Lamborghini diablo race car

[conor1148]

I was at the hobby store looking for styrene for a project for school when i found this kit. being that the diablo is my dream car (2001 roadster in purple to be exact) i decided to swoop it up without thinking twice. I got it home and dry fitted everything then sort of forgot about it. ive lately wanted to work on it so here is my ideas and my progress.

What i want is a scratch built tube frame based off the interior tub given with the kit. All custom suspension with poseable steering and fully opening doors (and maybe front boot if im feeling frisky). its a big project but i have plenty of time to do it. it will have a custom spoiler or spoiler delete, with Diablo GTR styling wherever i can. its a big task and i should have probably spent all this work on a better model but im happy.

this is it dry fitted on corvette wheels. Ill be using corvette wheels with the final build but itll be a different style (see below)

here is after both the doors had just been cut out. dont mind rough edges. these are also the wheels i will be using currently.

id love any input from other builders on my progress.

[bryan_m]

nice start!

cheers

bryan

[stulee11]

Good start so far buddy... its been ages since i seen one of these. Gotta love these older lambos... will be following for sure.

Stu

[Brizio]

Looks a good project!

[robiwon]

Ambitious project. Hingeing Lambo doors is a challenge. I did that on my Bladerunner Spinner with brass rod, aluminum tubing, and magnets. Just make sure when you build the hinge that the doors are secure (with tape) to the body and are aligned up correctly. Not much room under the fender for the hinge but you should be able to get it done.

[mrm]

Ambitious project indeed. The A-pilars will be a workout and then come the hinges Robert mentioned. And please get rid of these wheels. They have absolutely no place on a Lamborghini. Look online. There are plenty of cool aftermarket wheels that will look way better on the Diablo.

Ohhh and one more thing. If the Diablo is your favorite car, then please don't drive one. Meeting your heroes and all.......

[Space Cowboy]

Looks like you have a good start and I will be watching.......

[conor1148]

hi again. thanks for the interest.

worked a little on getting the engine fitting together better, so far so good. The fitment between the two engine blocks is the only fitment problem ive found in the kit so far after i dry fitted together most of the model. Otherwise straight out of the box this kit could just about be fully assembled with no glue.

Because of the way all the pieces of the engine assemble, I'm going to pretty much leave it alone. I may however add detail to the differential/driveshaft that are so well packaged into the engine that you can barely see it. Its such a unique feature of the real car i feel i should try to represent it a bit better. The "halfshafts" which are really just one shaft running through the very low detail differential (see pictures below) bother me a lot. this will probably be the last thing i do because i really don't know where to begin. May also consider a straight pipe exhaust to replace the original for when I modify the rear bumper and the stockers dont fit.

I did a little work on the body and doors today. I'll have to add material back in some areas for sure, but considering this is only my second door job im happy. SORRY for the dark pics

I'll try to get more done tonight and get more uploaded.

[Deathgoblin]

Looking good so far. That was a pretty decent kit if I remember correctly.

[simonr]

Hey Conor, great build so far..What kit is this one?...Revell?

Simón P. Rivera Torres

[conor1148]

Hey Conor, great build so far..What kit is this one?...Revell?

Simón P. Rivera Torres

It's the monogram one! heres a picture of the box (credit google-im in class now). As Deathgoblin above has said, it's a quality kit. $17 for a kit that fits well enough to be put together with no glue earns major points for me.

In other news, im planning to get the two halves of the engine permanently glued together tonight so i can fix the seams and maybe the transaxle. We'll see what my energy and beer consumption tonight allows me to do.

Edited October 31, 2012 by conor1148

[conor1148]

next up came the boot. here it is with the creases highlighted for my terrible eyesight. it didnt help. i still ended up marring up the surface of the boot lid a little, but fitment straight after cutting it up was fantastic so i'll take what I can get.

cut cut cut cut

that's what I'm talking about!

last thing i began working on was starting to cut off the last piece above the grill on the rear end. here it is all together, it'll be a bit before i can finish ripping it off.

I really need any tips you guys want to toss at me for getting those door lines smoothed up, thanks!

also- sorry for slow progress. I'm a pretty busy guy doing my best!

Edited November 4, 2012 by conor1148

[lanesteele240]

you are supposed to put it together. not take it apart. just kidding. cut away. cant wait to see more

[robiwon]

Sand the edges of the doors and the door jams on the body until they are smooth and even. You will wind up with a rather large gap. You want this gap to be as even as possible all the way around the opening. Next, take some strip plastic and glue a strip around the front, bottom, and back edge of the door. Hold the door to the body and see how big the gap is. It should be a closer fit now. If the gap is suffeciant, you can now start sanding the edges of the strip styrene on the door to blend into the door panel. You may have to do the same with the door jam on the body, depending on how much material was removed to make it square.