so theres no point delaying this.
this is the mini i got myself out of USA.
its not mint or perfect. rather large scar on the front, no battery cover (but im going to attempt to make something) had good aerial so that i thought was good enough for me.
got it apart and gave a decent wash and cleaned the switches an all. fired up great.
the micro deck i could hear working but nothing was moving so had to get into that. crazy they managed to fit everything inside. so small and fiddly.
just getting to the belt took hours. then found out the screwdrivers i had were totally crap and i couldn't get the motor/belt housing off. so had to wait a few days and i went and got new drivers.
cracked back into it today. could only just move the bits apart without breaking tiny wires to replace the belt. wasn't even going to attempt to change the counter belt due to it looked too small to find a replacement. got it back together with no problems. plays, both speeds, ffw+rew good, counter thankfully rolls perfectly, records all right. it just won't stop, sort of. the tape will stop but the spindle still rotating. turning power off resets it. not sure exactly what 'full silent stop' is but maybe something to do with that?
here is my 'Little Ben'
and couldn't take photos without his big brothers as backup
I also loaded this small video on to youtube.
https://youtu.be/rdlS_ggHGek
this is the mini i got myself out of USA.
its not mint or perfect. rather large scar on the front, no battery cover (but im going to attempt to make something) had good aerial so that i thought was good enough for me.
got it apart and gave a decent wash and cleaned the switches an all. fired up great.
the micro deck i could hear working but nothing was moving so had to get into that. crazy they managed to fit everything inside. so small and fiddly.
just getting to the belt took hours. then found out the screwdrivers i had were totally crap and i couldn't get the motor/belt housing off. so had to wait a few days and i went and got new drivers.
cracked back into it today. could only just move the bits apart without breaking tiny wires to replace the belt. wasn't even going to attempt to change the counter belt due to it looked too small to find a replacement. got it back together with no problems. plays, both speeds, ffw+rew good, counter thankfully rolls perfectly, records all right. it just won't stop, sort of. the tape will stop but the spindle still rotating. turning power off resets it. not sure exactly what 'full silent stop' is but maybe something to do with that?
here is my 'Little Ben'
and couldn't take photos without his big brothers as backup
I also loaded this small video on to youtube.
https://youtu.be/rdlS_ggHGek
Yours truly Sanyovar is 
One thing in particular I look for in a mini is how it differs in appearance and/or features from it's rivals, with a much larger box it becomes easy to re-arrange the controls to alter the appearance or add features as there may be more space too work with but this is not the case with minis - more imagination is needed to make a particular mini stand out in the crowd.