Neil Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Loved the film 'The Italian Job' since I was a kid, and the the intro to the film doesn't get much better than a Lamborghini Miura sweeping through tight mountain roads, unfortunately on it's way to an untimely end .... For my money, the Miura is easily one of the prettiest cars ever built, and I have wanted to build a model of one for a while now, specifically the one used in the opening shots of 'The Italian Job'. The one featured in 'The Italian Job' is an Orange P400 (1968 model), the later variants being the 'S' and 'SV' editions. In my unbuilt kit collection, I have the 1/24 Italeri Miura P400 and also the 1/24 Hasegawa Miura P400SV, so logic would say that the one to build is the Italeri offering. However, that kit is not great in all honesty, with shape and profile issues, serious lack of detail, mouldings which are not very 'clean' and various other shortcomings. The Hasegawa kit in comparison is way ahead in detail, finesse, and general 'crispness' of mouldings. It is in another league basically. Obviously there is one BIG problem if I want to build the Miura from 'The Italian Job', the Hasegawa kit is a later P400SV and not an earlier P400 as featured in the film. So, I will be backdating the Hasegawa SV kit into an earlier P400. Not impossible, but some bits and pieces could be a little awkward. There were various differences and improvements incorporated into the later SV cars, some of which may or may not be relevant to my build/conversion of the kit. The SV had a dry-sump engine, wider rear wheels, wider rear track (which made an increase in width of the rear wheel arches necessary; I will need to 'slim-down' the rear wheel arches and bodywork!), the lower front grille below the headlights was different as were the front lower lights and indicators, the 'eyelashes' surrounding the headlamps were deleted, the rear light lenses and indicators were changed ...... I think you get the idea. Now, just a few things I have noticed about the Miura in the opening scene from the film ...... in some shots it has a front number plate, sometimes it doesn't (unless it is masked by shadow), every rear shot there is a rear number plate on the car, there are no external rear-view mirrors fitted to the doors, the interior has White Leather seats, headrests, interior roof lining and flip-down Sun visors (confirmed by the fact that this actual car was put up for sale not that long ago, quite well documented). Not 100% sure, but I 'think' I can see the word 'Miura' (in Black?) in the rear right hand side of the car on the 'boot-lid' but not sure I can see the word 'Lamborghini' on the left hand side. Before anybody says anything, the car pushed over the mountainside by the bulldozer is NOT the car used in the motion sequences .... Right, so cue Matt Monro ...... Model pics to follow .... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arni Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Ahh the opening scene takes me to a nice place... Continuity,one of my 'things' with that big fireball in the tunnel it was amazing that there was not even any smoke damage in the wreck....also the windshield was still intact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 An initial shot of both Miura kit body shell's, the Italeri one is in Yellow plastic, the Red plastic is Hasegawa's offering. The images of the two pics below, of both kits, show one of the most obvious differences regarding just one detail, which is the size of the window opening in the door. The Italeri window is simply too short and stubby, compared to the Hasegawa kit which is far more acceptable. Unfortunately one of the downsides of the Hasegawa kit is that some parts are moulded with that awful Chrome finish that manufacturers apply to some parts. Fortunately this is easily removed by soaking the parts in a dilute solution of bleach for an hour or two, that horrible Chrome finish dissolves away easily. Before and after pics are below (the Eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that I removed the headlights from the Chrome sprue before soaking them in bleach, not really an issue if these retain the Chrome finish on their internal surfaces, as the headlights did have this). Soaking in dilute bleach. (The Black plastic is beginning to show through on the wheels after only a few minutes). Chrome removed. As mentioned in the first post, the SV had wider rear wheel arches which will need reducing in width. This pic shows the inner face of the kit arches has been keyed-up and several coats of Superglue applied to thicken the surface and provide strength before reducing their exterior contours. There 'should' (I hope!!) be enough thickness of kit plastic to do this, without breaking through the inner face. The thin 'lip' on the exterior surface of the wheel arch will be replaced with thin plastic strip. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 1 hour ago, arni said: Ahh the opening scene takes me to a nice place... Continuity,one of my 'things' with that big fireball in the tunnel it was amazing that there was not even any smoke damage in the wreck....also the windshield was still intact! At 3:50 to 3:55 there appears to be a 'hole' in the windshield which the driver could of caused by striking from inside? I think seatbelts were optional on the Miura (?) and the driver certainly did not wear them in the opening clip to the film . Then again, that is cinematic licence .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
