A BIG Countach !

[Codger]

1 hour ago, harveyb258 said:

It's good to see you back at the bench, Chas.

I like your jig.... very technical.

 

Stay safe, my friend.

Cheers, H

I snuck into your Blacksmith shop and        - borrowed it.

[Codger]

Some aggravating stuff...

Of necessity, because of the long build timeframe, continuity may suffer by skipping around and maybe missing every step on the way. Which is a good thing. But I'll show things that caused pain and suffering like this. Spiny also suffered on a smaller scale and different company!

The door side glass frames were a mixed bag. One was perfect, the other warped sinfully - figure that out. The glass fit fine on both sides. The doors have an inner frame to rest the glass on. Then an outer which rests on the glass and a thin edge of door around the perimeter. Seen here:

The passenger side fit perfectly- fell in place with no warping. The driver side frame was flexed in heated water multiple times to no avail and because of the thinness of the part, and narrow frame elements, it finally split at the top corner, So out came the sheet stock and new frame(s) begun:

I found the contours hellish to get right. And in my usual manner had to make numerous copies to get nearer. I kept getting the frame elements too wide because of the thin material being too hard to make without breaking.  As I got close, I had to get finish on the doors as well as Future coat(s) on the glass. THAT involved sanding the glass to 12,000 grit first - multiple times. Nothing comes easy anymore. (Hint- the body was fully painted last August just before the weather worsened - much more on that later). So lots of tedious trail/error fits:

Eventually I learned I had to cut away the INNER frames to get glass and outer to not bulge out. Then the horror of having to glue perfect glass to the new frame and the door edges. No CA allowed. So I settled on a combination of clear  transfer tape and epoxy - applied while I was suffering an internal earthquake. I just managed to get away with it but I'm unhappy about the driver door every time I look at it. I've learned that I have to accept things now beyond my control:

More soon.

 

[silver911]

Well...if that's your worst effort...god help the rest of us...I for one would be very happy with that result Mr C 🥴

[FG2Si]

1 hour ago, silver911 said:

Well...if that's your worst effort...god help the rest of us...I for one would be very happy with that result Mr C 🥴

I was about the say the same thing. Can't see anything wrong with it. 

[Spiny]

Even if you're not happy with it, I think that looks absolutely fine - certainly your masking around the window seal looks a bit neater than mine was. It also sounds as though you have had much more in the way of problems with your doors than mine - I think mine was only really down to a slight distortion being put into the door when I applied the door card. That and the mirrors seemingly constantly falling off.

 

One of the issues, as you so rightly mentioned, with the Countach is that the door frames and A-pillars are very thin. I wonder how much of that was down to Lamborghini faking the crash test when it first came out (by using the concept car which had a different chassis to the production version).

[sennapod]

Never mind the modelling, I’m really enjoying the quality of your writing. Very entertaining and nicely balanced humour with the sense of frustration. Did you write professionally at all?

 

PS - Model and workmanship looks fab from here 😀, what a shame kits like this (and of this scale) are rarely (if at all?) made any more.

 

 

[Codger]

16 minutes ago, sennapod said:

Never mind the modelling, I’m really enjoying the quality of your writing. Very entertaining and nicely balanced humour with the sense of frustration. Did you write professionally at all?

 

PS - Model and workmanship looks fab from here 😀, what a shame kits like this (and of this scale) are rarely (if at all?) made any more.

 

 

WOW! Never expected this!

First of all you other scoundrels are too kind-again. I take my pants down to show my aZZ and you guys tell me it looks fine. I'm sending my eye doc's address to you all. And Spiny, I'm sweating the mirrors right now...

Mr Senna - ya got me. In another life (after wall Street and before current senility) I was a technical writer for a high-perf engine castings company. Wrote up 56 crate engine combinations, instruction sheets, all the advertising, both web sites and articles about our stuff for Hot Rod, Car Craft, Power Boat and a raft of engine-crazed rags.

My Rolls thread may get you to change your mind about both endeavors. I'd rather be known as a Rhodes Scholar but you're very kind to compliment my plinking on this keyboard.

C

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by Codger

[Spiny]

The mirrors might not be so bad on yours as I think part of my issue was trying to get away with the absolute minimum CA to fix them in place to avoid any risk of fogging. The mechanism to fit them on yours seems different as mine had small sockets to put them in whereas yours looks like a totally flat door without the mirrors (that might not be a good thing for you!).  I'm sure yours will attach fine as the larger scale will/should mean a larger attachment point.

