BL Mini mk3 converted from Fujimi mk5 'old mini'

[onethritysecond]

Ok, first attempt at a post with pictures, think I've got the image hosting sorted but we shall see...

I like to make models of everyday British cars of the 60s & 70s but very few kits exist that aren't sports or rally cars so I usually have to convert something.

I had made the Fujimi model of the 25th Anniversary mini (technically a mk 5 I think but the kit is probably based on a mk 6) and I reckoned I could back date the kit into the 1970 - 1976 mk 3.

 

This is (hopefully) the result:

 

Factory 10" mini road wheels came from Mark at Motobitz and very nice they are too!

 

 

Model is painted in British Leyland Black Tulipe - a very deep purple - which doesn't come across so well in the photos above so below is one that shows off the colour better

 

A few shots showing side by side with the mk5 - main external differences are the lack of flared arches and the grill. 

 

 

 

 

A few shots taken during the build:

Flared cooper style arches removed plus microstrip added for the badges on the boot and behind the front wheel arches (reffered to as 'House' badges by BL) - small Leyland logo badges fitted to most BL cars in the early 70s

 

 

Interior needed reworking including extensive modifications to the kit seats.Steering wheel converted from a MGB one.

 

 

 

I do have some mini traveller and van front seats from Motobitz but decided to have a go at converting the kit ones.

 

 

I intend to make models of all marks of mini from mk1 to mk5 using a combination of Fujimi, Revell and Tamiya mini cooper kits plus wheels, seats and a few other bits from Motobitz plus I have their excellent Mk1 Traveller kit to build - mind you this one took months on and off so will take me a while!

 

Thanks

Chris

[Alpha Delta 210]

Lovely model of a true classic. The interior looks wonderful. 

[Pete in Lincs]

Nice purple Minbin. Groovy!

[Marco F.]

Lovely little Mini!! Colour choice and conversion to 10inch wheels are perfect for a daily driven stock version and the interior looks like the originals in the seventies 

Marco F 

[klubman01]

Really nice.  Love the 3D number plates!  Proper old skool!  You have captured the subtleties of the Mk3 very nicely.  Nice to know that you are planning a host of different versions - do you intend to do Clubman variants?.  Good luck with that.

Trevor (a confirmed classic Mini fan and owner)

[Paul H]

Fab attention to detail - that looks spot on!

 

How did you do the raised digit numberplates?

[malpaso]

Nice ordinary mini!  My first was an 850 which I plan to use the Fujimi kit for.  
Back in the early 80s Coopers were things of myth, though I did have a colleague with a rarer engine 997 or 1091 maybe.  But completely stripped, grp flip front and 6x10 revolutions, it went like stink but I doubt is still around!

[Viking]

I really like that, beautifully done on the backdating. It brings back many happy memories of my white 'J' reg mk.3 bought in the early 80's, run for 2 years and then sold for the same as I paid for it. (£250) That was cheap motoring!

 

Cheers

 

John

[onethritysecond]

16 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Really nice.  Love the 3D number plates!  Proper old skool!  You have captured the subtleties of the Mk3 very nicely.  Nice to know that you are planning a host of different versions - do you intend to do Clubman variants?.  Good luck with that.

Trevor (a confirmed classic Mini fan and owner)

Thanks Trevor! I used to work exclusively in 1/32nd scale (as my screen name suggests!) and did do a Clubman saloon in that scale, using vac formings taken off a Scalextric Clubman and bits from the Airfix mini - it turned out OK but not brilliant so I intend to do another one at some point using the actual Scalextric shell, after removing the flared arches.

A 1/24th Clubman is something I have thought of and may get around to but only have enough mini kits for the mks 1 to 5 at the moment! The square front end may prove too tricky anyway!

My main difficulty at the moment is to find a source of a Mk 1 Austin 7 (non cooper) grill - I can get a Morris version but I want to do my Mk1 as Jeanie's tartan red Austin Super from Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)! I have managed to find a source for the early Super style hubcaps (with the holes around the edge) which I thought was going to be impossible so hopefully a grill can be found.

Chris

[onethritysecond]

14 hours ago, Paul H said:

Fab attention to detail - that looks spot on!

 

How did you do the raised digit numberplates?

Thanks Paul,

Number plates were pretty simple once I had thought of it. Tape down a piece of Evergreen 0.25 x 4.8mm strip styrene and mark it to number plate length (about 15mm from memory or use the one on the kit as a pattern) and brush paint those areas with slow drying satin black paint (Humbrol enamel is best but anything reasonably slow drying will do) and add Slaters 3mm plastic letters (pick them up the point of a scalpel) and the paint should stick them on. Once dry cut plates to finished length and touch in the edges with a black sharpie. Best to have all the letters pre cut from the tree before you start!

Can do the same with post 73 reflective plates by changing the colours (Lufthansa yellow work well for the rear) and spraying the letters satin black whilst still on the tree. Touch in with a sharpie where the cuts are.

Hope that helps!

Chris

[johnlambert]

1 hour ago, onethritysecond said:

Thanks Paul,

Number plates were pretty simple once I had thought of it. Tape down a piece of Evergreen 0.25 x 4.8mm strip styrene and mark it to number plate length (about 15mm from memory or use the one on the kit as a pattern) and brush paint those areas with slow drying satin black paint (Humbrol enamel is best but anything reasonably slow drying will do) and add Slaters 3mm plastic letters (pick them up the point of a scalpel) and the paint should stick them on. Once dry cut plates to finished length and touch in the edges with a black sharpie. Best to have all the letters pre cut from the tree before you start!

