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In-Box Review
124
Lamborghini Miura P400 SV
Lamborghini Miura P400 SV
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by: Rowan Baylis [ MERLIN ]

Background
Flawed in many respects, the Lamborghini Miura is nevertheless one of the most iconic cars ever produced. It was revolutionary when it was displayed as a bare rolling chassis at the 1965 Turin Motor Show, being the first road car to feature a mid-engine layout. Unveiled to the public in its finished form at the Geneva Auto Show in March the following year, the prototype was an instant sensation. Boasting body styling by Marcello Gandini, the finished Miura was soon acclaimed as arguably the most beautiful sports car ever built. A "racer" that was never intended to race, the Miura was the fastest road-car of its day and, in effect, the world's first "supercar".

But the original Miura suffered from a lack of rigidity in its chassis, excessive interior noise levels and a lack of ventilation plus, most alarming of all, a reputation for catching fire. These shortcomings were steadily overcome until the P400 SV appeared in 1971 with a stronger chassis, larger rear tyres, more power and separate oil supplies for the engine and gearbox (previously, if you "scrunched a gear" it was advisable to do an oil-change straight away or risk wrecking the engine).

Chassis #4846 was exhibited at the 1971 Geneva Show, in many ways representing the standard Miura at the peak of its development. Ironically, though, it was apparently somewhat overshadowed by a new rival - Lamborghini's own Countach which was unveiled at the same event.

764 Miuras were built, around 150 being the P400 SV - although some of its features have been retrofitted to earlier surviving models.

The Kit
Hasegawa first released their 1:24 kit of the Miura back in 2004 and dusted off the kit in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of the car with a new boxing featuring chassis #4846, which had been completely restored to new condition by Lamborghini’s Polo Storico heritage custom shop.

The kit arrives in an attractive and solid top-opening box, with the parts and accessories neatly presented in bags. That sounds great, but I was very disappointed to see that Hasegawa have bagged the clear and chromed sprues together, which seems like needless penny-pinching and risks sinking the proverbial ship for a "hapeth of tar".

The Miura comprises:
1 x bright green styrene part (the body shell)
61 x black styrene parts
45 x chromed styrene parts (plus 10 unused)
12 x clear styrene parts
4 x soft tyres
A set of polycaps
Decals
A sheet of metal stickers
Nameplate

Despite the model first appearing some 15 years ago, the moulding is still very good for the most part in my kit. There's very little sign of flash, and only the faintest of sink marks on some of the thicker parts. Ejector pin marks have been kept out of harm’s way, but I did notice a few scuff marks which I assume are down to mould-wear.

Unfortunately, a couple of the scuffs are on the side windows (one either side), but they look like they’ll polish away easily enough. Another small flaw with the clear parts in my kit is a flow line on the rear window - but this is tucked away under a louvred cover, so it will be invisible on the finished model.

Luckily, the body shell is flawless in my kit. For this boxing it is moulded in lurid mid-green, which honestly bears little resemblance to photos of the classy Verde Metallazata (metallic green) which Lamborghini used on this particular example of the Miura. It certainly captures the beautiful shape well, though, and holding up up against photos of the finished Polo Storico restoration shows what a good job Hasegawa did. Needless to say, a multi-part mould was needed for the complex shape, so there are a few parting lines to take care of, but they are very light and preparing the body shell should be very straightforward.

The quality of the chrome is excellent. Some sprue attachments are hidden on the back of parts, but there are inevitably still a few points that will need careful touching up.

Although no maker's logo are moulded on them, the tyres look rather good, with neatly moulded treads and only a very faint mould line running through the middle of the patter. This sands off easily - which also kills the unrealistic shine on the tread.

A Few Details
Construction begins with the dashboard, which is brought to life with decals for instrument faces. Construction is quite simple for the tub, with just a few items such as the pedals, gear stick and handbrake to add, but Hasegawa supply metal stickers to replicate the chrome trim. The bucket seats are neatly moulded. There are no seatbelts provided - but I imagine the original car wasn't fitted with any (although it does look like they've been fitted in the restoration).

Looking at a photo of the restored car, the detailing on the top of the dashboard and the side panels appears slightly different. To be honest, I doubt that the side panels will really be noticeable with the kit’s closed doors, but it could well be worth pinning down the changes to the top of the dashboard which will be clear to see under the huge curved windscreen.

The chassis includes the bottom of the engine and both the front and rear suspension arms, so you're guaranteed a stable finished model. The engine itself is quite nicely detailed with over a dozen parts. It will look pretty impressive straight from the box and, of course, you could always add ignition cabling etc. Do remember, though, that it will be largely hidden on the finished model, because the rear "clamshell" is moulded closed and the louvres over the engine will effectively hide any extra detailing from view. Of course, it's always good to know it's in there.

The front wheels are steerable, which always adds a bit of life when displaying a kit, and the headlights can be modelled raised or lowered. The P400 SV dispensed with the Miura's distinctive "eyelashes" around the lamps - which some may regret, but which I must admit I prefer.

