(Written by William)
When LEGO offered the #10337 LEGO Icons Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Mind you, I’m not a gearhead, but I’ve become a rather massive fan of building these LEGO Icon large-scale models. I’ve gotten a couple of them as review copies in the past and I make sure to buy the rest. This set was on my wish list, so I was happy to get it ahead of time.
What primarily draws me to these models is the building experience. LEGO designers don’t shy away from vehicles with complex bodies. It’s the challenge of recreating these iconic cars that I find absolutely fascinating. While they’re at it, LEGO designers also make sure to pay attention to tiny details like reproducing a specific motor or giving a car actual steering.
It’s through the building process that I do end up learning about these cars. Then, when I’m done, I’ll do some additional research. So, I guess I eventually became a bit of a gearhead, the long way around. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the nice characteristics of the actual car to see what makes this model so special.
LEGO LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH – ABOUT THE CAR
The Countach has been around since the 70’s. However, the model in question came much later, but the 5000 QV does build off the previous versions of the Countach quite a bit.
A good example of this is the scissor doors. This was, in fact, the first production car to have scissor doors. Also, in the late 70’s, the rear wheels were expanded and the body of the vehicle got the large wheel arches, which are seen in this model. Most of the defining qualities of the previous versions have to do with the power of the engine and how everything is mounted.
The primary way for someone to know that this is the 5000 QV is the hump on the back hood of the vehicle. This hump is to make room for the six carburetors mounted on top of the engine.
You may think that the car looks a bit boxy. This is due to it being an iteration of the 1970s wedge design that Lamborghini was using. Additionally, since the car is mostly white, it is hard to see the finer slopes added to the model, but it is easier to see in person.
In the end, you’re looking at a supercar with roughly 455 horsepower under the hood. Much of its body used techniques found in Formula-1 racecars, but it is a bit heavy compared to those vehicles. It does have a low profile and has absolutely terrible visibility for the driver behind them. The car is not set up for a rear view. In fact, the earliest model design of the Countach featured a periscope to enable the driver to see behind them. This feature never made it to production though. All in all, it is a car that will catch your eye.
LEGO LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH – SCISSOR DOORS
We can’t talk about the Countach without mentioning the doors. This is the first time I’ve built a model that had scissoring doors. It was clear early on that where the clearance needed to happen was in very different spots than any other vehicle.
On the door itself at the bottom, LEGO designers made sure to angle the front and back sections. This provides less friction when the door is seated back into place since it is coming from the top and going down. The real magic happens with the hinge. The primary support for the hinge is a LEGO Technic connector with a pinhole at the top. This connector can go straight up, but move towards the seats in the car. In order to stop this, a rubber band is used to pull the connector to the front of the car. When this connector is upright, the door is closed. However, you need some clearance if you want to open the door. This is where the rubber band comes into play. Opening the door, the hinge can move away from the front of the vehicle, allowing the door to freely move. This built-in flexibility allows for the outer body of the car to be rather flush with the door since the hinge is what moves out front under the body of the vehicle.
The end result is something that looks amazing but does feel a bit fragile. The top frame of the door adds to this feeling of fragility. The top section of the door is held together by a clip and bar to make one angled joint and a ball and socket connector to make the other angled connection. Given the fact that these frames are only two plates thick, they don’t have the most secure build, structurally speaking, so be careful when building it.
LEGO LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH – THE PACKAGING
Occasionally, I am impressed with how LEGO packages a set. Sometimes they’ll do something cute, like an interior printing on the box, or make the box look like a shoe box. In the case of this set, it is a bit more practical. The box is a two-piece with a lid and bottom. It is also sized perfectly to store the completed model when you are done. I also found it easier to set up the numbered bags in the box and only pick out the number I needed to make my build space much cleaner.
However, what really caught my attention was how they solved the scratching issue on the front windshield. Those of you who have built large-scale vehicles probably know that as soon as you grab the bag with the large windshield, you’re going to see scratches since it rubs against other parts. Well, in this set, they wrapped the windshield in a simple plastic wrap. The material is somewhere between a static cling sticker and plastic wrap. The thickness of this protective layer was enough to keep the scratches away and it was easy to unwrap.
LEGO LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH – THE PARTS
I’m happy to report there are no stickers in this model. Everything that has printing on it is directly printed on the parts. From the Lamborghini logo on the tile on the steering wheel to the gauges on the side of a brick on the dashboard, to all the branding on the back of the vehicle, even some small details next to the doors (I believe they are air intakes), all are printed. It is safe to say that most of these details will only really be noticed by the builder due to their placement, but still, it is a great touch.
The other parts of note are the various slopes in the model. In order to achieve some of the impressive angles, there are quite a few new slopes in the set. Some are small like the 2x1x2/3 slopes that look like elongated cheese slopes. The 4×1 and 6×1 straight slopes with no studs on top recreate many of the straight wedge angles in this car. And then there are the curved wheel arches in the back which seamlessly line up with 45-degree slopes, just to name a few interesting examples.
They even produced some deep concave wheel hubs. Placed in the back of the car, it helps to give the impression of very wide wheels. Placed in the front of the car the mechanism that turns those wheels can fit inside the hub to allow the wheel to fit in a tighter space. Overall, this is an impressive collection of parts in how specific they are while remaining fairly universally useful.
LEGO LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH – FINAL THOUGHTS
In the video below, I will show you the set in a bit more detail, and if you want to check it out, it’s available at the LEGO Icons section of the Online LEGO Shop.
Whether you like this model or not will have more to do with how you view the Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV and not the model. As a building experience, it was amazing in all the right ways. Many sections of the model fit together like puzzle pieces. This meant at times, I had to really consider how to attach a piece as sometimes it could only go in one way.
This does mean the build is for experts only. I can see less experienced builders becoming frustrated with the model at times. But, if you are a longtime LEGO builder, this is the experience we often find very addictive.
If I have to say anything about this set that is remotely negative is that it’s not built for play. Many of the finer details like the doors aren’t reinforced to hold up to any sort of heavy use. This is too bad since it looks so different from other cars and you can’t help but want to touch it. This is especially true when you see that the trunk and engine compartment can open, the steering wheel works, and the doors are like nothing you see in other LEGO models. It has all the hallmarks of an interesting model, but these features as well as the unusual angles do have a structural cost. I can’t say this was my favorite LEGO Icons vehicle I’ve put together, but I did have a fantastic time and would recommend it.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Icons Lamborghini? Do you have the set already? Or are you planning to get it? And what do you think of the building techniques we discussed here? Are there any other interesting features you noticed in the model? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
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