Aoshima Lamborghini Aventador

[70 Sting]

 

Good Evening,

Aoshima's Aventador was meant to be my magnus opus build as my intention was to go all in. Well, needless to say some lessons were learned and familiar mistakes made along the way, so I'd say I'm 75% pleased with the final outcome. The body was primed with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black, painted with Tamiya LP-21 Italian Red, then X-19 Smoke and cleared with X-22. The interior is X-18 Semi Gloss Black with XF-7 Flat Red + X-35 Semi Gloss Clear accents. Black embossing powder was used for the carpet. Wheels were chrome-stripped with LA's Totally Awesome, primed with Tamiya Fine Surfacer Grey, base coated with Tamiya X-1 Gloss Black and finished with X-10 Gun Metal.

 

What I learned from this build: 

1.  Why so much paint? On a test spoon the red came out nice and dark, on the kit it was difficult to cover the black evenly so I kept applying more red. The car ended up looking more like a Ferrari so I thought I would try deepening the colour with X-19 Smoke. Again, not so easy to apply evenly, however, I decided to settle for the subtle tone differences on the car.

2. The doors ended up matching the body reasonably well, but not the engine cover. I dropped the part in LA's Totally Awesome and the acrylic paint slipped off no problem. The underlying LP red was slightly affected so I sanded it down and reapplied the red. Should have known better that it needed to be primed again first. Sanded it down again, reapplied the black primer and red once more. There were some strange, tiny bumps almost like dust or bubbles that were trapped under the paint. Stripped it down again, re-primed and painted it - this time putting the part in a dehydrator to make sure it was super dry. The result... the same bumps in the same locations. In fact, some of these bumps are all over the car body. I just accepted it and moved on. The photos with overhead lighting greatly hide the finish.

3. Getting paint into areas like the side vents was challenging. The same thing often happens when painting interior tubs. It's almost like there's a vortex and the paint either doesn't lay down with enough volume or dries before it lands. Any advice here would be appreciated.

4. First time using Photo Etch parts (ping and a prayer). These are tough little suckers to work with!  I lightly sanded the back of the parts and used CA glue to hold them in place - with mixed results. The parts were meant to be glued to glass and I found that the glue was visible in some places after it dried. Any advice is welcomed here, too.

5. A couple parts in the kit were warped. Last time I tried to straighten a part (Lamborghini Miura Louvers) I melted it using a candle 🤬. This time I used hot tap water and it worked well.

6. The engine cover is meant to be opened, and did perfectly during test fitting, however, sliding the two horseshoe hooks into place at the end was creaky and tight process - popping the glass pieces off their supports (probably incorrect terminology here). Any advice on applying glass parts over painted black areas without the glue showing through is appreciated here.

7. The door hinges required a little patience as did the carbon fibre decal that goes over the engine cover, which was flooded with setting solution.

8. Bonehead moves: I managed to slop a little glue on the widows (my goto move) and body; left a number of fingerprints all over - gotta let that X-22 dry extra, extra long; while polishing and waxing the body I caught the cloth on the PE wiper and bent it.

 

Overall, the parts are nicely detailed, fit very well (minus the two bent parts) and probably the most advanced kit I've built to date.

Thanks for letting me waste your time.

Edited January 22, 2022 by 70 Sting

[cobraman]

Boy, that's a beauty !  Nice work.

[larman]

Where is the model? Seriously, outstanding job!

[m3fan]

Nice Job on what is a difficult kit! I really like the outcome of the color. I think I might use that idea of smoke over the color. A fellow modeler used it over chrome with really good results.

[Timonator]

Looks great !

[bbowser]

That is gorgeous!  You worked through all the issues well.

[Venom]

That’s an incredible looking model... Looks like you got everything right, from the shade of red to the clear coat, to the sheen on the dash and seats. It looks very realistic.

[Roger U]

Sounds like a lot of work involved but it is beautiful.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[grodudulle77]

Incredible details , awesome paint job, very neat work, outstanding build !!! 👍👍👍

[1959scudetto]

Superb build, Harry ! Though my personal taste prefers the look of the classic supercars of the 60's and 70's, you created a perfect model - you can't tell it from a real one ! Fantastic photography, too!

[landman]

1 hour ago, grodudulle77 said:

Incredible details , awesome paint job, very neat work, outstanding build !!! 👍👍👍

I agree. If that paint is less than perfect for you it is 300% better than anything I have ever done. I raise my hat, sir.

[PappyD340]

Beautifully done!

[70 Sting]

14 hours ago, m3fan said:

Nice Job on what is a difficult kit! I really like the outcome of the color. I think I might use that idea of smoke over the color. A fellow modeler used it over chrome with really good results.

As Bob Ross would say, "Happy accidents."

[70 Sting]

@bbowser @Venom @grodudulle77 @1959scudetto @landman  Thank you very much, gentlemen.🙂   I can't express enough how much the photography flatters the finish and hides the paint and glue gaffs.

Here's a crude photo of the set:

Camera: Canon 7D with a Sigma 50mm lens. I shoot around f/11 to f/13 @ 100 ISO

Lighting: 18" soft box with a Canon 580 EX flash and Pocket Wizard trigger (there are alternate cheaper methods to trigger the flash)

The same effect can probably be achieved with an iPhone and desk lamp suspended over a large sheet or two of wrapping tissue paper. The key is to make the light source big, soft and close to the car.

[bogger44]

Wow that is outstanding, looks like a real car.  Smoke over that red was a great choice, made it a great shade.  You worked through the problems well and the finished product shows that.

[majel]

That came out very nice!  I built the same car last year, it was a pain, and like you I was about 75% happy with the results.  You did better than i did, i gave up on the opening doors, they were extremely frustrating.

[70 Sting]

@majel I prefer your orange with black wheels combo. It’s more appropriate this type of car.

Regarding Doors: I read a couple posts stating similar problems with the doors. The instructions have you attaching the wire hinge mechanisms to the doors first and then to the body, I did it the opposite way and glued those suckers very well (first photo). 
Sliding the doors onto the wire mechanisms was no easy task either. They slide into 2 grooves between the inner and outer door panels but require quite a bit of force to get them in (broke them apart a couple times). What I did was completely file down one groove inside each door to allow the wire mechanisms to slide in easier. 

In the end, the doors didn’t hold tight to the body but can be pressed a bit into place and they stay on their own. If I were to do it again I would attach a couple magnets to hold the doors tightly closed.
 

[happy grumpy]

You sure did a super job with this. I really like the dark red theme. Nicely photographed too.

[Dragonhawk1066]

That looks fantastic!

[89AKurt]

Looks really good to me!  I have yet to build a perfect model.

[slusher]

Looks amazing!!

[spencer1984]

Beautiful work on this, the color is a perfect compliment to the Lamborghini's shape.

[ATHU]

Wow!! That Lambo is pure eye candy. Stunning build!!

[Phirewriter]

Beautiful build! That deep red really works! Stunning!