1275 GT part 1

[von Race]

When I saw the Mini 1275 GT trans-kit by Plusalfa a while back, I got pretty excited. It's been on my "to do" list for a while now. As it is a Japan only offering, I was disappointed but not put off.  This conversion has been rattling around in my empty head for a while now, and the choice of the Hasegawa Mini Cooper was because of it's crisper molding lines and the fact that it can be back dated as well. The Fujimi is a nice kit, but I just wasn't 'sold' on it. And while I have a Datsun/Nissan Sunny pickup already, I wasn't ready to cut it up.  Enter, not 1, but 2, Sunny parts kits on debay for a ridiculously low price. (been looking for months). I had to do it.

While dimensionally they are close, it will still take a little surgery to make it right. A little fooling around on Photo Shop helped me come up with a game plan.

  

 

The first job was to thicken the area under the grill opening as this is too thin on the pickup. I used .5 x .5 Evergreen strip. Then I flattened out the grill opening area as it is a little to pointed for the Mini. 

 

 

After much hemming and hawing, it's "Off with it's head!"

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by von Race
typo

[klubman01]

I will follow this with interest.  I have a Clubman estate and a Clubman saloon.  Happy to provide references/images, if required.

Trevor

[keefr22]

You know I'm here Joe! Perhaps Trevor's don't have wide arches?

 

Keith

[klubman01]

15 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

You know I'm here Joe! Perhaps Trevor's don't have wide arches?

 

Keith

The estate doesn't have arches, but the saloon has the standard, plastic, arches that were OE from the mid eighties onwards (not SportPack arches).

Trevor

[Vesa Jussila]

This that level modelling that I need to follow this, Clearly good possibility for me learn something new.

[Neddy]

Me too, this is going to be fascinating - way above my level but fascinating! 

[keefr22]

8 hours ago, klubman01 said:

The estate doesn't have arches, but the saloon has the standard, plastic, arches that were OE from the mid eighties onwards (not SportPack arches).

Trevor

 

Ours has wide metal arches to cover the 13x6 wheels. 

 

Keith

[Spiny]

It's not a combination I would have thought of to make the Clubman but I'll certainly be very interested in seeing this one come together. Sadly I can contribute veritually nothing to this, but I would love to see you make the next set of pictures a little bit larger

 

[von Race]

Thank you all for your interest and support. Yes indeed Spinny, I will make the pictures larger, I didn't realize Postimages were such a pain to enlarge, until I tried it.

I should point out that this is going to be a 2 part WIP. Part 1 is getting the actual body made. Part 2 will be finishing the build. And there will be a little break in between.

Additionally, this being my first ever WIP post, I may forget to explain my process, or omit a critical photo. I have a tendency to get too wrapped up in what I'm doing and forget that not everybody chops up brand new kits!  🙄  So if I didn't explain it well enough, or you would like a better photo, please ask. It will help me better my posts.

 

[Toftdale]

17 hours ago, von Race said:

I should point out that this is going to be a 2 part WIP. Part 1 is getting the actual body made. Part 2 will be finishing the build. And there will be a little break in between.

It needs to be a 3 part as you then need to fit the original snout of the mini onto the pick-up 😀

 

Great idea for a build, which I don't think many of us could have possibly thought of,  I'll be watching with interest - Andy 

[von Race]

9 hours ago, Toftdale said:

It needs to be a 3 part as you then need to fit the original snout of the mini onto the pick-up 😀

HA!  I was secretly thinking of a Cortina MK1 pickup...but don't tell anyone!

 

First test fit of the pickup front end to the Mini was a proof of concept, in my eyes anyway.  They share similar shapes and contours, but it will still need a fair amount of trimming.

