An Old Newbie

Hi,

I'm new to the AF Forum but not to modeling. However, it’s been many years since I built anything and a lot has happened.

I stumbled across a kit about a month ago in my attic. I'd bought it in 1984 but never got around to doing more than assembling and painting the gear box and transmission. I've been looking for a hobby and my interest was piqued when I saw the old box.

The kit is a 1/16 scale Fujimi Lamborghini Countach LP500S. One of the reasons I probably never continued building the kit is because the instructions are mostly in Japanese.

I seem to have more patience now than I did in 1984 and have been doing a lot of research, buying tools and supplies, etc. I'd like to thank everyone for this great site and forum. I've already found many answers to my questions.

I still have a few unanswered questions and would appreciate any help. Please excuse eventual ignorance on my part.

1. Should the inside of the body shell be primed and painted like the outside of the body shell? My thinking is that if you can see it, paint it but at the same time the amount of work is doubled.

2. Should the bottom of the chassis be painted? There seem to be two schools of thought on the subject.

3. Can more explicit instructions for this kit be found anywhere? The instructions indicate a paint color for only a fraction of the parts for example. My Japanese is also terrible.

4. I’ve already ordered the Revel 1/25 Viper GTS Coupe for my second build. Does the Lamborghini have any additional value being almost 25 years old that I should take into consideration? Perhaps I should start with the Viper instead?

Thanks again,

Ronster

Welcome , Ronster !

Welcome, Ron...that's what I'm going to call you, what, you wanna fight about it? hahaha

I too have that lamborghini. Fortunately it has been released under SEVERAL brands which include Fujimi, Testors, Revell/Monogram, and several others. Mine is the revell kit. I would be happy to scan and email you the instructions, however, I have yet to open mine, and I don't have a scanner.

My thoughts on this would be that since it has been in the attic for what you describe as many years, It probably will have lots of warped parts. If so, you would probably be better off finding a good one on ebay, or somewhere, and using yours as a spare parts kit.

Now for the building of the model it self. Painting the inside of the body is not necessarily a bad idea on such a large kit. sometimes you can see the inside of the body panels from open doors, through fender openings, windows, etc., but don't paint it body color. Use flat black, unless the inside panel in question is SUPPOSED to be body color, or the panel represents something like carbon fiber, aluminum, or the like. If so, paint accordingly. Now painting the outside, and I'm sure you already know this, ALWAYS use a good primer. This helps seal the pigment of the plastic to prevent it from bleeding through the paint and it helps make the body look more like metal as plastic always has a tendency to be slightly trans-lucent. My preferred method is a light coat of black primer, then followed by a good coat of what ever color primer is best for the color I have chosen for the car's final finish. (black primer for black, dark colors and metal like colors[silver, gunmetal, etc.]; Gray for lighter colors like blues, greens, browns, purples; white for bright colors like red, yellow, orange, etc.)

I hope that kit is in good shape, it's been a while since someone has built it on here, or even a Countach at all for that matter.

I can't wait to see what you've got in store for us!

again, welcome!

-Ken

Hi Ken,

Ron is fine (no Ronnie or Ronald).

The kit is actually in good shape so I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for all of your tips. I'll post some pics when I get started.

Ron