Can do the same with post 73 reflective plates by changing the colours (Lufthansa yellow work well for the rear) and spraying the letters satin black whilst still on the tree. Touch in with a sharpie where the cuts are.

Hope that helps!

Chris

That's brilliant, I'll have to get some Slaters 3mm letters and give your technique a go.

 

The Mini looks great too, it's amazing how many differences there are between the different generations of Mini.

[Anteater]

The wheels are 100000000000% better than Fujimi's oversized crime against modelling. A lovely conversion and the colour is spot on. 

[keefr22]

That's a lovely little Min - and have to agree the number plates are brilliant (it's a brilliant little model all round though!) 

 

7 hours ago, onethritysecond said:

The square front end may prove too tricky anyway!

 

It's beaten me so far! Been trying to convert a Tamiya Cooper into our 1275GT. Probably have to stick to using the 1/32 Scalextric shell too! 

 

Keith

[malpaso]

I would also compliment you on the screen gaskets, so many models are full chrome or all black, which does not look right on most British cooking classics.  Is it just a steady hand or do you have a cunning method?

[onethritysecond]

12 hours ago, Anteater said:

The wheels are 100000000000% better than Fujimi's oversized crime against modelling. A lovely conversion and the colour is spot on. 

Thanks Anteater!

The Fujimi ones are too large looking, even for the 80s minis that the Fujimi kit is based on, which did have larger wheels (13" I think) to allow room for front disc brakes. The 10" wheels are available from Motobitz.

The colour (Black Tulipe) was a genuine British Leyland colour of the period, used on minis from 71 to 73 but also on Marinas etc. It is one of my favourite car colours and at one time I used to paint all of my real motorcycles that colour so I still had a can laying around that I had got mixed up at a car paint shop.

[onethritysecond]

10 hours ago, malpaso said:

I would also compliment you on the screen gaskets, so many models are full chrome or all black, which does not look right on most British cooking classics.  Is it just a steady hand or do you have a cunning method?

Not a particularly steady hand but probably a fair bit of luck! Technique I use is to brush paint the whole rubber with Tamiya tyre black (masking if possible but otherwise by hand) then run the edge of a thick Molotov chrome pen around the inside of the opening (do this if possible from the inside of the shell) - this puts silver on the inner half of the rubber. When dry do the same with a black sharpie but don't press so hard so it just blacks the inside of the rubber, hopefully leaving a thin chrome strip around the gasket.

It is actually fairly easy once you get used to it!

cheers

Chris

[klubman01]

Mini went to 12" wheels for mainstream models in 1984 with the introduction (at long last!) of 8.4" disc brakes to replace the drum brake set up.  Up until then, only Cooper, Cooper S and 1275GT cars had been equipped with disc brakes.  They were 7.5" to fit inside 10" wheels.

Trevor

[onethritysecond]

3 minutes ago, klubman01 said:

Mini went to 12" wheels for mainstream models in 1984 with the introduction (at long last!) of 8.4" disc brakes to replace the drum brake set up.  Up until then, only Cooper, Cooper S and 1275GT cars had been equipped with disc brakes.  They were 7.5" to fit inside 10" wheels.

Trevor

Did they ever get to 13" wheels on the last cars?

By the way, the Fujimi 25th Anniversary mini has the correct Clubman style hubcaps, just way too large!

[klubman01]

Yes, 13" wheels were fitted to the very last SportPack Coopers.  Apparently, they don't handle very well on 13" wheels.

Trevor

[klubman01]

1 hour ago, onethritysecond said:

By the way, the Fujimi 25th Anniversary mini has the correct Clubman style hubcaps, just way too large!

Yours looks very nice.  The Mini 25 had 12" wheels with 8.4" discs.  Quite a desirable car nowadays.

An excellent reference book is "The Complete Catalogue Of The Mini" by Chris Rees.  Highly recommended for the details about different variants.

Trevor

[keefr22]

2 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Apparently, they don't handle very well on 13" wheels.

 

We've got 13 inch Revolutions running Yoko tyres on our GT, it handles pretty well. When it's actually going....

 

Keith

[johnlambert]

3 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Yes, 13" wheels were fitted to the very last SportPack Coopers.  Apparently, they don't handle very well on 13" wheels.

Trevor

A friend and work colleague had one of those Minis as his company car for a while and I drove it a couple of times.  As far as I can tell, it handled very well indeed.  I think the wide arches did cause enough drag to knock a few mph off the top speed.

[malpaso]

Maybe 13s give better roadholding, which isn't necessarily the same as better handling!

 

12s and 10s were similar width tyres as standard so in theory roadholding and handling similar (the lower 70(?)profile of the 12s barely counts as such nowadays).  But the 13s were a wider tread and much lower profile so would give a harsher ride.  I seem to recall everyone thought it was a silly idea that ruined the car visually and dynamically at the time.

 

6x10s look way cooler than any 13s on a mini.

[klubman01]

If you can get the suspension geometry correct, then 13's aren't too bad.  However, 12's with 70% profile tyres give the best ride and you can fit 8.4" discs.  Yes, I know you can machine 8.4's to 7.9 inches and get them inside 10's.  Whatever, I have one on 10's, two on 12's and one on 13's (with adjustable lower arms and tie rods to optimise the handling).  They are all fun to drive!

Trevor

[malpaso]

Interesting about the 13s. I guess the problem was the factory probably just slapped the 13s and wider rubbber and arches on without doing anything to the suspension?