Aoshima Lamborghini Countach LP400- finished!

[jaymcminn]

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...

[jaymcminn]

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...

[jaymcminn]

And a few more...

[TooOld]

That's not a bad looking kit , and your results are excellent ! The paint looks perfect .

[jaymcminn]

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

[Badluck 13]

Wow both of those look great,never seen on in orange but man it works!!

[LAone]

sweet lambo. im digging it big time.

the tarus in me has always been drawn to the lambo, to i would naturally go for that back in the 70's. heck, even now i would.

[Haubenschild]

That Countach is beautiful!

Did you use any reference sites during the build?

If you do have reference sites can you link them please?

[jaymcminn]

That Countach is beautiful!

Did you use any reference sites during the build?

If you do have reference sites can you link them please?

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

[Zarana-X]

Fantastic results. Looks like photos of an actual car!

[Haubenschild]

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Edited May 24, 2012 by Haubenschild

[Haubenschild]

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.fantasyju...h Periscopo-V12

Thanks I really appreciate it!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very nice build. I so much prefer the original, clean Gandini design over the tarted up, flared and winged later models. Great looking car, good color for it.

[W-Machine]

Cool Lambo. Even after all these years, the styling of that car still looks like it came from outer space.

[jaymcminn]

Very nice build. I so much prefer the original, clean Gandini design over the tarted up, flared and winged later models. Great looking car, good color for it.

I love the original cars too- somehow the shape is even more shocking without the wings and flares. It's just hard to believe that something like this ever made it to production. I'm probably going to build the Hasegawa Miura next, so I can display my three favorite Gandini designs (Countach, Miura, Stratos) together.

[chris4q]

beautiful - The photos are great as well

[Austin T]

Great job,just finished watching Cannonball run.

[David Thibodeau]

Beautiful builds!!!!!!!!

[The70judgeman]

Always loved the Countach's. So way ahead of themselves in design for the time...and still is even out of production now. Great looking build and color that really works. Don't know what it is about the color orange and fast cars, but they go together so well.

[iderek]

thats one sweet ride~~ really good job on the interior details!

[S. Svendsen]

Great build! Very clean.

[Jeff Johnston]

Awesome !!!

[AceofBass]

Just Fantastic. I miss fat tires on sports cars.

[Helix]

Very nice work mate

[PARTSMARTY]

Both are absolutely beautiful!!