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Countach - Another Italian Wedge


Spiny

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Thanks. I'm in the opposite school of thought re. tyres though - I just don't like the rubber band effect of ultra-low profile tyres such as on that one you've posted above - give me a bit of cushioning sidewall even if it does represent an undamped spring. I do get where you're coming from - to modern eyes it does look like too much sidewall and not enough rim - for comparison my Fiesta's tyres are only 10mm narrower than the front tyres on this and come with larger rims and lower profile tyres even though the Countach has four times the capacity and four times the cylinders :surprised:

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A little more progress this weekend with all works being on the rear subframe and suspension.

 

First up was getting the brakes painted up (very similar work to that on the front brakes)  - these fitted together very well with the hub and onto the subframe with no issues to speak of.

 

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Once that lot's together, it's time to fit the last suspension links (from the hub to the inside and front of the wheel arch in the pic below), and that's where things get a bit tricky. There's one mounting point on the hub near where the brake pipe comes in, and another one on the chassis within the wheel arch. The trouble is, you need to fit the links onto the subframe before you can fit the subframe onto the chassis, and there's only one attachement point so there is a wide variety of angles to get that suspension arm at, but only one will fit in the right place on the chassis. In the end, I glued the arms onto the subframe in roughly the right position, manouevred the subframe onto the chassis before the glue connecting the suspension link to the subframe had set, and moved the links to their final place with a cocktail stick. All a bit fiddly, but once I'd glued everything in place and added a bottle of paint on top to hold things in place while it dried, I think it came out ok. (Of course, I might change my mind on that last statement once I fit the rear wheels!)

 

49224537392_8840e6cfba_c.jpg

 

After that, it was time to paint up the springs/dampers. If anyone remembers the front set from the first page of this thread, that's slow progress due to three different colours and a red paint which needs three or four coats to get a good result. To make matters worse, someone at Lamborghini decided the Countach needs two sets to each rear wheel so twice the 'fun'. I haven't put up a pic of these are they are still work in progress, but they will end up looking pretty much the same as the front ones so nothing new anyway.

 

Thanks for looking.

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A little more progress this weekend, and the dampers have been finished and are fitted.

 

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Even with slots in the chassis to set the position, they're still fiddly to fit as you have as the forward damper of the two has to be slotted through the wishbones and keeps trying to fall out of position, but I got there in the end and as with everything else so far on this kit, the fit was very good. Definitely a job I'm glad to have got done though, basically add glue to the chassis slot, fit damper then add glue (all Tamiya Extra Thin) to where the damper fits the hub.

 

After that, it was time to fit the rear wheels. Happily, this was quite a painless exercise and not only do I have four wheels on the car, I also have four wheels which sit solidly on the ground :)

 

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Now it's onto the interior, but progress on that will have to wait until after Christmas. Speaking of which,

 

Merry Christmas everyone

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm afraid I have to report that Christmas was not a success on the modelling front, even allowing for spending time with family detracting from the time available to sit at the modelling table.

 

The main cause of all these problems was me not paying attention when I ordered the paint for the interior, completely failing to notice that I'd ordered enamel rather thanacrylic paints. The leather needed gloss paint mixing with clear matt, and I just didn't get the mixing process right, with the end result being that the finish was first too glossy, then too blotchy and finally too wrinkled. So both the interior tub and the seats ended up having an IPA bath and the process started again, only this time I made sure I was using satin acrylic paint for the seats to avoid a repeat of the previous paint issues.I didn't think to take any photos with hte messed up paint, but after going back to the beginning (and painting the outside of the tub again), this was my effective starting point. The speakers in particular were a pain as they paint in each of the holes just didn't want to loosed with the IPA - in the end I got the pin vice out and used that to drill the paint out of each of the holes.

 

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Happily, the acrylic has gone on much better and the seats are done now, with the leather parts of the tub just needing one more brown coat. It's a part which has quite a few colours on, and this is the bit which is holding me up at the moment. Happily, I have got quite a few of the auxilliary parts done for the interior (in the clear box) while this was all going on so once the tub is painted I should move on reasonably well. I wanted the seats to be tan but ended up using Wood Brown - at the moment I'm happy with the way it's turned out, just hoping I still will be when I have the carpets painted.

 

49318298637_d057afb802_c.jpg

 

While all that fun was going on, I also got the body micromeshed. I burned through in a few places (the Countach is a horrible shape to polish at this scale), but was able to touch up those edges and now I can't find where they are (apart from one new place I've burned though). It still wants a going over with the Tamiya Fine polish and the badge will be painted pre-decal, but the polishing hasn't gone as badly as expected, and even better I haven't snapped any of those delicate parts (yet!).

 

49318141366_17838447c2_c.jpg

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Hi Spiny,

 

The leather seats and interior both look really realistic.

I wanted to create a light (ish) grey interior for my BMW 750iL. The grey I wanted was Tamiya XF19, but that's matt!

I mixed equal quantities of XF19 and X22 gloss clear. Because it made the paint a bit transparent (not much though), I had to spray a bit more than usual.

