Aoshima Lamborghini Countach LP400

[jaymcminn]

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!

[SSNJim]

Nice. I'm looking forward to this - the LP400 (and the prototype LP500) are my favorite Countaches. That is one seriously braced body. I like the TS-56 color the best of your choices. IIRC, the colors ran towards the more flamboyant shades. I remember seeing a lime green one on the cover of Car & Driver or Road&Track back in the seventies.

I've got a Fujimi LP400 I haven't gotten the nerve to start, and a Tamiya LP400 I'm trying to convert to a prototype LP500. Both are stalled at the moment.

[Fat Brian]

I have an LP500s and the Anniversary Enthusiast kits, they are amazing to say the least. Good luck on this one, I've not seen many of these kits finished. I'm building my LP500s as the Albrex twin turbo car, I've got the engine cover scoop almost done but the rest of it scares me.

http://autotraderuae.com/?go=read_car_news_reviews&carnews=1104#

Edited May 4, 2012 by Fat Brian

[cortinanut]

Some really thoughtful engineering in that kit. This will be fun to watch!