jaymcminn

Actually, one of the first places I look online for references for any classic exotic build is fantasyjunction.com. They're a great exotic car dealer who always posts up excellent pics of their inventory- they also archive sold cars on the site. Here's the link to the LP400 "periscopo" that I got the interior color scheme from... http://www.fantasyjunction.com/cars/546-Lamborghini-LP%20400%20Countach%20Periscopo-V12

Finally, I couldn't resist a few pics with the competition- which would you have picked in the '70's?

And a few more...

Next, I got the platform all built up. The interior was flocked in a color close to the Cognac color of the original carpet (and yes, the dash and the carpet don't match on a real Countach either!) One of the niftier aspects of the build are the taillights- each one is molded in red, with clear orange and clear inserts. All you do is press-fit them together and paint a small red reflector on the clear part! And here she is, all buttoned up...

I intended to do this as a WIP thread, but I never got the pics posted... so here they all are now. Overall I was pretty impressed with the way the Aoshima kit goes together- it represents a good middle ground between the toylike Tamiya kit and the over-the-top Fujimi Enthusiast kit. The engine bay detail follows the current Japanese practice of building up from a platform instead of having a separate engine and the doors are a bit unusual- instead of having a hinge mechanism, the doors are removable, then they can be positioned into holes in the body to hold them in the open position. Weird, but effective. The body builds up from many separate pieces- that's true with most Countach kits, but I really like the separate rocker panels, which eliminates the step of clenching your butt cheeks together hard enough to turn coal into diamonds while spreading the body apart to clear the wide interior tub. The black piece in the windscreen opening is the plate Aoshima provides to reinforce the delicate "A" pillars until the windscreen is installed. Here's the body painted Tamiya Brilliant Orange, polished out and with the trim painted. Aoshima includes mesh for the engine hood and decals for the hard-to-mask inserts- it all looks excellent when together! The engine bay detail builds up from a platform. The carbs and the engine lower half are satin-plated and look very good- I toned everything down with a gunmetal wash. Of course I'd prefer a full engine, but this looks pretty good- I'm actually planning on building an extra V12 from an Enthusiast kit to display with the car. The plan was to wire the engine, but the wiring didn't clear the engine hood and I didn't want to do any major surgery to get it to fit. The interior was pretty straightforward- I did an unusual factory color scheme of white with brown carpets and dash. I applied "Make it Suede" paint to the dash before priming and painting to get the Alcantara texture of the factory LP400 dash. I masked off the A/C vents and controls to preserve the delicate detail. The interior parts painted...

Fantastic work, Peter. It's hard to believe this wasn't born as a race car!

Very sharp. I love these old mkII Jags!

ASAP. There's no benefit to leaving the masking material on any longer than absolutely necessary- in fact, it's easier to remove any stray overspray (not that I ever get any of that!) before the paint is fully cured. That's the benefit to using lacquers (I also use acrylics for flat paints)- they flash over by the time I've got my airbrush cleaned!

Fantastic build, and great pictures. That's how you do box stock!

I'm thinking it"s the Fujimi kit- it was also released by Testors.

Matt, that grille turned out great. Good luck on those 250 windows- if all else fails, you can try Future! Does this kit come with the white metal suspension bits like a lot of the Gunze kits or is it more conventional?

Excellent work. I remember drooling over this car when it debuted a couple of years ago.

Excellent work on that etched grille, Matt. I thought the etched louvers on the hood of the AM Corvette Grand Sport were a PITA when I built that kit years ago- that was nothing compared with this! I'm going to be starting my Italia build soon- I actually did order a set of Fujimi 20" BBS wheels for it, as well as the Hobby Design PE set and window masks- and am looking forward to your buildup of this kit. I've been toying with something a little unusual for the color scheme...

I guess not... the chassis breakdown, etc. look really similar to the old Gunze kit, but it's been a few years since I've seen one of those. Rob seems to have a better handle on this than I do... it's a welcome addition to Fujimi's lineup in any case.

The new Fujimi kit is actually based on an old release available from Gunze in the 80's that did have the fat fenders. They pop up frequently on Ebay. This pic is of the Testors release.

I might have to try this stuff- I generally swear by Kristal Klear, but it doesn't hurt to try something new once in a while.

Great work, Matt. That's incredibly sharp. I'll bet that plate would probably cost nearly what the car does!

It's the bane of '70s Italian cars- great design and fantastic engineering brought down by poor quality control and steel with all the structural integrity of wet lasagne. Fortunately styrene doesn't rust... unless you're Dr. Cranky.

That is just impossibly pretty- reminds me a little of the Eagle E-Type speedster. It's a nice clean build, too. Where did the wheels come from?

A while ago, I changed gears from building rods and customs to vintage sports cars. One of the cars that any sports car fan must have in his collection is the Lamborghini Countach, but there are a ton of them out there to choose from. I have the Fujimi Enthusiast LP500S and LP5000 kits, but I've vowed not to build them up until I've come up with a proper solution for the non-prototypical opening doors. I was thinking of getting the Tamiya LP400 kit just to get one up on the shelf, but I got a fantastic deal on the recent Aoshima release on Ebay. I've never seen one of these built up (aside from pics of built-up test shots on one of Hobby Search Japan) and was anxious to see what came in the box. The body is extremely well-supported. This is crucial due to the thin A-pillars of the Countach- I've never seen a Fujimi Countach where they weren't a little bent. As if that weren't enough... that black thing in the windshield opening is a plate that Aoshima provides to reinforce the body during painting and initial assembly. They recommend to tape into place, but I used Micro Kristal Klear to hold it. That plate doesn't come off until the windshield goes in. Now that's attention to detail. Everywhere throughout this kit you'll see the same attention to detail. The wheels and tires are beautiful, and the tires don't even have mold seams! Speaking of which, I haven't managed to find any on the body yet, either... how do they do that? One of the more terrifying aspects of building a Fujimi Countach is spreading the body out over the interior tub during final assembly. The body tucks under at such an extreme angle that it's pretty much a one-shot operation. How does Aoshima resolve this issue? Separate rocker panels with perfectly prototypically-correct panel gaps. In fact, everything fits so well that paint thickness might be an issue. I'm actually thinking about not priming this one. Here are some of the body panels cleaned up and ready to go, as well as those beautiful Campagnolo wheels. As far as color goes, I've narrowed it down to four... the French Blue is the most likely at this point, with the white interior. The gunmetal grey is an unusual (and non-factory) choice, based on a car I saw online at a high-end exotic car dealership. Of the oranges, the lighter shade is closer to the correct factory color... if I do that color it'll have a brown interior. More to come soon, and as always questions and comments are welcome!

Harry, those are definitely the kit wipers. They're not chromed, which is why they're so delicate. I sprayed them with Alclad.

Thanks, Cato. There was actually a ton of positive camber built into the kit's rear suspension- of course I found out about that pretty late in the assembly process. I straightened it out as much as possible without tearing everything back down- I'll factor that in when I build the coupe in the future. I greatly appreciate the input from someone familiar with the 1:1!

Simon, somehow I missed your build of the Dino with the MFH detail set. I just checked it out- amazing work!

I'd love to see the Fiat Dinos kitted up. the Spyder is especially beautiful.

A few more shots- I left the shroud off in the bonnet to show more of the detail up front, such as the master cylinder. I haven't installed the battery under the spare tire yet. Rather than hinge the covers, I just decided to make them removable to better show off the kit's impressive detail.