding down:

Fit wasn't too bad - actually, for me being a newbie at all this, it was pretty good IMO. Then came the red (Tamiya Red - turns out it was actually a pretty good match). First couple of coats went on ok, but then I got too much texture in the final coats:

Was pretty bummed actually - deadline approaching and I knew this wasn't going to work... So I gave up trying to get it done and ruining it and focussed on trying to get it right. So I sanded it back down and went heavy on the final coat. The concept of a wet coat had me a little worried about going to far and getting runs in the paint, but it seemed to work out ok. Got the hang of the timing just before it looked like it was going to run. This is how it ended up:

Also realised there were some nasty scratches in the windshield. Tried a number of different polishes - including toothpaste - and ended up using Meguiar's Metal Polish which worked great! I flexed the windshield a bit too much though and crazed the plastic. Not much I could do about that, but it doesn't stand out too much. Scratches shown here and final look is later on:

It really did work wonders on it - I was pretty pleased that I found something that I already had that would work.

I debated clear coating it all but wasn't convinced I'd be able to keep the shine, so I thought I would try to wax the body work and so I tried Meguiar's again - this time the Ultimate Liquid Wax. Worked great and I didn't end up clear coating it:

So with that, I finished up the lights and bits and pieces and got it to where I was pretty happy with it. Certainly some things are not quite right (side indicators probably being the the most obvious), but at the end of the day, it was like the car - fun to build (drive) if a little challenged in some areas (small and not much power) but with lots and lots of character! And she loved it!!

I'll post some more images in the RFI section.

Comments welcome!

Edited April 2, 2014 by TK-427

[richellis]

Very nice, I dont think this car was availbale in the UK, but I have seen an imported one in the village. Its a tiny car so id guess its a tiny model!

[TK-427]

Thanks! I don't think it was widely available and it was only sold in Australia for a few years. And yep, it's only about 3.4 m long (the real one), so it ended up at about 14 cm when done.