 

I set my cut lines about 3mm forward of the bonnet/scuttle panel line, 3mm forward of the vertical pinchweld seam and 3mm horizontally above the wheel arch.  It may seam, at first, like an overly complex cut, but for me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.  The first being that, when you cut at a panel line, and then reattach a new panel, your cuts have to extremely precise.  After you glue the new panel in place you have to scribe new panel lines. If you've ever had to scribe a new lines over hardened glue on hard and soft plastic, (as in this case) you know how difficult that can be.  The pickup body is hard brittle styrene while the Mini is soft and flexible. They just don't scribe the same.  So the 3mm is a little bit of a buffer and runout area when the contour sanding begins. The second reason for the cuts are, I really dislike cutting into the wheel arch if I don't have to. This changes the arc of the opening, and often the height of the arch, which can adversely affect the overall look of the build. And effects measurement. It's also a real bother to correct them equally.  The third reason is, I would like to keep the front center section intact for reasons that will become apparent later. (basically, keeping a stationary center point)

 

 

At this point, the cut on the pickup body is arbitrary, just making sure I don't 'cut' myself short. (pun intended) Once the Mini bonnet and wings come off I'll be better able to measure for panel lengths.

 

 

Preliminary cuts made, the results are encouraging.  However I run into my first perplexing problem.  The curvature of the scuttle panel and the new bonnet are quite different. The pickup being much flatter. Applying thumb pressure to the underside of the bonnet resulted in, you guessed it, a fracture. (Not my thumb, the plastic! 😂)  The width of this build is pretty much determined by the width of the Hasagawa Mini kit, but the pickup is about 5mm wider. I had originally planned to cut down the center of the bonnet to narrow it, but now, I would need two cuts to help accommodate for the curvature at the scuttle.  

 

 

All mapped out and ready to cut. 1/8in on one side, 1/8in on the other, that's 5mm, right? (Guess that's the reason I'm not in the aerospace industry! 🤣)  The yellow tape is to help protect the plastic when the saw slips out of place.

 

     

 

Parts cut and taped into place. And that 1/8th business, I paid the price. Had to do a little "fill in" work. A rookie mistake I know, I'll own up to it, but what's a project without a little human error?

I swear I can see a Clubman in there somewhere!

[johnlambert]

That's looking really good.  This is a very interesting project to follow.

[klubman01]

Looks like a Clubbie already!  Great stuff.

Trevor

[Neddy]

As I observed previously - fascinating.  It brings a whole new meaning to the term "plastic surgery"!  Beautifully precise and you can see the final shape starting to emerge already.

[Vesa Jussila]

Clearly this is coming together. It is starting look Clubman.

[Anteater]

That already looks better than I thought it would...

[keefr22]

13 hours ago, von Race said:

I swear I can see a Clubman in there somewhere!

 

Me too - most definitely!!

 

Great stuff Joe!

 

Keith

[von Race]

Thank you Gentlemen for your words of encouragement, they are both motivating and inspiring.

 

Now that the height and width of the front end has been roughed into place, it's time to turn my attention to the length of the front end.  When I suggested this conversion a few days ago, a couple of members immediately stepped forward and offered to measure their Clubbies. I must say, that without those measurements, this conversion would have been much more difficult for me. So, Thank You, Keith and Trevor!

The two key measurements were the length from the wheel arch/vertical pinchweld seam to the end of the wing, the second being the length of the bonnet. Both sets of measurements were exactly the same for these two measurements (A & C). However there were some discrepancies in the others. But when it was all boiled down to 1/24 scale, they were less than one millimeter apart!  👍

 

   

 

When the measurements are transferred to the body, it quickly becomes apparent that it's a little too long.   Also note: When measuring the bonnet length, my starting point is the uncut gap between the bonnet and scuttle. This is another reason for cutting  just forward of that gap, it's a much more accurate way measure. (The scuttle being the same for the Mini and the Clubman, you just have to hope/assume  Hasagawa got that one right)

 

     

 

Using my scribe, I set it to the roughly 3mm excess length, then transferred that to the back part of the assembly.

Using my Dremel and holding my breath, I slowly ground off the excess plastic, being careful not to get it too hot. Thus melting or warping it.

A little bit of self adhesive sand paper (120 grit) stuck to the side of a Bic lighter makes a wonderful sanding block for those long gentle curves.

Also of note is the small "glue strip" added to the underside of the scuttle.  This will also help level the 2 panels. Although, as I found out, the Mini and Sunny are of different thicknesses. A little shaving of the underside of the pickup bonnet was necessary to alleviate the issue.  Although not really apparent in 2nd photo below, cutting the pickup bonnet into 3 pieces did help it "conform" to the Mini's scuttle.