[Codger]

Hopping around...

Not in sequence because of the 31 year timeframe (huh?) here are some steps on the way and my attempts to accomplish them. You may have different, successful methods and materials but these worked for me.

Fixing damaged glass. Upon opening the plastic bags (beautifully packed by Doyusha) I saw that the huge windshield had a prominent but not deep scratch from top to bottom. Arrrrghh.. The solution for me is always sanding to 12,000 grit wet. And often more than once. Then preparation for a dip in Pledge Floor Care (old Future) acrylic. Now get yourself a fresh bottle - don't use 10+ year old stuff - it thickens. I then made a jig to hold the part while it drip-drys, using (don't laugh) balsa sheet and tongue depressors. CA these so as to be able to lean the part in a vertical position after dipping.

The black graphic outline makes it easier to see the part. I use TOILET PAPER (NO laughing )

to wick off the excess. It is thinner than tissue and paper towel and absorbs much faster leaving no big wet blob on the part. I use a plastic tub that Oxiclean detergent comes in (it's just bigger than the glass), cleaned carefully and pour in just enough Future to cover the part when submerged. Using latex gloves and touching only the outer edges, I lift it out, touch one corner to the TP and then stand it on the jig. Turn off the HVAC so as not to pull dust across the wet part. Let dry an hour or so. I keep the iso and Windex near by. If I have to redo the dip, a soak in Windex immediately strips the Future for another coat. No sanding needed.  Iso or water cleans the tub after. The unused Future can be poured back into the bottle (use a funnel) if you kept everything immaculate.  This worked for a spotless clear w'shield and side windows. The difficulty is installing it without harm. Gloves are needed and extreme care. Don't wrap it in anything - just prop it in a clean empty box until needed.  More later.

Body stuff before painting.

Since I shamelessly cut some corners, both trunks will not open. Because no hinges and holders are used, I needed to make what I call 'cats' - or jambs. These positively locate the part and give gluing area that will not leak glues onto the outer side of panels. .010 plastic strips work well for this and prevent seeing a gap into the body. Also fine for opening panels to have a jamb for a neat finished edge.

When preparing and priming the body panels I always sand the edges of panels whether they open or not. It's a guess but I've got some experience about this now. The reason is that paint build on edges will make the shut lines too tight. To that end, I take some plastic scrap sheet usually .005 or .010 and make shims to 'center' panels in their openings. Then either glue the hinge retainers (for opening panels) or the panel itself (for closed) for the centered panel. Makes neat shutlines.

Unlike friend Spiny, I glued headlights shut. Many demerits for me.

In passing...

A quick look at the cockpit. Doyusha does a nice tooling job here but I did not go beyond clean-up and paint detailing. The 'leather' is Radome Tan acrylic airbrushed on the large areas and brushed in tight spots. It always dries beautifully uniform. The seats were washed and brushed in orange/brown soup and wiped. The splashiest thing was brown embossing powder (1970's remember?) and some piping. References were good for this. I use Future as a base to adhere the powder and when dry, I add a second application if needed. It too blends well.

More soon...

 

[Codger]

9 minutes ago, Spiny said:

The mirrors might not be so bad on yours as I think part of my issue was trying to get away with the absolute minimum CA to fix them in place to avoid any risk of fogging. The mechanism to fit them on yours seems different as mine had small sockets to put them in whereas yours looks like a totally flat door without the mirrors (that might not be a good thing for you!).  I'm sure yours will attach fine as the larger scale will/should mean a larger attachment point.

You're right the door surface is flat - and the bases are TINY. I like yours better. I will have to insert a pin in the bases and DRILL the (gulp) painted doors............

[Alan P]

More good stuff from you, Chas. Some very nice tips and techniques on show again. 

 

Will be here for the duration... 

 

Alan 

[Schwarz-Brot]

Good tip with the shims for perferct panel lines! This is where experience really shows.

[JeroenS]

Some great tips there, and that interior looks like a dream... Well, my dream anyway, where I dream of being able to work so cleanly 🙂 

[Codger]

Finishes, top and bottom...

Body paint; chosen color was Tamiya lacquers, Bright Orange and NATO black - very '70's.

Tammy fine white primer over 31 year-old, Duplicolor gray sanded to 600 at the time.

Shot this all last August.

Now I suspected the orange would be difficult to get even color depth and coverage so planned to lay on a lot of paint - a dangerous scheme . The car is nothing but sharp angles, nooks and crannies - evenness would cause hair loss. To get paint in hard to reach nooks you risk over applying surrounding areas.

