I am the mini, yeppp the Mini ;)

So how much for a similar job for the Polo would love a Rally Australia winning one w/ all this detail - seriously my jaw is still on the floor!!

Dr Tumbo wrote:So how much for a similar job for the Polo would love a Rally Australia winning one w/ all this detail - seriously my jaw is still on the floor!!

Dr I dont think any manufacturer produced the single door polo yet
if so, that may be my next project even though I dont like Ogier.... maybe a Latvala or mikelssen car?

It's been a little while I didn't have chance to spend time on the Mini as I moved flat and busy with other things...

So, here are some small updates I managed since the last 2 weeks. hoping to spare some more time soon after some parts arrives...

added the steering column support to the roll cage (shown in white rods)



fill in the corners of the dashboard as in the road car there are the air flows while the WRC doesn't have them. so, need to cut and fill in using styrene sheets...





Earlier, I only did the putty work for the front fenders and bumpers. also needed to the same at the rear end. so, by using Polyester I have made the rear fenders and the bumpers.
still, need one more layer to fill in the small holes and corners.







the rear end becomes a nightmare for me as I am struggling to find reference photos of the rear suspension, differential and exhaust lines...
I have been in contact with many teams running Mini WRC but couldn't get any solid photos of the car to replicate same. so, after long trials and fails, I decided to build the rear suspension according to what I can see from the reference photos I have in hand..... not going to be 100% but can tell 95%



I guess, thats about for this moment...
hope to be back soon with more updates

great work as always Omer

A tidy bit of workmanship Omer.

Beautiful work, as always.

Must get some of the Polyester Putty for my own 1/43 scale model making.

Keep it going, Omer. Cheers, Steve

Awesome work again Omer, your level of research and detail is second to none, 1st Class  

after today, I kind off feel like this Mini is progressing like a turtle ))
seems like it's been months I haven't done anything on her....
so here is a small but for me a very important update.

after seeing the wing is very complicated and need skills I decided to commission someone to build it for me. and it was Micheal from Germany who did a great job with the wing.
I just received the master copy and some resin copies last week. frankly speaking he is very skill full and did a great job on scratch building this wing from photos only!
unfortunately, the wing looks to me a bit narrow compared to original. so, I start thinking of ways to make it a bit wider. and finally I was brave enough to butcher one of the copies. I cut her into two and fill in some styrene sheets...
in this process our heroes are Styrene sheet, polyester putty, sand paper and many hours
below are the photos of the progress...

looking forward to your suggestions and comments as usual. and thanks for being so patient to follow this build



here is the master copy Michael crafted



cut in half + added styrene sheet and shape it...



I used two layers of 1mm styrene sheet... so, this is to say two times work of cutting, sanding and shaping before I glue the front part



and after the surgery this is how she looks









still need some more filling and sanding before I can paint it into matt black and then need to think ways to carbon decal this beauty.
I feel its going to be pretty much challenging due to the shape of the wing. any suggestions from you carbon decals professors highly appreciated!








stay Mini till next update

Awesome, Omer!

The real hero of the story is you - excellent patience and skill there. And good work by Michael too, of course.

Fantastic stuff.

I'd be tempted to decal the spoiler using plenty of MicroSol to help the decal adapt to the complex shapes. Would probably take several decals and do it in pieces.

Keep it going, Omer.   

Cheers, Steve

thanks Steve for the support. as you mentioned I guess the secret is to be patient in modelling...

if you good at carbon decalling I can send the spoiler to you I am not that patient tho.... hehe

Might be slow work but i respect your work on this. I would never do anything like that.

thanks mate.
I guess this will be the last one as it's a big project and have many bits to scratch build or time consuming. I am not sure if I will start another detailed build like this in the future even though there are many cars I would like to build for my collection

impressive as ever omer, keep at it m8, you'll get there..............   

hopefully Billy....but still long nights and days....

ok, guys so here below is a small update. even they are all still needed to be tidied up, photos might give you guys idea where it's leading...

first up was the spoiler. I did some more putty and smoothing. and then primed and painted Matt Black...
next should be applying the carbon fiber decals. going to be a challenging one tho...



build the front and rear anti roll bars struts...





and the exhaust started to take shape. it was pretty challenging as the differential is going to sit on the exhaust pipe...



also started to build some parts in the engine compartment
first was the huge air filter box





and also the intercooler and the radiator... had to do some adjustments and added fan









some parts had to be scratch build which consumes a lot of time. but I guess they look good where they are





also rebuild/shape the front grill.. still needs a bit more work with putty and smoothen.. then will paint it matt black and then carbon fiber decal.



need to build the rear suspension.... keep thinking what should be the best way to complete it?



but I guess I find my way around with the front suspension.... it's made of 6 pieces.... need to be tidied up and painted...



I guess that's it for this time.... hope to be back with more updates on the Mini...

Wow!

Wow indeed!

That is superb work..... I think we ought to refer to you as 'The Professor'.    That's brilliant, detailed work. Congratulations.   

Loving the attention to detail there, Omer.

Cheers, Steve

The detail is superb!

Just catching up on this build. Unreal work Omer. You should send Autoart some pictures of the finished car when your done.

That is a crazy amount of detail! Love it!!

reeft1 wrote:Wow!

thats a great comment mate, explains your feelings

Hampton Caught wrote:Wow indeed!
That is superb work..... I think we ought to refer to you as 'The Professor'.      That's brilliant, detailed work.  Congratulations.    
Loving the attention to detail there, Omer.
Cheers, Steve

many thanks for your kind words Steve. that would be a great nick to carry without needing any study and many years of experience

newt5550 wrote:The detail is superb!

cheers mate!

brian wrote:Just catching up on this build. Unreal work Omer. You should send Autoart some pictures of the finished car when your done.

cheers Brian, glad you liked it. unfortunately, whatever left from the base is from Norev
I don't think AA will be interested in as they no longer pay attention to rally cars

ovlovman wrote:That is a crazy amount of detail! Love it!!

many thanks, glad you liked it!

