70 Space Countach

Build 2/7 2006, Pieces 604, Steps 161
LWH: 29/15/7 studs, 22,36/11,92/5,56 cm

Inspiration: The most spacy car ever made, the Lamborghini Countach (LP400 version without spoiler).

Since all pictures of this baby on the internet seem to be copyrightet, here's a link to some good pictures, and another one from a higher angle.

Goals: 

Make spacified version of the Lamborghini Countach
Minifig scale, of course
With a landing gear of course

Grovel before me you scum!
Notice the angling and slopework in front of belly air-intakes

Problems: 

1) It's actually pretty hard to spacify a design that's already almost as spacy as it can be.
2) Converting a design intended for sitting on the ground and being viewed from the side or top is even harder: in space/air, the belly has to look good as well.
I didn't manage to make anyting better than a flat, fairly smooth belly. Boring.
3) My version ended up really boxy compared to the original... at this scale, you can only cram a limited number of angles in without having a lot of gaps. For the same reason, no scissor doors.
4) I really didn't have any good ideas for a smooth spoiler, so it ended up being the LP400 model without.

The windshield is a bit too round for a Countach, but it's the best TLC has supplied us with

Process:

I've been thinking about making this particular spacification for quite some time

20/1 2006: In my original sketches dated 20th of January 2006, I planned on using the same long 3x12 slopes as in the previous models, even though I don't have them in red. This however turned out not to be a problem, as the nose would've been far too long anyways.

3/6 2006: On the 3rd of June I started on it, and had the basic shape of the top sketched out roughly.

4/6 2006: The next day I made the angle of the nose a bit steeper

10/6 2006: WIP-photos uploaded to Flickr

Slimmer version

16-17/6 2006: Major rebuild of exterior, among other things I wedged 1 stud off the belly and removed the front air intake, achieving a much flatter and smoother look more in line with the original.

2/7 2006: Guts, greeble and forward intake below the hood added, basically finished.

12/7 2006: Polishing up of the cockpit interiour

Grille detail using plates, same technique used for the lower intakes

Summary: Not one of my best models, a bit too boxy to my taste, but I think it turned out pretty well after all.

It was presented in this thread on CSF, and later together with the 69 Redscout in these threads at Lugnet and Byggepladen

You can see how the nose comes together in this picture (and the following) on flickr.

It was hard to fit in anything better than trans-red bricks for engine

This part of the belly was pretty easy to "3D-ify"

Unfortunately the cockpit is pretty narrow and dark, so it's pretty hard to photograph

The best shot I have of the cockpit interiour - red chair, black tiled sides... what you can't see isn't that interesting.

Ok, perhaps it's slightly larger than a minifig-scale Countach would be, but this is a Space-Countach, gotta have a little more engine to fly.

More belly, notice the use of slopes in front of belly air-intakes

I tried to take 3 series where the landing gear was being deployed, but this was the only one that wasn't badly shaken. I guess twilight isn't the best time to take photos...
Yeah, I need some more of those darkgrey brackets, do you have some to spare?