 

    

 

    

 

At this point the front end is held together with small amounts of super glue. When I have to grind off substantial amounts of plastic on a small, delicate pieces such as this, I like to tape them all together for added strength.  If and when your Dremel catches it and it goes flying, it always lands in a million pieces.  (Ask me how I know this 😩)  You might ask, "Why not just glue it all together and be done with it?"   Well... it's been my experience, as soon as you do, you realize it all has to come apart again. And I have a gut feeling that will be the case for this.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by von Race
typo

[Pete in Lincs]

So, almost there then?      

Nail biting stuff, but looking good.

 

 

[Noel Smith]

Great project!

There cannot be that many real Minis about now with that front end restyling.

[klubman01]

Some bold surgery!  It's taking shape nicely.  Happy to provide the measurements.

Trevor

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, klubman01 said:

Happy to provide the measurements.

 

Me too!

 

4 hours ago, von Race said:

Both sets of measurements were exactly the same for these two measurements (A & C). However there were some discrepancies in the others. But when it was all boiled down to 1/24 scale, they were less than one millimeter apart! 

 

I'm really surprised at that tbh. I'd never tried measuring something in 3D this big before and didn't realise how awkward it can be - I thought I might have made a pig's ear out of my measurements so I'm glad i was at least close!

 

Keith

[von Race]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:51 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

So, almost there then?    

Well...... seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel maybe.....😳

 

On 2/26/2023 at 12:19 AM, Noel Smith said:

There cannot be that many real Minis about now with that front end restyling.

I'm sure they're getting fewer and fewer.  I've actually never seen one "in the flesh". TBH

 

 

 In order to get the Sunny front end to sit lower on the Mini, I cut the bottom portion off, allowing it to "drop" into place.  ("Drop", being a relative term here.  😆 )  I cant stress enough, constant checking and rechecking and making small incremental changes to the body are key to good fitment.  It took a good 3 to 4 hours of fitting, sanding, fitting, sanding, to get it to sit where I was happy with it. 

 

    

 

 

Not looking to bad on the left side, however the right side is a little different. Remember that old saying, "Measure twice, cut once"?  Well..... that all goes out the window!  Mistakes happen, But you just have to cover them up,  err..., fix them, and keep pushing forward.  I filled the gap with a bit of Evergreen flat stock.  You will also notice, I am trying my very best to not damage that small bit of "trim" on the arch.

 

    

Although you can't tell in this overhead photo, I did in fact have to split the front end apart again.  This was due in part, to the fact that the grill opening looked a little too large in my eyes. Both in width and height.  I took about 1mm of the height out of the opening, by making a horizontal cut across the face of it.  I didn't get a photo of that unfortunately.

Getting closer to where I want it, it's time to glue it in place.  But first, it needs to be checked for accuracy.   Another reason for leaving that little 3mm runout on the bonnet is the center crown, or center crease, that it is a dedicated reference point. Aligning the two points on the bonnet pretty much puts me in the ballpark of where I want to be. Also of note, the center crown aligns with the center post (radiator support) of the Mini body. (Green circle) This was another reason I don't want to completely cut the front end off of the Mini.

 

      

 

After cross checking the measurements from the scuttle/wing/bonnet intersection on the Mini, to the outermost point on the wings, it's time to drowned it in CA glue.

 

    

 

One of the other factors in doing this conversion was something I found on the internet.  Occasionally, one of the many rabbit holes I go down, prove to be worthwhile.  Such is the case with this 3D printed, 1/24 Clubman grill I found.  While not perfect, it's something to work with and really helps with the visualization!

 

    

 

Next, will be the portion below the grill. The part that's been keeping me up at night!!!  

 

 

[klubman01]

That is coming together really nicely!  Worth noting that the badge on the grille is a later style, and is not correct for the 1275GT, but I'm sure you know that!

Trevor

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, von Race said:

While not perfect, it's something to work with and really helps with the visualization!

 

    

 

I'm visualizing a lovely little Clubbie!!

 

Keith