Came out pretty good though.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

Edited by Alan R
Dumb repetition!
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Thanks, glad you like the 'leather'. I always felt that there is something about tan leather which just suits Italian supercars, so that colour was a must for me. I hadn't thought of mixing gloss clear with matt colour instead trying it the other way around first time out (Humbrol enamel, gloss tan plus clear matt which I think has gone a bit manky), so having stripped that went for the wood brown satin from Revell as I know what that looks like (originally bought for the seat backs on the Trabi), it was near enough to the colour I wanted to be acceptable I felt.

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Hi Spiny,

To be honest, it was an experiment that went well. I shall be using that technique again.

I have given up using enamels partly for environmental reasons, partly for toxicity and partly for the faff of cleaning the airbrush. So sticky and messy. Even as a kid, I hated getting mucky hands. Still don't!

I was that child that could play with mud and still end up wit clean hands :) 

 

Cheers, Alan.

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5 hours ago, Alan R said:

Hi Spiny,

To be honest, it was an experiment that went well. I shall be using that technique again.

I have given up using enamels partly for environmental reasons, partly for toxicity and partly for the faff of cleaning the airbrush. So sticky and messy. Even as a kid, I hated getting mucky hands. Still don't!

I was that child that could play with mud and still end up wit clean hands :) 

 

Cheers, Alan.

I'd have to agree with you about that - the main reason I try not to use enamels is because it's much easier just to run the brush under a tap (or wash in IPA if necessary) than washing out in white spirit then running under the brush, also a lot less of a worry about spilling water in the house than white spirit. The whole cleaning up thing is also why I only use the airbrush in extremis too - just a lot easier to use the rattle cans for a bodyshell even if the overall cost is higher. It also seems to take less time as well, and I usually get a better finish to the paint out of a can too.

 

Speaking of paint, that's about all I've been doing this weekend. Between the interior tub and the dashboard, both with many colours, I've spent most of the weekend waiting for paint to dry (fortunately I had plenty of other stuff to do so at least I wasn't literally watching paint dry :) ). At the moment, this is where I sit with them:

 

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Both are pretty much complete, just need a second layer on the footrest in the tub and paint the lights red on the dashboard, so next weekend I should get around to fitting all the bits and pieces (which are also painted not) together. Sometimes, it's the details which take the time... and I've also noticed that the back of the seats may be visible through the back window. However, given that the rear window of a Countach is renowned for its uselessness, I'm hoping I can get away without filling the backs as it only seems to be a small part which will be visible once complete.

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Coming from the Mr. Sedanca, that is quite a compliment, thank you. Have no fear on the brake and footrest, they're all painted up and just waiting to be fitted next time I get onto the bench :) It always amazes me how much different parts can look once they get a lick of paint.

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One of the those satisfying weekends where previous work comes together and you feel like you've achieved something. In this case, that means I've got the interior finished. :)

 

Of course, I didn't help myself in getting it finished. Those seats have been looking at me all week, and while I don't think the back of the seats will be easily visible, I'm not certain they won't be seen reasonably easily. Only one thing for it, fabricate a fill for the top of the seat backs with a bit of plastic card - no need to go any further down as I know most will be (indeed, is now) hidden by the back of the cabin.

 

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While the paint on those bits were drying, I set about getting the dashboard done. Only needed the red lights on the dash painting plus decals adding, or so I thought before noticing that the rims of the dials also needed painting. So that was another bit of time spent, but the dash came together in the end.

 

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It's difficult to show, but Aoshima have done the decal for the dash so the glue is on the front and sits behind the acrylic dials - the end result is very good and another point in this kit's favour. Alongside all of this, I'd been fitting the small bits and bobs to the lower part of the cockpit, before adding the seats and finally the dashboard. I'm quite pleased with how the interior has come out which no doubt means it will be virtually invisible once I finish the model...

 

49375195087_4670a32b96_c.jpg

 

So is that all I've done this weekend? Not quite - I have moved onto the engine although that is very early days with parts cut out and only one bit of paint added so not worth any pics of that. I also had a go at the engine cover. Test fitting this onto the body revealed that although it could sit straight when held down, the natural tendancy was for the back of the engine cover to sit with about a 1mm gap to the body. A bit of detective work later, and I decided that the fault lay in the way the hinges on the cover fitted into the body, or more accurately the way that paint on the body and hinge-'pins' had messed up the tolerances. So, I took out the scriber and rescribed the reveals back to white plastic (not the easiest thing to get photographed, but the scribed bits are arrowed).

 

49375195442_98104f1242_c.jpg

 

It still wasn't quite sitting straight, so I got out the #11 scalpel and carefully scraped the paint off the hinge pins too. It's not quite perfect, but I think once installed it should settle a bit more and it's far better than it was.

 

49375195222_75ae5a7771_c.jpg

 

And that's pretty much where I am. Micromeshing of the body and body parts is finished, just need to give it a going over with the polishing compound and paint some details before I get onto doing the body bits, but before that I have an engine bay to do.