So I established that I would be several steps shy of what I did on the Rolls (and Cobra) - meaning color-sanding to level and avoid clear. Because that would just repeat the difficulty of getting a flat (smooth) finish.

So I shot multiple light coats, starting by holding it upside down to get the complex bottom edges, work way round to roof. Idea being to just get color everywhere evenly. All the panels were painted in order of coats separately, as seen previously. Then began a round of progressively heavier coats in the same manner. TIP: When ordering paint buy at least 4 cans of what you're using and DON't keep squirting until it's dry. You'll cry if you do. When a coat was shot, the shell and parts were placed under a large, clean box to remain dust free. The foam block and skewers seen earlier were indispensable. Another TIP: Plan it all out and have all materials at hand.

After letting everything cure and out-gas for about 4 days in a box, it was time to inspect and start sanding. My designated prep booth is commonly called a 'guest bathroom'. Since there were no guests in sight and the work took place when the REAL boss of the house was out, this will be our little secret OK?

I arrange all the grits at hand, fill the basin with moderate warm water and dish soap and turn the lights up.

This time I started with3200 grit because except for a few heavy areas, the finish was not too bad. Notice the water is slightly orange? It takes patience and a strong back to bend slightly for 4 hours or so.

Here is highlighted a flaw, not quite a drip or run but a heavy spot.

Not so bad on the other side. Note up ahead at the cooling scoops and roof angles and jazz going on. You get some spots drier than others (more peel):

Remember the plan; get the texture out, even the layers and get acceptable gloss - without clear. So from 3200 to 4000, 6000 and 8000 and stop. (Rolls went to 12,000, was cleared, that done to 12,000, then polish compound - whew!) Remove any small debris that snuck through:

Inevitably on a model full of edges and angles you will sand through some edges. Also won't be able to sand in real tight spots - have to accept some of that and rely on compound to mitigate. More on that later. But light burn-throughs are easy to remedy. Spray some color into its cap and use a toothpick or fine brush ON ITS SIDE and lay paint on the 'scratch'. You won't see it.

Do all loose panels the same:

Now we.re getting somewhere. I'd give this about a C+.

TIP: NATO black is really a cool finish:

Now to prove I didn't completely cut too many corners, here's the bottom side pretty much painted and assembled. This is largely semi-flat black. My 2mm front suspension and cockpit fixer-inners  visible.

Sorry for fuzzy photos:

More soon...

[silver911]

Not too shabby at all Mr C...in fact...for such an angular body...pretty damn good to these old eyes.

 

If I may offer this...as a way to combat the problems of lots of recesses...and getting paint into them...without over blowing the surrounding areas (flat panel areas)...first decant some paint...let it de-gas...thin it out and apply by airbrush...make sure to lower the pressure though...as you want to work close in...and you don't want it 'spidering' all over the place...mist coats are best...and just do the recesses for now...allow to dry for 24 hours...then apply your 'broad' coats over the whole.

You could apply it by brush of course...but this can be frustrating...as laquers are best applied by air.

 

Another option I have used in the past is 'loose' masking...this involves using a sheet of card (stiff...as you don't want it being blown down onto the surface when spraying)...hold it about an inch above the surface and lightly mist a coat into the recess area...because the paint will effectively blow under the edge of the card you will get a slight over spray...but no hard edge...which will not show when you do your broad coat.

 

Ron

[Codger]

28 minutes ago, silver911 said:

Not too shabby at all Mr C...in fact...for such an angular body...pretty damn good to these old eyes.

 

If I may offer this...as a way to combat the problems of lots of recesses...and getting paint into them...without over blowing the surrounding areas (flat panel areas)...first decant some paint...let it de-gas...thin it out and apply by airbrush...make sure to lower the pressure though...as you want to work close in...and you don't want it 'spidering' all over the place...mist coats are best...and just do the recesses for now...allow to dry for 24 hours...then apply your 'broad' coats over the whole.

You could apply it by brush of course...but this can be frustrating...as laquers are best applied by air.

 

Another option I have used in the past is 'loose' masking...this involves using a sheet of card (stiff...as you don't want it being blown down onto the surface when spraying)...hold it about an inch above the surface and lightly mist a coat into the recess area...because the paint will effectively blow under the edge of the card you will get a slight over spray...but no hard edge...which will not show when you do your broad coat.