Hello everyone;

it's been quite a while I haven't posted any progress of posts in the forum, as I am not so happy about the feedbacks and the way forum goes...
anyway, I will cut it short and will still share the progress in Mini hoping will give forum a push

been long while I have been working on the model on and off as I am waiting for some 3D printed parts over 11 months... and I guess time to time I have been loosing my motivation in this build. but every time I see the model, I really enjoy the way it's heading and give another push to do more...

as the 3d printed parts took ages and still seems will take millenniums I am trying to scratch build parts or trying to find similar from other models or other objects to create and build the model....

below are many photos since the last four months I have progressed...
hope you guys enjoy this build and I am very much looking forward to your critics, comments and suggestions, tips to make this build and life easier for me

first up was to primer the cage and the chassis to see the defects and mistakes better...



the intercooler and the radiator I build earlier....



I also decided to cut of the roof a bit bigger in order to have more details visible...







also reshaped the spoiler at the top of the booth..



You guys might remember from my previous posts that earlier, I have widened the Rear Wing as the first build was too narrow.
but, after seeing it sometimes, I realised its still not enough. so, this time a Bigger SURGERY was on the go....





added two more layers of 1mm styrene and shaped it...





more cutting and shaping, sanding, filling on the Wing....







after a long and a serious operation, the wing started to recover from the surgery



and it was time for an optical operation
first gave her a coat of primer and then the Matt Black paint to base the carbon fiber look...

Carbon wrapping this wing was almost a night mare and it took over 9 hours and more then 200 decal panels to cut and apply!





and here is one of the most features of this build! after many hours, sweat and tears... the wing is ready...




while fighting with the carbon decal works on the rear wing, I also did some interior and exterior parts...










tires and wheels also got their share...




I am trying to have this model build as accurate as possible to the original car. therefore, I have spend a lot of time trying to source detailed photos of the original car...
in many cases, I had difficulties to find detailed photos where some rally teams paid a great attention to help me and to took photos for me.
Here I also would like to thank those unseen heroes helping me out with this build!


I have also started to detail the interior futures. one of them was the pedal box....



I used styrene, and photo edged parts along with some 1/18 scale model parts..






guess what this is?



yeah, its the rear diff oil cooler....
it will hide away behind the rear bumper...

another challenging part in the car was the rear diff and the rear suspension/carriage systems....
thanks to the rally team supplying many detailed photos for me....

as base, I used minichamps sierra cosworth diff and modified it to look same as the original...













and started to build the proper shaft







and yes, it will roll!

so does the mid part





so, here comes another challenging part... as the Norev engine was only 2D... I had to create the engine myself...
in this case, first I decided to have it done in 3D but still waiting for it......

so, I decided to use the original Rocker and build the rest with styrene...







but this idea last until last couple weeks ago... because I have seen that the great company called HOBBY DESIGN from China, who is very experienced building kits for 1/24 plastic builders also put their hands on to the 1/18 market.

recently they have been building many nice parts and kits in 1/18 scale. unfortunately most of them were for JDM's....
but.... until one of their latest 1/18 build kit! which is Mitsubishi 4G63 Engine kit! as soon as I have seen this kit I knew that it's build for me ))



I am using some of the main parts for my Mini build.....
this became a great relief for me!



I bought couple of kits already and put my hands and my saw on them...

the engine and the gearbox width was a bit wide for my engine bay. so, I decided to cut of the gearbox a bit without destroying the look of it...







this is how it looks inside the engine bay for now...



and this is with the intercoolers and the radiator I have build earlier.



after the engine and the gearbox, I realised that they are a bit oversized... so, I will later rebuild them to scale...


I guess I mentioned that I would like this build to be as accurate and as detailed as I can imagine and build... therefore, another important and long thought part was the rear suspension and the shocks...



thanks to micro screws and other parts helping me out for building these parts...



I still have to build the rear suspension bars and the carriage, control arms to go along with the shocks..

but before that...
I earlier build the front carriage, control arms etc...
after figuring out how important Brass tubes and micro screws can become, I decided to re-build front and most probably this will be the way to build the rear...













more arms to be added but this would give you guys an idea about the front control arms and bars...




Hood scoops were another important detail in this car. and have been thinking for long to cut the hood in correct shapes.
took me some time to measure and shape the template....



and thanks to my new DREMEL.... worked out good...



and next up was onto the skilful hands to shape and file as correct as possible....
still there are some touch ups and putty work needed to finalise the correct shape & look...




well, I guess thats about my long story for now until next one
hope you guys don't mind my and detailed photos....

still, on the jacks.... but already looking beautiful and attractive




till next, take care....

WOW!!!!

I am lost for words looking at the detail being achieved. I always love seeing your builds Omar but this is a whole new level. Real patience and dedication required.

Keep up the magnificent work and looking forward to seeing the next instalment.

David L

I echo David's comments Omer. I take my hat off to you sir!

Great work Omer!

You have done it again, Professor!   

Truly outstanding work. Your patience and level of detail never fails to impress. Bravo!!   

Stops me from getting smug about my 1/43 scale builds!!!   

Don't stop building and taking photos, Omer. They are very worthwhile and a superb way of sharing what you are achieving. Keep going my friend and thank you for posting the pictures and keeping us up to date.

Cheers, Steve