1 May 2021

At some time during the early 1990s, Tom and Sam each acquired a Tamiya remote control car. They were probably bought from the model shop at Notcutts Garden Centre near Vinters Park where we used to live on the outskirts of Maidstone - the area was named after Roger de Vinter, who bought the land from the Abbott of Boxley in 1343.

None of us remembers anything about Sam's model, other than it may have been black. Tom's however survived the experience and eventually retired to the various lofts we have adopted over the years.

Coincidentally, the head of the Notcutts family was named Sam (1902 to 1938) followed by Tom from 1908 to 1988.

25 May 2021

Bring Tom's car down from the loft and dust it off.

The battery is kaput, so will need replacing before the car can be tested properly.

The front bumper has also snapped off the chassis, resulting in a slight crack in the front body shell, and the mirrors are missing. However given the energetic use it has been put to, it looks remarkably unscathed.

27 May 2021

Order an Overlander 2000mah Ni-MH Tamiya RC Car Battery and Fast Charger from Howes Models

13 April 2022

Sam, Catherine, Robbie and Alex come for a short break to see Tom.

Much fun is had with the mini on the road outside, although Tom masters the controls best. During the practice sessions the car hits the kerb quite hard, and the front shell sustains sizeable cracks due to the absence of a protective front bumper.

14 April 2022

Order a pair of Futaba S3003 servos on eBay.

There appear to be many cheap copies of these, so take a while to find a reputable seller.

15 April 2022

Fit the new servo. It is the same format as the existing unit but it is difficult to plug into the Futaba 2-channel receiver unit. This has to be unstuck from an adhesive pad, and then replaced with my own rubber compound, last used on a rather larger scale Land Rover.

The new servo works well, with the full range of steering now available.

17 April 2022

Perhaps I should have checked Tom's left over parts before ordering those servos - for some strange reason we already had 2 of them.

With the additional ordered items we now have 3 spare servos.

25 April 2022

As well as missing its wing mirrors, the decals on the car are looking rather jaded. Original Tamiya Mini Cooper decals are scarce and pricey, so opt for an after-market set from eBay, which has the bonus of a union flag for the roof.

26 April 2022

Order some Tamiya body reinforcing tape and adhesive.

27 April 2022

Using a combination of the E6000 clear adhesive and Tamiya cement together with the polycarbonate body reinforcing mesh tape, strengthen the front of the body.

This is now much stronger, but the lack of front bumper still leaves it vulnerable to a frontal crash.

29 April 2022

Having repaired the body, think about making Tom's remote control mini more like his real car.

Just needs a new body, red paint and appropriate decals.

According to Wikipedia, after the last of the Mini production had been sold the 'Mini' name passed to BMW ownership. The new Mini Cooper/Mini One/Mini/Mini Hatch from BMW was technically unrelated to the old car but retained the classic transverse four-cylinder, front-wheel-drive configuration and ″bulldog″ stance of the original.

1 May 2022

Look around for a suitable 1/10 scale Tamiya mini bodyshell, and discover a model shop in Kyiv that can supply them. There is nothing on their website to indicate that the Russian invasion has disrupted their business, so place an order.

Also place a separate order for some red paint.

24 May 2022

Today the body shell arrives from Kyiv, Ukraine.

It has survived the journey well, and unexpectedly includes masking templates for the windows, wing mirrors and a decal sheet.

The postage stamps on the box are the 9th definitive set first issued in June 2017. They are based on the coats of arms of cities and villages of Ukraine: X = Shatsk village, Volyn, 10UAH.

V = Yalta, 4UAH.

H = Marynyn village, Rivne, 0.50UAH.

At the time of writing, 1 UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnia) is about 2p.

25 May 2022

After the initial excitement of the delivery, find a slight snag. Although the new shell, like the previous, is 1/10 scale, BMW enlarged the body size for the new model style. This means that the new shell is too large for Tom's chassis.

It looks like a cut and shut operation will be required …

26 May 2022

It would have been Dad's birthday today, and he'd be amused.

Have heard back from Hobby.dn.ua after I acknowledged receipt:

28 May 2022

While waiting for courage to tackle that bodyshell take a look on eBay for models similar to Tom's original.

Find a model with the same chassis and model year in its component form in the original box and the seller wants around £461.

A ready-built model is also available for around £382.

11 June 2022

Time to bite the bullet. Cut the body shell in half such that the body is the correct length and the wheel arches align with the wheels. Glue the two parts together and apply paint masks inside the windows.

It is at this stage that a rather school boy error is found. The body shell had been covered with a thin film that I thought was for protection in transit, so transit having completed I removed the film. A more careful reading of the accompanying information sheet would have revealed the instruction to remove the protective coating after the paint has cured. This means that I have to apply masking tape to the outside of the body to protect against external paint misting.

17 June 2022

Great weather today, so wait until the cooler evening to set up the body shop outside. The spray can has warnings that the paint aerosol may cause serious eye damage and skin irritation, is extremely flammable and may cause drowsiness, dizziness and respiratory irritation. Therefore a warm airless spot outside is a safer option.

Having watched a YouTube video for advice, apply two fine coats of paint, waiting 10 minutes between each use. However this only leaves a very fine covering, so Linda applies a couple of heavier coats to provide a thicker coverage. The colour is still not as deep as expected, so will leave to dry overnight and resume play when the weather allows.

21 June 2022

Another fine, still day, so Linda applies another 3 layers of paint. Even after all these layers you can still see through the body shell and the colour is far lighter than the spray can cap indicates. Linda notices one reason for this - the paint is actually metallic red and not the intended solid red paint.

15 October 2022

Decide it's time to carry out some more work, namely attaching the Union flag roof decal. This clearly came from a larger scale model, so needs cutting down to size. Linda's scissor skills come to the fore, and using a template from a strip of aluminium foil the two halves of the flag are prepared. Slits are made at each corner to allow for the curvature of the roof. A hair dryer is used to soften the decal as advised, which does seem to help.

Despite using the foil template and corner incisions the end result is still inferior to how the correct sized decal would have been. However given that the purpose of the model is to be used rather than displayed, perfection would be the enemy of progress, as Churchill may have said.

Given our poor rate of progress, the fewer enemies it has, the better.

16 October 2022

Today's BBC news features a rather different electric Mini. Apparently the full-sized model will now be produced in China - as opposed to Japan where our model originated.

5 April 2023

Tom is visiting from Bosnia for a few weeks, so he applies the final set of transfers to replicate his own car.

7 April 2023

Batteries are all charged, Easter weather is fine - time to hit the road!