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Nice problem solving on the run.

Hint: to remove paint for better clearances, scraping with blades is not necessary.

I wet the tip of a cotton stick with lacquer thinner and carefully swab the hinge pins and their seats. Can even do the edges of hoods and doors if you're careful. Then, use the side of a fine brush with body color on it to color the edge again. But this will be thinner than all the coats you used on the body.

 

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2 hours ago, Spiny said:

Aoshima have done the decal for the dash so the glue is on the front and sits behind the acrylic dials - the end result is very good and another point in this kit's favour.

The 328 GTB from Hasegawa also used this method. It certainly is very effective.

 

the rest of the interior looks lovely as well. Building up into a lovely model 👍🏼

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23 hours ago, Codger said:

Nice problem solving on the run.

Hint: to remove paint for better clearances, scraping with blades is not necessary.

I wet the tip of a cotton stick with lacquer thinner and carefully swab the hinge pins and their seats. Can even do the edges of hoods and doors if you're careful. Then, use the side of a fine brush with body color on it to color the edge again. But this will be thinner than all the coats you used on the body.

 

Thanks for the tip, much appreciated. I think I will use that next time I get on the bench as the hinge pins are only scraped down to the primer (I think) as I was wary of breaking them or going too far - fingers crossed this may be the key to getting the engine cover to sit a bit flatter.

21 hours ago, Cooper645 said:

The 328 GTB from Hasegawa also used this method. It certainly is very effective.

 

the rest of the interior looks lovely as well. Building up into a lovely model 👍🏼

Don't worry, there's still plenty of time and opportunity for me to make a right pig's ear of it ;)

 

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Onto the engine this week, and its been a weekend of painting, lots of it fiddly, and no assembly at all. That's entirely down to the fact that there are very few single colour parts, which always puts the brakes on a build, and lots of nuts to paint. Not really much to write about really on that score, so I'll just go ahead and put up the photo of the engine block and one of the banks of carbs:

 

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On the bright side, this did give me change to polish up most of the extra parts for the body, and get the window frames painted on one of the doors and to the windscreen. Fortunately, with all the straight lines on the Countach, masking is easy. I also tried Codgers trick for the hinges, but used IPA as that's all I had available. First impression was that it wasn't helping much, but then I had another scrape with the scalpel and the paint came of very easily giving a much smoother finish to the hinge. Unfortunately, the boot still sits a little proud, but I don't think the hinge is the issue now. It's close enough though, and following the theory that a good project can be easily ruined in pursuit of perfection, I'm going to leave it at that. I'll leave with a pic showing all the bits I got painted this week:

 

49410233458_4593279cc7_c.jpg

 

 

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Thanks for the encouragement both of you.

 

The "blue thing" is a bit dodgy, but represents my next challenge once the Countach is completed.:wink: I have to be honest that I didn't mean to leave it in shot - I was going to add a wash in the panel lines while I waited for the paint on the Countach to dry, got distracted by holiday stuff instead of checking out the rain gutters colour, and did absolutely nothing to it other than leave it on the desk to taunt me

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The colour is Tamiya Brilliant Orange. When it first turned up I thought I'd made a mistake and it was going to be too bright - fortunately once on the body shell it looked pretty much as I was intending.

 

Thanks for the comment on the detailing, but I think that is a function of using the magnifying headset - no way could I even see to paint some of those bits without it and the Ultra Fine brush.:nerdy:

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Only one picture today as all the work has been on the engine. In essence, this weekend has been a continuation of last weekend, so I've finished painting (almost!) all the parts, and have stuck all the engine bits together to make half an engine - this is one of those kits which only has you model the bits on show. So this is where I stand at the moment:

 

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All it needs now is fitting into the engine bay along with a few peripherals. And that's where things have gone wrong - as usual with this one no blame to attach the kit and lots to the idiot building it. Basically, I misread the instructions and fitted the radiator mesh onto the back of the radiator, whereas what I should have done is fit it flush with the front (in my defence, the instructions aren't 100% clear on this), with the result that it doesn't fit where it should.:doh:

 

So I have one side pod radiator sitting in the freezer at the moment hoping that might help dislodge it, but does anyone else have any tips for separating the two parts (fixed with tube clue).

 

Any advice is appreciated (as ever), even if freezing it works this time there's always the next time I do something stupid.

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Yep you have to be careful during assembly. But don't fret-the rads will not be seen through the side scoops. Virtually nothing but the top surface of the engine will show.

Get the body, paint and glass perfect and that's the reward.

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Aoshima Countachs are great fitting kits. There are only 2 areas of concern I think. One is fitting the functioning doors and lights gimmick which I fixed by just gluing them shut. Fitting the narrow body over the chassis might be worrying but I fixed that by leaving the cabin loose. Just drill out the locating points a tad for a little wiggle room. The fit is fine with no glue.

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If you have some Tamiya extra thin or another similar "hot" extra thin glue, you might be able to soften the joint by running some of this around the two parts then separating them with a scapel or hobby knife.

 

Regards 

Keith

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