A Trio of Tamiya Minis
The Mini, as produced by BMC and its successors, is an icon. When the term "British Car" comes up, I'd be willing to bet it's a Mini which appears in your mind's eye. The Mini was sold under the Austin and Morris names, the Austin version being named the Seven when launched in 1959, in honor of the original Seven, which in many ways was England's Model T Ford in terms of the impact it had and the legacy it left. Mini eventually became it's own marque in 1969, though it returned to the Austin lineup for 1980. After the Austin brand was retired in 1987, the cars became technically became Rovers, though they were never branded as such. By the time the original 1959 design ended production in 2000, over six-and-a-quarter-million had been built. The Mini, over the years, was offered as a "saloon", convertible, and as a pickup or panel on an extended wheelbase. There was even the strange "Mini Moke", which looked like a cross between a Jeep and a dune buggy. Riley and Wolseley both built luxury sedans based on the Mini's basic platform. It even managed to outlive two of it's parent corporations, as well as the Austin, Morris, Riley, and Wolseley nameplates. The Mini also made a name for itself in motorsports- it's rugged front-drive chassis proved itself quite competitive in rally courses.
These three 1:24 Tamiya kits all depict a Mk. 1 (1959-1967) model, with the exposed door hinges, small rear window and taillights, and smaller grille, compared to the updated '68 models. All three kits share the majority of their components.
First, we will investigate the Morris version- No.39 with a 1983 copyright.
Tamiya box art is almost always great- and this pleasing little painting of the car in a country setting presents well.
The following parts are common to all of the Tamiya Mini kits...
The body is cleanly molded, and has the pleated interior pattern molded to the inner surfaces. Door handles, wipers, mirrors, and such are molded separately. The roof skin is also a separate piece- and it fits better than you might think.
The hood, seats, chassis, dash, inner door frames, and other pieces are molded on the white sprue- as with the body, all parts are cleanly molded and have great engraved surface detail.
Molded in black are the chassis andengine parts, along with the steering wheel, column, shifter, pedals, and parking brake lever. The alloy wheels are also on this sprue, in the top right corner.
Not much to the chrome tree, but there wasn't much brightwork on the 1:1 car, so it's in keeping with the subject. That finned rocker cover is a nice little piece. And I do mean little... it will neatly sit on top of a penny!
Again, the clear parts are cleanly molded, and fit well, You'll need to use your favorite transparent orange and red paints for the parking and tail lamps... Tamiya's paints would be a perfect choice here. Just sayin'...
The Dunlop tires are well done, and TINY... that's a US quarter on the left for comparision. The tires are molded in a soft natural rubber, so sanding the mold seam down the middle can be a bit more of a pain than it would be with a harder vinyl tire.
And the decal sheet. Not much there, but just enough to get the message across!
Now, that's the basic kit. Here's the Austin version of the kit, which is No.235 and bears a 2001 copyright date.
Note how the Morris box art was redone to a red car, with steel wheels. The grille and hood badge were also changed to represent an Austin. Interestingly, the Morris kit has a green car on the box top, with a red car on the side panel, while the Austin is red on the top and has a green car on the side! Again, the illustrations on the side of the box were edited to represent the Austin version.
The contents of the kit are the same as in the Morris, but the Austin includes a few specific parts.
This small sprue contains the steel wheels, stamped steel valve cover, full exhaust system, and steering wheel. I am told that the steering wheel and exhaust included in the Morris were aftermarket items. If that's true, the Morris can't be built box stock and factory stock. But, I can't verify that. That being said, the parts included with the Austin version are nicely done. Of course they could be swapped onto the Morris with no drama.
The chrome tree shown in the Morris kit is included, but Tamiya also supplies this smaller unit, with the Austin grille and four small hubcaps. Yes, this means you will have a spare Morris grille... not to mention a spare steering wheel, exhaust, and alloy wheels.
The decal sheet has more sharply-rendered graphics. The Austin also includes a small sheet of bright metal trnasers- the shape over the Austin Cooper S script is the hood emblem, which is finished off with the #9 Austin logo decal.
Finally, here's a look at the Morris rally car.
The kit depicts the last British car to date to win the Monte Carlo Rallye, unless I'm forgetting something. Again... the basic parts are the same as in the Morris and Austin versions. It bears MRC stock number 2448 and a 1984 copyright.
The chrome sprue has been expanded to include the front bumper festooned with spotlights. The grille, headlighth bezels, hood badge, and valve cover are the same as in the Morris Mini Cooper version.
For knobby, off-road type Dunlop tires are included, plus two of the standard Dunlops for use as spares on the roof rack.
Like the chrome tree, the clear tree is expanded and includes lenses for the forward spotlights.
This large white plastic sprue contains the remainder of the rally-specific parts, including the wheels, seat, fender flares, roof rack, roll bar, and more.
Basically, the rally version also includes all the stock parts except for the front bumper and two regular tires, so you could stash the rally specific parts and still have most of a street-stock Mini to build.
The decals have yellowed a tad over time, but appear to have all the proper markings. The gray lines above the 177 numbers are meant to represent the electric window defrosters used on the 1967 rally car.
A few years ago in Scale Auto there was a Bench Racer article on doing an improved version of this car, I'll have to see if I can dig it up.
I have not mentioned the racing version of the Morris variant, but we may get into that one sometime later.
The Mini, no matter what version, is a great little kit. I hate generalizations like "Typical Tamiya", but this one does live up to the hype. These minis are nicely detailed kits that go together well and look great when built up. I can't comment on total accuracy, but from what I've seen online and in person I'd have to say any flaws these kits might have in that regard could easily be fixed. I'd like to get one of those Revell or Revell Germany Mini kits, to compare to these classics. You know, for "scientific purposes" and what not...