injidup Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 There's an article on the Italian Job Miura in the May 2015 issue of Octane magazine. Might be of some use to you? https://magazinesubscriptionsdigital.zinio.com/browse/issues/index.jsp;jsessionid=9F81655F0CE73945AC967EE8D2D24D2D.prd-main-news4?skuId=416335250&prnt=&categoryId= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 7 hours ago, injidup said: There's an article on the Italian Job Miura in the May 2015 issue of Octane magazine. Might be of some use to you? The car was put up for sale not that long ago too, just need that Lottery win ...... https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjUtOiprarRAhXGrRoKHS-aApYQjBAIJjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cheshireclassiccars.co.uk%2Fclassic-cars-for-sale%2F1968&usg=AFQjCNG4jGMVNMkIp41hP3CcxkTD4OpwQQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrsmatt99 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 The Miura is one of my all time favorite cars, such a beautiful looking car! Looks to be a great start, Will be watching this one! Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hey - welcome back Neil. Back to modelling again then . Just an aside - is Paragon going to be up and running again anytime soon? The Miura is one of my all time favorite cars, such a beautiful looking car! Matt And inspired by the GT40! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 hour ago, vrsmatt99 said: The Miura is one of my all time favorite cars, such a beautiful looking car! Matt Indeed, couldn't agree more, certainly one of my favourites. 1 hour ago, Nick Belbin said: Hey - welcome back Neil. Back to modelling again then . Just an aside - is Paragon going to be up and running again anytime soon? Nick I have been lurking in the background, dabbled once or twice with models but just didn't bother with posting very often. I keep thinking about starting 'Paragon' up again, have been giving it some VERY serious thought quite recently to tell the truth. If it did happen it would certainly pay me to come up with some brand new products, along with some of the original product range (certain items from the old range would no longer be relevant though, in truth). I do keep toying with the idea of setting 'Paragon' up again, time will tell I guess ..... Back to the Miura, the pic below shows the rear left wheel arch having been rubbed down to eliminate the wider bulge in the bodywork which the SV had, to achieve a profile more applicable to the earlier cars. Fortunately the kit plastic is just thick enough to rub down after reinforcing the inner surface with superglue. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 The Miura was always one of my all-time favourites. I have a soft spot for Lambos anyway. Will keep an eye on this thread as I have my eye on the Hasegawa Miura. They still has some at Hiroboy the last time I looked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrsmatt99 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 hour ago, Alan R said: The Miura was always one of my all-time favourites. I have a soft spot for Lambos anyway. Will keep an eye on this thread as I have my eye on the Hasegawa Miura. They still has some at Hiroboy the last time I looked... Hiroboy are actually listing a new Hasegawa version too, the recently factory restored car: http://www.hiroboy.com/124_Lamborghini_Miura_P400_SV_Chassis_No4846_Full_Restoration_Kit_20278_--product--10648.html Cheers Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 One of my all-time favorite vehicles as well (which...naturally...I have never been in, on, or near...) and one of my all-time 'guilty pleasure' films. I shall be following your adventure with interest and admiration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 3 hours ago, Neil said: Indeed, couldn't agree more, certainly one of my favourites. I have been lurking in the background, dabbled once or twice with models but just didn't bother with posting very often. I keep thinking about starting 'Paragon' up again, have been giving it some VERY serious thought quite recently to tell the truth. If it did happen it would certainly pay me to come up with some brand new products, along with some of the original product range (certain items from the old range would no longer be relevant though, in truth). I do keep toying with the idea of setting 'Paragon' up again, time will tell I guess ..... Back to the Miura, the pic below shows the rear left wheel arch having been rubbed down to eliminate the wider bulge in the bodywork which the SV had, to achieve a profile more applicable to the earlier cars. Fortunately the kit plastic is just thick enough to rub down after reinforcing the inner surface with superglue. This is one of my favourite cars ever, and The Italian Job has one of the best ever film introductions (Apocalypse Now also being brilliant IMO) so whilst I don't often visit the car modelling part of the forum, I will watch this. If you do restart Paragon back up (and I hope you do, and soon! ), I would love to be considered for stocking your products. On a personal level, I *need* the Mosquito products such as the Tse Tse conversion and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shood23 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Very nice and it's great to see a direct comparison of the same car from 2 companies. Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 The radiator intake and lower front lights and indicators assembly need backdating too, the lights and indicators will be changed. The SV assembly has 'rounded' ends to it, whereas the the ends on the earlier car assembly come to a kind of 'point' instead. Pic shows the recess on the front of the kit which has 'rounded' ends to it, and the curved piece of Black plastic, which fits in the recess, is the radiator/lights/indicator assembly which has been modified by sanding and profiling the ends to a 'point' in order to reshape the the recess opening. (The three small non-standard holes drilled through the recess are there to aid the removal of the radiator/lights/indicators assembly later, by pushing through them from the reverse side). The ends of the modified radiator assembly were lightly waxed and it was then fitted into the recess on the front of the car. Milliput (Superfine White) was then pushed into the resulting gap in the ends of the recess and the modified radiator assembly, then allowed to fully harden. After the Milliput has hardened, the radiator assembly is removed by pushing it out from the reverse face, using the three small holes drilled earlier. The changes to the ends of the recess can now be seen; from 'rounded' ends to 'pointed' as they should be on the P400. The radiator section on the Black plastic piece has been left untouched, but the small lights and indicators, which were applicable to the SV, have been removed from both ends, but the 'lip' on it's upper edge is left in place, as it should be on the P400. The rear lights/inicators need backdating also (there's a surprise ... ) and the lights recesses were filled in with plastic (the Black bits) and sanded flush. Fortunately the kit parts from the Italeri kit will come to my aid here, as they will simply be glued in place onto the Hasegawa back end once the bodyshell has been sprayed Orange. The kit headrests were also removed (they are too small and the wrong shape) and small pieces of shaped/sanded tooling-block (the two Pale Blue pieces) were glued in their place instead. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Wonderful project and nice attention to the detail differences. This will be an interesting thread to follow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Love the film (I remember going to see it at the cinema. Now I have it on hard drive. Haven't watched it in ages though. Love the music, got that on mp3. Love the Muira, got one on the drive.... No, wait, it's a Mondeo. Oh well, I can dream.... BTW, it looks to me like Italeri are missing scale inches from the middle of the car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Main chassis assembly has been more or less completed, just need a bit a paint on it. Not really much point in adding lots of detail to it because it will not have removeable panels and such to view it, carburetors need adding along with air cleaners. The body shell is mostly cleaned up and finished too, the small raised lips around the rear wheel arches have been added with a few thin coats of superglue (not easy to see really) and the air intakes positioned behind the door windows have been drilled out and opened up (compare it to the pics at the beginning of this thread). A few details and such have been added inside the cabin, including window winding handles, the dashboard has been modified too and the holes in the three 'spokes' of the steering wheel have been drilled out using 0.6mm and 0.75mm drills. As mentioned at the start of this build, the SV car was fitted with wider rear wheels which, unfortunately, is wrong for the earlier car which I am making. The P400 rear wheels were the same width as the fronts, so basically I need an extra pair of front wheels to fit on the rear. I made a two-piece mould of one of the standard front wheels from the kit (the kit wheels have plastic hubs with rubber tyres) and initially intended to mould just two more wheels in resin, which could be fitted to the rear of the car. However, I then came to the conclusion that moulding all four wheels in resin could be a bonus because some small 'flats' can be sanded on the bottom of the wheels to represent weight acting upon them, as long as the 'flats' are done with restraint. A little caution is needed with the resin wheels because thin, narrow sections of resin have very little strength to them, so the mounting spigot/axle which is used to fit them to the kit would not really be strong enough for the job. To avoid this I inserted plastic rod (9.5mm long by 2mm diameter) into the relevant mould half before the mould is assembled which effectively embeds one end of the rod into the resin before it cures and hardens, making an ideal bond between plastic rod and resin wheel. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricLightAndy Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Wow, this is looking seriously good, can't wait for the next installment. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarz-Brot Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I need to start casting parts as well. Still following every word you type and enjoying every single picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 A little bit of modifying before the bodyshell is sprayed Orange. The 'A' pillars are not quite right straight out of the box, the pillars should taper very slightly with the lower end of the pillars being a little wider than the top, unfortunately they are fractionally wider at the top than the bottom, opposite to how they should be. Superglued some thin strips of plastic to the forward edge of the pillars which can now be sanded to a more effective shape, with the bottom part will be wider than the tops. Also sprayed the small areas just in front of the intakes, which are just behind the door windows, in Orange which is the final body colour. Did this because it could be awkward to spray Orange into this area once the tiny intake slats are glued in place over the intake opening (the slats are the black plastic pieces in the foreground). There could be an unwanted build up of paint between the slats if I try and 'force' paint between them with the airbrush, the small slats can now just be glued in place and a light coat of paint can be sprayed around this area when the whole bodyshell is coated in Orange. For the overall Orange colour I am using a can of Halfords spray paint, decanted in order to put it through the airbrush, the colour itself is VW Brilliant Orange (a little irony there, as Lamborghini is currently owned by the VW Group of companies, through it's subsidiary Audi). