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i always wanted a good looking Mini. Go! Minis are a nice start, but only a start. RC body from Fastlane was better, but also not the real thing. So, i had to get a pricey resin body and had some copies made, also a plug for vac-forming.

here´s the start of the chassis building, the Mini will get a styrene chassis with H0 box motor.
The nice thing about styrene chassis is that the working is quite easy, ruler, pencil and stanley cutter do the trick for the start. Revell modell kit glue is nice to work with, too. Gives some time to place the parts and still holds really good. Never had a broken glue point in my chassis.

first thing - measurements


already trimmed the vac-formed body


transfering the measurements to the sheet styrene (1.5mm)



to be continued ...

Been a few years, but I have done styrene chassis and it is easy and holds up well!

Hey Peter,
Nice start. I've done some styrene chassis, too! You're right, they do hold up well.

Shapeways delivered my rims and the masters for the tires. CarGo hopefully will do them :D
All the small parts necessary for the Mini, also printed by shapeways, as i do not like doing the really small parts - wheel inserrts, wing and diffusor.
i think they came out really nice :D

the chassis are coming along, the spacers on the chassis sides need some trimming.

That is looking like it is going to be a pretty sweet mini! :D

Fantastic work Peter. I have a couple of machining Q's. Are your holes drilled by hand or on a drill press? (I,m trying to figure out how to maintain 2 axis perpendicular) How are you cutting your tubing?

Thanks
Randy

i cut the tubes with the cutting wheel of the Dremel or by hand with rolling the tube while pressing with the stainley cutter. more or less perpendicular.
I´m drilling the holes by hand. Tried to do it with the drill press (too fast, drill bit bites at the end of the hole and the hole looks like a melon. Tried the battery powered drilling machine, but still too fast. I also found out the an older, well used metall drill bit works better in the soft PS than a new, sharp one.
Got drill bits that will fit the 0,083" axles and do the drilling with a hand held bit holder.
Drill the holes one size smaller that finally necessary and redrill them to the right size when the chassis glueing is finished.

:text-thankyouyellow: Peter. Cool that I don't have to buy anymore tools, now to get all 10 of my thumbs coordinated. :lol:

Randy

not that bad, but i´ve been better before. color got under the tape as i forgot the press the tape down before painting ...

preparing the printed wheel inserts for painting - i glue them to pins



work bench - everything at once again ...



wiring of the guides: i pull a bit of the isolation back, with the soft silicone coated high flexible guide wires, it is possible the use the isolation to pull the cable through the guide holes. easier than soldering.



axles are shortened with big iron saw and files :)



the guide has to go deeper into the chassis, so i will have to mill (dremel) out the area beneath it ...



side panels have to go up, otherwise the chassis will show in side view. Cut off the sides, make new ones and glue back on. :/



wheel insert in red, with white rim



wheel insert in and rim silver



wheel insert blue, rim white




now i need to decide which one to use ...

Hi Peter,

I really like your styrene chassis. You have inspired me to start building an adjustable length styrene chassis using some of your design ideas. I will post a few pictures when I get further along.

How do the red and blue wheel inserts look on silver wheels?

Regards,
Frank

Simply excellent work! Great chassis design as well!

@all: thanks! :D





body holders mounted with 2K epoxy

printed wheels, painted silver with Revell enamel paint, with printed wheel inserts, also painted silver - i think this is the choice of the day :D :D :D