 

Ron

Everything you wrote is perfectly appreciated, valid and techniques known to me. But as I shamelessly told the world - on this one I cut a lot of corners. Blame my failing body, the time involved and loss of patience for difficult-to-do things.

I had strongly considered the A/B solution for the tight spots. But I fatigue early these days and the up/down to the painting area (garage) with all the stuff alone is tiresome. Plus the time to clean the A/B and revert to cans, yada, yada. Having spurned that plan I would cut the corner (and did) rely on color sanding/compound. Luckily, I satisfied myself with the result but it's too far to be proud of. Besides, when you can see less, things don't look as bad as they are.

Also known to me is the 'soft mask' concept. I learned it in the '90's on the 1:1 Cobra paint. The jambs (doors/hood/trunk) were shot first and allowed to bake dry. Then a 3M adhesive foam(1" diameter) which resembled thick spaghetti was adhered in the painted jambs  and all the panels placed. (The inner sides were previously shot). Then the main body paint applied and the round edged foam prevented blow-in but left a soft edge - not a hard masked line. So when opened, the panels looked like perfect in-n-out color.

A hand-held blocking board would protect the easy to reach areas while allowing paint into the tight spots as you say. Again, here I was just too lazy to employ a similar technique.

I look forward to your next project in which the members will learn once again of your mastery of finishes.

 

 

 

 

 

[Spiny]

On 01/04/2020 at 21:04, Codger said:

Unlike friend Spiny, I glued headlights shut. Many demerits for me.

 

No harm in that, my headlights are glued open - I don't know if this is the same as the Aoshima but on that one I'd have been gluing closed if I hadn't gone for open. I can definitely feel your pain on the painting though - I think I went through every one of those drips/ burn throughs/ touch up/ hours of polishing steps on mine. As you say, it's a really angular shape which is very hard to get a good finish on mine and there are still more orange (literally!) peel bits on mine than I'd like. Yours is looking really good though - further confirmation that orange is a great Countach colour.

 

And incidentally, while it's too late for the next project as it's already been painted, I'm going to shamelessly steal that sanding bonnet edges tip in future.

[Codger]

Inching forward...

As a 'proof of concept' and a look at where this is headed, I prepared for a trial fit of the whole. The body is supposed to be bulged outward a bit near the rear fenders, set down on the cockpit and chassis and then the nose clips over a bar on the floor pan. Then the very aft end does the same at the rear of the pan. Amazingly it does - but a sweaty proposition because you're exerting more force on the parts than you want to. Turns out the shell is more robust than it looks and withstands this rough-house treatment. It's just sitting on those poor kit wheels I butched-by-Dremel many decades ago - squirted with a little ALCLAD gold. I mention that because I learned some of us deplore that finish.:

I return to the door glass and the unhappy solution I settled on. The inner frame is gone and this is the best fit I could get. The Future coat is flawless but for how long?:

A combination of clamps, transfer tape, epoxy and voo-doo was employed, held down by nearly a steam iron's-amount of weights:

I am aggravated each time I have to look at it. I may never take pictures of this side again:

Moving on to another rude-shock discovery; the windscreen installs from the inside - but has no way to fasten it without gluing the edges - in a most visible way.

My old fall-back method to the rescue; I made top and bottom 'cats' to act as stops and retainers when the body is turned right-way-round. It would fall out otherwise. This is .005 scrap, epoxied to the body edges and slightly overlapping the glass. (Note the jambs on the trunk lid). Headliner painted tan by brush, then the 'cat' and finally the lower painted black to become invisible at the dash:

Amazingly, no harm done:

As Spiny has said, the doors can cause anxiety. This one happened to go on and work as planned. The prop rod is held by friction on the door portion. The hinge holder needs to be placed accurately when glued or it's cockeyed. Easier said than done and many trial fits. This one not so bad. The other side - *&^%$#)!

There is still slack in the pivot point so the doors never want to naturally rest where they should.

At this point I'm thinking to finally mate top and bottom and continue final assembly from there. Shameless confession; no seatbelts, mirror, directional stalk, Italian racing gloves, floor mats, starlets, tissue box or wine bottles:

Ooops! Forgot a bit of detail; The engine cover has a solid insert that's supposed to glue in. I chose a mesh vented lid as I found on several reference examples. Although there are tons of aftermarket PE mesh, a  favorite of mine is plain old dry wall sanding mesh. There are several grits and it's used to sand smooth the joint compound used on seams of drywall. Cuts with a scissor and looks right in scale for 1/12. Arrange on the diagonal for Countaches. Looks good on a Caterham too:

Used it back here too to allow a peek at the ally (BMF) muffler. Very sexy. Tail lights add nice detail:

I thought my luck would run out with the wiper system. It is spindly and has sprue gates and tabs all over it. Also saw a curvature which meant warpage and there'd be no safe way to get that out. So using my chisels, scalpel and rosary beads, I removed it from its plastic prison. And discovered the curve was intentional to match the base of the 'screen. Very nice work by the windshield wiper team!

