Morris Mini Cooper

Hello, today I am going to be reviewing the Tamiya Morris Mini Cooper. This particular version of the Mini came out in 1961, however the story began before as John Cooper, who was a designer and builder of Formula 1 cars, saw the potentional for the Mini to be turned into a Preformance car. But the Designer of the Mini (Alec Issigonis) did not want the Mini turned into a preformance car, So it was up to John Cooper to pursuade Issigonis to turn the Mini from a affordable family saloon to a rally car capaple of wining Monte Carlo 3 times. Cooper eventually pursuaded Issigonis to make turn it into a preformance car, so in 1961 they Collaborated to create the Mini Cooper. This car had 55bhp and twin carburetors and a racing tuned engine as this version of the Mini was designed for Group 2 rallying.

The model that is below is the Tamiya Morris Mini Cooper Rallying, which is currently (at the time of post) £13.95 on Amazon.Co.uk. 

I will start of with the instructions, which were a joy to read off. Everything was clear and easily explained as it has been with all the Tamiya models I've built. The quality of the plastic was good and finding everything in the sprues was reasonably easy, but a worryingly large amount of parts were left after I finished my build, however I assume that it is so the model fits with the paint and decal scheme. I was extremely happy though, how the chrome bumpers came already silver so no painting was needed, which I thought was a nice touch.

The kit itself showed a great amount of detail from the gear knob and radio to full suspension and brakes. The kit comes with a full interior and engine bay, with decals for the dashboard. However the instructions recommended that you glue the bonnet shut, so you can't see the engine. I have somehow managed with some half dry glue (I think that's how I did it anyway) so you can open and close it. So far my review of this has been positive as it generally was a very good kit to build. But one area that let this kit down like a crashing plane, was for me the decals. I have had people tell me that Tamiya's decals are not that great (as I usually use Airfix instead) and this kit was no exception. The proper kit has racing decals, so it has stripes and numbers etc. When I tried to apply it to the model it practically disintegrated and were impossible to be maneuvered into place. The small circular one for the dashboard and the numbers for the side were applied fine but I had to remove them and change the paint scheme to a normal red Mini.

Overall this kit is great and I would highly recommend it and could be done to a very high finish.

Some of you may have also noticed that it is on a diorama. I was trying to achieve the effect of a Mini fan looking after his Mini in his garage, with memorabilia on the wall. The brick wall in the background is simply a card lined foam board with bricks cut into it. To make them have a more realistic shape I went over with a pencil. The figure was part of a Fujimi mechanics set, which has been weathered with some to make him look greasy and oily as he's been working on a car. He was meant to be looking at the engine but he was unfortunately too tall so had to open the boot instead. I entered this into a competition at Shropshire Model Show at RAF Cosford in April, but did not bring home a trophy. Thanks for reading and subscribe to my blog by email to hear about my reviews first!

The next kit I should be reviewing is the Airfix 1:76 Bren Gun Carrier