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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56927

Lamborghini released their first iconic Countach, the LP400, in 1974. The "400" roughly corresponds to the displacement of the V-12 engine, 3,929cc. Tamiya released their 58005 Countach model in 1978 and called it the LP500S. However, Lamborghini did not begin selling the LP500S with the 4,754cc engine and optional rear wing until 1982. What's going on here? How did Tamiya make a model of a car 4 years before it even existed? The answer lies in the history of the LP500 variant. Canadian businessman Walter Wolf specially commissioned 3 upgraded versions of the LP400 for himself in 1975. These had the ~5 liter engine of the original pre-production prototype, wider rear tires, fender flares, and a rear wing. These specialized versions would become the genesis of the production LP500S in the future, but at the time Tamiya made their model they were unique customs. Although Tamiya never mentions Walter Wolf specifically in the title, the car on the cover of the box has Wolf's signature Canadian flag logo and the word "Wolf" can be discerned above the headlights. The box art shows the car in both dark blue and red, both authentic colors of Wolf's cars.

The original 58005 was only the 5th Tamiya car ever, and the first of an actual production road car (as opposed to a pure racing car). The Countach used a simple, flat plate chassis with rigidly attached axles and no suspension. It was driven by a 380 sized motor. Like all the early models, the body was in 1/12 scale and molded in polystyrene. The body was quite detailed and included separate parts for the bumpers, wipers, wing, mirrors, and air intakes. Although never again available in exactly the same form, the Countach continued as an available Tamiya RC model occasionally. Only 3 months after the original, Tamiya released the 58008 CS (Competition Special) which included a much larger 540 motor and stickier tires. This model was shown in a custom black paint scheme no longer linked to Walter Wolf. Ten years later, in 1988, they released the tiny 1/24 version in the Tamtech series as 48007. Fast forward another 20 years (2008) and we'd get two more in different scales. The 58413 model was 1/10 scale and sat on the TT-01 Type E chassis. The box art showed the car in black, but without the white decorative stripes of 58008. This was later available in pre-painted versions in white or yellow. Finally we come to the version I have, the 57105 which is part of the Tamtech Gear series. This shares the 1/12 scale with the original, but the body is now polycarbonate instead of a hard shell. I chose to paint mine in yellow mainly to differentiate it from the rest of my collection. It seemed suitably bold for a car like the Countach.

The Tamtech gear series uses the GT-01 chassis which I described in detail on my Ferrari 288 GTO page. The chassis is quite capable if you upgrade the motor. Oil shocks are also advisable, but they are prohibitively expensive. I also added a simple light kit to mine to increase the realism. The body mounts from below which allows for the excellent exterior appearance with no protruding body posts. The wheels are the classic style which fit the model perfectly. The helmeted racing driver is perhaps a bit out of place, but I'm glad that there at least is a driver.

Because I have already built another GT-01, I did not record most of the build process here. For those interested in more information about the build of this chassis, a detailed build record of another GT-01 can be found on my Ferrari 288 GTO page .

This 1/12th scale model comes in a pretty small box with a lot of parts in it. The only upgrade I made is shown on the right. Like my other GT-01, I replaced the stock 370 motor with a cheap version from LaTrax which roughly doubles the speed. I paired this with a steel pinion to replace the standard push fit plastic pinion.
There were a lot of leftover plastic parts on the sprue for the body including air intakes, wipers, and a front bumper. At first I thought I had missed them in the instructions, but a double and triple check revealed that was not the case. It turns out this is the original body parts tree from the 58005 Countach in 1978. It was included here because the kit does use the dash and the mirrors.
The rolling chassis looks pretty much just like the Ferrari except for those white clips on the side which be used to pull in the sides of the body making it slightly convex. On the right you can see a dry fit of the pre-trimmed body and the sheet of window masks which are also already cut.
Here I've applied the window masks and then several coats of bright yellow paint. I chose yellow over the box art red because I have a lot of red touring cars already and I wanted such an ostentatious car to stand out.

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56928

Now I've applied the stickers and painted and installed the driver. This may not look like many stickers, but it takes quite a long time to outline all the windows.
Since the body came with light buckets I added a cheap set of LEDs from Yeah Racing. These include 2 white and 2 red 5mm LEDs which don't require any controller, they just plug directly into the 6V from the receiver. I think they add a lot of additional realism to the model. You can see that the front lights are actually the fog lights. The main headlights have inserts behind the clear body, but no holes for LEDs.
Here's a comparison of the completed car with my other 1/12th scale Tamtech Gear kit, the Ferrari 308 GTO.
The following user(s) Liked this: stingray-63

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56929

It's amazing how good Tamiya can make a body look in polycarbonate at 1/12th scale. From certain views it could pass for the real thing. Now I just need to try not to flip it over and scratch it all up.






Here are a couple of pictures of the real thing for reference. I'd say the model is not a bad likeness.


The following user(s) Liked this: Jonny Retro, stingray-63

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56934

Nice :y: B)

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56935

This body is absolutely fabulous. And the yellow fits very well on it. :y:

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56940

Top job on that build, I love it.

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56942

Congrats on an excellent job! I really love the look in yellow.

I'm a big fan of the Tamtech series and have a GB-02 Buggy Champ that's still awaiting proper oil dampers. I've owned the GT-01 Porsche before, but was never pleased with the chassis set-up/under steer issues. Curious to know how this works out with even more power and/if you have to make any adjustments to compensate.

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Blakbird's 57105 Countach GT-01 Build 4 years 5 months ago #56943

I think it handles the power of the faster motor quite well. Of course it is rear wheel drive so it can spin out if too much throttle is applied. If you can find the high grip tires for the front they help with the under steer.

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