A neat touch is the inclusion of separate windscreen wipers. These are perhaps a little heavy, thanks to being chromed, but they should still look better than moulded-on items.

Instructions & Painting
Hasegawa have printed the construction guide as a fold-out sheet, which isn’t as convenient as a booklet, but does the job. The important thing is that the illustrations are well sized and very clear, with bilingual Japanese/English notes throughout. Assembly is broken down into 13 stages, and the sequence looks logical and straightforward.

Matches for Gunze Sangyo paints are given, and Hasegawa offer two suggestions for matching the Verde Metallazata exterior colour. The first is to simply mix silver and bright green to create your own green metallic paint. The second is a 3-stage process; first, paint the body shell black, then silver, before finally overcoating with clear green. This should work well, but the crucial point will be how dense the clear green is. So be prepared for multiple coats to build up sufficient depth of colour. I would definitely recommend checking against photos of the restored car to get an idea of the original colour before committing to either of Hasegawa's suggested approaches.

Note: Zero Paints produce a wide range of colours matched to Lamborghini originals, including the Verde Metallazata used on chassis No. 4846.

Metal stickers are used again to replicate the chrome badges, with decals layered on top for the details. The decals themselves are very crisply printed in perfect registration. Oddly, they are semi-matte finished, so you’ll definitely need to apply a gloss coat to disguise any excess carrier film.

Conclusion
Despite the few minor points that I’ve noted above, Hasegawa’s Miura is still an excellent kit that will build into a really attractive model which captures the stylish looks of the original car. If you don’t fancy building chassis #4846, all the parts necessary are there to allow you to go for any of the other classic Lamborgini colours of the period.

A Few Useful On-line References
The Miura Register
Classic Driver - This prototype Lamborghini Miura is PoloStorico’s first restoration
The Restoration of 3901

Lamborgini.com
First Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Fully Restored!! Villa d'Este 2016

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AUTO MODELER
SUMMARY
Highs: Still generally excellent moulding despite being around 15 years old. Good detailing and straightforward construction.
Lows: Clear parts packed in the same bag as the chromed sprue. A few signs of mould wear, including minor scuffs on the side windows.
Verdict: Hasegawa's kit looks like it will build into a beautiful model that really captures the lines of the iconic Miura.
Percentage Rating
85%
  Scale: 1:24
  Mfg. ID: 20278
  Suggested Retail: £28.72 (Model Hobbies)
  PUBLISHED: Feb 22, 2019
  NATIONALITY: Italy
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 88.37%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 85.84%

About Rowan Baylis (Merlin)
FROM: NO REGIONAL SELECTED, UNITED KINGDOM

I've been modelling for about 40 years, on and off. While I'm happy to build anything, my interests lie primarily in 1/48 scale aircraft. I mostly concentrate on WW2 subjects, although I'm also interested in WW1, Golden Age aviation and the early Jet Age - and have even been known to build the occas...

Copyright ©2021 text by Rowan Baylis [ MERLIN ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of ModelGeek. All rights reserved.



Comments

I voted for this!! Awesome review!
FEB 22, 2019 - 04:39 AM
Rowan, nice, straight-to-the point review. Yup, Miura was one of the "strangest" cars around. The suggested painting (3 stage) It's something I've tried recently on my Porsche 959 build. It's risky and you need a "perfect painting session" for the last stage. I (evidently) ruined my kit with an inopportune coat of 2K, sandwiched between metallizer and final paint coat, but I didn't give up the idea... Gabriel
FEB 22, 2019 - 10:03 AM
Nice review Rowan, if I remember I'll try and dig out my original boxing of the base kit and see if there are any issues with the glass.
FEB 22, 2019 - 07:04 PM
Great review, very informative. Such a stunning looking classic, it would hold it's head high against any of the more recent designs. Cheers, D
FEB 22, 2019 - 10:07 PM
Cheers guys I've got to say I love the Miura! It just epitomises everything that was so good in '60s designs. For me, it still eclipses most of what's followed. I know Lamborghini have said they don't "do" retro, so they won't revisit it, but think they are totally mistaken - an authentically styled Miura built to modern specs would make a fortune for them. But, getting back to the kit... @ Gabriel - You've confirmed my concern about the 3-stage painting process. It's easy on paper (and should work if the suggested clear green is the correct colour) - but every extra coat invites dust - hence fine-sanding and re-coating - and that's assuming the clear green is sufficiently dense. My gut-feeling without trying the Mr Color clear green method?... assuming the actual hue is correct, the 3-stage process could easily stretch to a 5 or 6-stage epic. And then you'll still need to clear-coat after the semi-matt decals. @ Luciano - it'd be great if you could check the clear parts in your original boxing. I've blamed mould wear for the scuffs because there also seems to be a little on the black sprues (the camera highlighted a little roughness there that I'll admit I'd missed with ageing my Mk.1 eyeballs...), but perhaps it was always an issue. For all that, the Miura is still in with a chance to push other kits out of the way to be my next build! All the best Rowan
FEB 23, 2019 - 09:08 AM
   


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