Baby Restoration Project

[chrisryder]

This may be a 'Restoration Project', it may be 'Off Topic', it may be 'Custom & Modified' but i've put it here for now

I've got a Minichamps 1/18 scale model morris minor, and a Burago 1/16 scale model mini. I happened to notice that the wheels on the 1/16 mini are the same diameter as the 1/18 minor wheels. so naturally i thought 'can i put the mini wheels on the minor?

This thought process led me to creating a 1/18 replica of my daily minor 'Bluey', as seen in my sig pic. So out came the miniature screw drivers and now the minor is sat in pieces awaiting full respray, and the mini is sat wheel-less up on (lego)bricks!
[frame][/frame]how it was originally (i didnt think to take a picture myself, so i pinched this one off the web!)
[frame][/frame]taken to pieces for modifying and painting.
[frame][/frame]the perfectly sized wheels, which need some work to make the fit... and will, ofcourse, be sprayed gloss black to match Bluey

I'll keep you posted with the progress, if you like that sort of thing!

[Alex'n'Ane]

Wow looks well good, am amazed into how many parts they can be dismantled. Make sure you remember to turn the torsion bars round one spline for the lowering..

[morrisfixer]

I did that to one of my models, I used a fiat 131 mirafiori rally car for the twin cam engine and wheels, then painted it gun metal grey it looked really cool. Then my 6 year old son took it off the shelf and pushed it off the stairs So now I'm now back to square one, oh well. Are the wheels on the mini model not screwed on! cause I've got one have fun
Stevie

[chrisryder]

Right, productive day for me! Everything blue (sorry, smoke greyish) has had its first coat of paint. my kick plates are black and sill finishers are stainless, but will be silver on the replica
[frame][/frame]

Here's the dash with its first coat of paint, was very fiddly![frame][/frame]
Next job is the engine! which is very detailed, so i hope to do it justice![frame][/frame]
Fortunately there are no 6 year olds around here waiting to destroy my creation, and no pets to eat all the pieces on the floor! The wheel fitting will be fun, as the mini wheels just 'popped' on (and off), whereas the minor wheels actually have hubs with an interference fit, so i need to ideally, open out the back of the mini wheels to the perfect size to push them onto the hubs.

The front suspension, interestingly, is a coilover arrangement! so for lowering (which i don't know if it needs yet) i can make a little spacer, or pile up some M4 washers, to push the 'swivel pin' higher up. all good fun

[morrisfixer]

Looking good

[mmjosh]

i done one of these models ages ago

[hotrodder13]

any chance you can do one with slotmags, looks good

[chrisryder]

wud be easy to make a copy of yours, just spray it all matte black even the windows!

if u can find a 1/18 scale model with slots then it probably wud be easy! i think i've seen a triumph model, herald possibly, that had slots on.

though you end up buying a model then ruining it! i may put the old minor wheels on the mini model for the classic look

[chrisryder]

Done some more work this morning, another coat of blue all round, but the big changes are as follows...

I've 'installed' the antiroll bar:[frame][/frame]
and the engine now much better represents the right hand pic in my sig [frame][/frame]
any ideas how i can make a 1/18 conical K&N air filter to replace the saucepan on the model? i could turn one out of stainless but it would be difficult to stick on, and be a lot of effort!

[morrisfixer]

Have you tryed a the lid off a tube of toothpaste? or a small tube of autosol? There are cone shaped

[chrisryder]

you know what, that's a great idea! i'll root around and see what i can find!

my biggest hurdle is, i think, numberplates... i dont want to keep the VAP 205 that was on the model. i'm toying with just blacking that out, unless anyone knows of a nice neat way of getting glossy stickers printed with a decent resolution? doesn't have to be a sticker i suppose, i could glue it on! i just can't imagine printing my own on paper would look very good!

[hotrodder13]

were do u get the models from ?

cheers tom

[rossrox]

damn you!!! haha i was going to do this, but i was going to buy another car so i could put the same engine in as i was to pedro, so i could have a complete scale model of my car

[chrisryder]

i bought the mini at a show years ago, and i think i got the minor as a present once... don't tell whoever it was that gave it me! u can pick models up at shows, and there's always the internet for finding online shops. i think we should all make models of our minors, and have a scaled down stand at the national

this 'resto' has been quite easy as my minor is fairly tamely modified. so it's just been a case of painting, except for making the antiroll bar (out of a paperclip if you hadn't guessed!) and modifying the wheels to fit. the next thing on my list is to find some very small diamter pipe to sort out the exhaust. the model has a peashooter!

anyways, some pics! been a very busy boy today and reassembled the lot, minus the wheels as they're still being painted and modified!

i've blacked out the numberplate for now, until something better comes along! [frame][/frame]
not done anything about the airfilter, but keeping my eyes peeled![frame][/frame]

[MarkyB]

I've 'installed' the anti roll bar

Roy will be along shortly to say that you wasted your time .

[RobMoore]

Glad to see I'm not the only making minimees
I did not go into such detail when I sprayed Jethro I also sprayed a model the same s hit brown colour.

[chrisryder]

[frame][/frame]
It's alive! Well, i had to cheat with the wheels. The wheels haven't got enough meat in them to be opened up to fit the minors hubs, so i've had to super glue them on instead... so they don't turn which on the bright side means it won't roll away (or down the stairs!)

i've managed to lower the suspension just by taking the springs out, meaning it's sat on the bump stops which has the stance perfect!

just waiting for my dad to bring some small diameter stainless tube home from work to fabricate my large bore tail pipe

this, by the way, is the quickest i've ever finished anything! and was way cheaper than all the work i've done on the real thing!

[chrisryder]

[frame][/frame]

[ratrodmog]

Love it! I know you are not the first to do this but it's a great idea for sure. I definately think we should have a 'Mini Morris' stand at the National.
Mods: could we have a new topic page for scale models? or can we just add them on to the resto page as Chris has done?

I will be jumping on this bandwagon

[ratrodmog]

Forgot to add this....http://passionford.com/forum/modellers- ... -09-a.html
Some great models here and although not Morris related, you could buy similar if you needed a different engine, wheels, disc brakes etc for your own Morris model.