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Brilliant!! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cameraman Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 On 4 January 2017 at 7:26 PM, Neil said: Loved the film 'The Italian Job' since I was a kid, and the the intro to the film doesn't get much better than a Lamborghini Miura sweeping through tight mountain roads, unfortunately on it's way to an untimely end .... For my money, the Miura is easily one of the prettiest cars ever built, and I have wanted to build a model of one for a while now, specifically the one used in the opening shots of 'The Italian Job'. The one featured in 'The Italian Job' is an Orange P400 (1968 model), the later variants being the 'S' and 'SV' editions. In my unbuilt kit collection, I have the 1/24 Italeri Miura P400 and also the 1/24 Hasegawa Miura P400SV, so logic would say that the one to build is the Italeri offering. However, that kit is not great in all honesty, with shape and profile issues, serious lack of detail, mouldings which are not very 'clean' and various other shortcomings. The Hasegawa kit in comparison is way ahead in detail, finesse, and general 'crispness' of mouldings. It is in another league basically. Obviously there is one BIG problem if I want to build the Miura from 'The Italian Job', the Hasegawa kit is a later P400SV and not an earlier P400 as featured in the film. So, I will be backdating the Hasegawa SV kit into an earlier P400. Not impossible, but some bits and pieces could be a little awkward. There were various differences and improvements incorporated into the later SV cars, some of which may or may not be relevant to my build/conversion of the kit. The SV had a dry-sump engine, wider rear wheels, wider rear track (which made an increase in width of the rear wheel arches necessary; I will need to 'slim-down' the rear wheel arches and bodywork!), the lower front grille below the headlights was different as were the front lower lights and indicators, the 'eyelashes' surrounding the headlamps were deleted, the rear light lenses and indicators were changed ...... I think you get the idea. Now, just a few things I have noticed about the Miura in the opening scene from the film ...... in some shots it has a front number plate, sometimes it doesn't (unless it is masked by shadow), every rear shot there is a rear number plate on the car, there are no external rear-view mirrors fitted to the doors, the interior has White Leather seats, headrests, interior roof lining and flip-down Sun visors (confirmed by the fact that this actual car was put up for sale not that long ago, quite well documented). Not 100% sure, but I 'think' I can see the word 'Miura' (in Black?) in the rear right hand side of the car on the 'boot-lid' but not sure I can see the word 'Lamborghini' on the left hand side. Before anybody says anything, the car pushed over the mountainside by the bulldozer is NOT the car used in the motion sequences .... Right, so cue Matt Monro ...... Model pics to follow .... Hi Neil, well thank you very much! I've had 'man flu' for a couple of days and keep waking up at odd hours, logging on and taking a quick look at the site and I found this thread. Everything was OK until I saw your link to the titles of my all time favourite film so, I just had to watch it! Of course I then had to dig out my copy of the DVD and watch the whole film for a gazillienth time and I'm now even more tired than I was and it's getting on for 3am, I'm due to rise for work at 5:20, so thanks mate! I'll have to wait until tomorrow to view the rest of your thread, on the build of this iconic machine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 14 hours ago, The Cameraman said: Hi Neil, Everything was OK until I saw your link to the titles of my all time favourite film so, I just had to watch it! Of course I then had to dig out my copy of the DVD and watch the whole film for a gazillienth time and I'm now even more tired than I was I'll have to wait until tomorrow to view the rest of your thread, on the build of this iconic machine. Last weekend I just had to order 'The Making Of The Italian Job' book by Mathew Field, and also the 40th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-Ray Disc of the film too. Not had time to read the book yet (on brief inspection it appears to contain some interesting stuff of the film) and, surprise-surprise, I have watched the film again all the way through (last night!) and hope to watch some of the addition material and special features on the disc in the next few days. I deliberately watched the beginning sequence with the Miura several times and luckily managed to spot one or two addition details on the car which I have not noticed before. Not surprisingly I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film again for the umpteenth time, it's the kind of film that puts a grin on your face. Happy days!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbdesignart Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Re your casting of the wheels, what if any specialist kit do you use? I'm really liking this build and your attention to detail. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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