Next time I'll show the absolute best idea I ever had in 6 decades of model building. Honest, no hyperbole. Right now I need an Oreo and a nap...

 

[JeroenS]

An Oreo AND a nap, well what a day! 🙂 

[Cooper645]

On 4/1/2020 at 8:58 PM, Spiny said:

The mirrors might not be so bad on yours as I think part of my issue was trying to get away with the absolute minimum CA to fix them in place to avoid any risk of fogging. The mechanism to fit them on yours seems different as mine had small sockets to put them in whereas yours looks like a totally flat door without the mirrors (that might not be a good thing for you!).  I'm sure yours will attach fine as the larger scale will/should mean a larger attachment point.

 

Excellent work as ever Mr C, I can see nothing wrong with the drivers door or anything else with the build for that matter. Please keep up the excellent work, i like many others i'm sure can only hope to achieve the same level of craftsmanship your modelling displays.

 

@JeroenS I have found that BSI Super Gold + CA can be used on clear parts without causing fogging.  Maybe worth picking up a bottle to experiment with. I purchased theough Amazon but am sure its widely available inmany other places.

 

 

Coops

[JeroenS]

Codger... Earlier I made a comment on your remark of needing an oreo and a nap. I was thinking "oreo the cookie" so I thought that was funny, I mean yeah I need a cookie sometimes, who doesn't?

 

Your reaction got me thinking and I couldn't sleep because of it and indeed as it turns out there's also "oreo the pain killer", which would of course be what you actually needed... I don't think we have that stuff here so it didn't ring a bell. Here you are, pushing yourself to the limit to be able to build this Lambo (and very well, at that) and I'm thinking cookies... My humble apologies...

[stevehnz]

You know, if you hadn't showed that bit about sanding / buffing / polishing the body with ridiculously fine abrasives, I'd have given this a big tick ( if I could find the right reaction). Now having seen what you went through for this,  I'm impressed to bits, awesome doesn't come close but lacking better alternatives, it'll have to do.

Steve.

[HoolioPaulio]

@Codger Despite all you 'corner cutting' and issues, this is an amazing build so far of one of my favourite cars.  Lamborghini is my super car of choice, Diablo being my favourite.  As a kid the Diablo was the first super car to make me sit up and say "Wow, cars can be awesome".  If I ever win the lottery I would buy a few Lambo's, all in bright colours .  I don't have the patience to get my bodywork looking anywhere near that good on cars yet.  Keep at it.

 

And @FG2Si, well jealous of the Perfect Grade Gundam.  A PG is on my wish list when I can afford one, to add to my MG collection.

[caterhamnut]

Beautiful build of a pure classic - I am terrified of such paint finish on such a big car - guess that is why my cars have all been 'F1' or narrow-body so far!!! lol

[Codger]

9 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Your reaction got me thinking and I couldn't sleep because of it and indeed as it turns out there's also "oreo the pain killer", which would of course be what you actually needed... I don't think we have that stuff here so it didn't ring a bell. Here you are, pushing yourself to the limit to be able to build this Lambo (and very well, at that) and I'm thinking cookies... My humble apologies...

MY DEAR JEROEN - I am horrified to learn that I have cost you valuable sleep! I merely did mean the cookie - which gives comfort across the universe. I had no knowledge that there was a medication of that name - having led a sheltered life of only street racing from the cradle. I sometimes find the process of photographing, uploading to host, uploading FROM host and writing thoughts, to cause fatigue. Enjoyable none-the-less. Because kind folks like you enter discussion about their and my work. I love the dialog and that's why I'm here.

 

To you other lot - you are all extravagantly generous with your words and thoughts and are like a warm comfy bath. If any have found value in some things I do I am thrilled. Being a crafty devil, I also learn from the techniques you all have success with in discussions here.

 

And although I won't be carving much more plastic, I enjoy the process you each employ to create the top level stuff regularly seen here.

More Countach-madness very soon...

Thanks to you all.