customline

....but on a positive note, this kit is a blank canvas for some obstacle-free detail work. The underside of the floor is free of cast-in fuel, brake, and emergency brake lines so that they may be realistically represented with appropriate materials. ? . Like Manfred Mann said, "That's where the fun is!" All I need now is some good reference photos. Incidently, if you install brake lines to the backing plates, you won't be rollin'.? I have left the spindles free to pivot for now. I'll decide on positioning later. ? I gotta work on the wheels now so I can mock-up a (non) rolling chassis. Thanks for your interest!

A minor thing but just another issue to be aware of if anyone here plans to build this model kit. First the reference photo: showing the automatic choke on the right side of the rear carb. Then the instructions showing the carbs in the correct positions. Clearly, the choke is visible if you are paying attention but if you use the orientation pins on the bottom of the carbs to locate them (blindly) you will find that the joke is on you. This may only be a problem if you are going for a well detailed engine with fuel lines (and heat riser tube) on those nice carburetors. Now you know what to do ? ! Take your instruction sheet and stuff it....well... sell it on Ebay.

Mmmmmm...... the styrene addiction....I'm so sorry. I didn't know it could get that bad but, apparently, it's pretty serious. Maybe I could get my wife to use her thousands of dollars worth of computer-aided plotters, cutters, and card-making equipment and room-full of paper and card stock, stamps, dies, embossers, and on and on.....to make a sympathy card to send you. Issues....yeah, I know. ? ..... but not me, I'm ok.

I will try to not disappoint, but as I plunge further into this kit, which I originally thought was a super nice kit, I am finding some pretty "common" stuff I gotta fix, bringing this kit down to 3 ? stars. Thanks for your interest!this is the sort of detail found in better kits, but the little glitches in casting quality brings the kit back to ordinary. I primed the body today and the hood shows a sink line all the way across the panel where a cast-in brace runs across on the flip side. When the primer dried it vanished. But it's there and I gotta fix it. That nice detail is a double edge sword.

THANK YOU MISTER RUSTY ! ! I knew there was a crazy person out there who could identify this wacky thing (it's yours, isn't it? You don't have to answer that) ?

Here's a shot of the flip side of that weird floorboard/pyramid thing. I can't find anything on it. It must be valuable! ?

Small headaches. This kit, despite the decent parts count and details, is giving me small headaches ?. The Deluxe Champions are nice and the super cool ribbed whitewall inserts will surely look fantastic but when I attempted a mock-up the wheels wouldn't fit. Not just a tight fit; WAY OFF! I Got to work with Mr. Dremel and enlarged the insert till the wheel went through. Not good enough. I'm now having to thin out the wheel rim for a proper look. Headache.? I decided it was more important to me to get a nice finish rather than have a showroom stock Riviera with door handles and scripts....... Mild custom ?. I'm finding the instructions aren't quite perfect either, but all of these things are pretty normal and a full detail kit of this subject is still worthwhile. I shall press on ?.dAnybody know what this is? (Below) It came in a junkyard lot that I got on Fleabay.

OK, good. That'll work. Thanks again!

Easy to fix, though, on the tyranny pan. The big, fat pin marks on the axle housing will be a pain. The (lack of the) valley cover surprised me. Got that covered, the only thing I accomplished all day. I just got a 100' roll of 30 AWG Kynar covered wire in black for stock type plug wires so I used that to look like the perimeter bead of the valley cover. Crude but it will sorta look OK if you're looking for it, but who would? Nobody in my house ?. Better than nuthin'. It's great they made the effort to detail the engine where nobody could see it. But if you do that, why not give us a valley cover? ? Don't worry- after it's painted, it'll be fine.

Some thoughts for today.....I will be removing the scripts to allow me to get a better finish. Are there any aftermarket decals to replace them? (Not a rhetorical question) Also, I noticed the intake manifold (which is inaccurate to begin with - compare with photo of actual ) will need detailing between the runners and, as Con-Can pointed out, the non-existant valley cover needs attention. There are a variety of sink spots and ejector pin marks to be smoothed out, just normal ?. There are a few little fit issues I will try to rectify, among them is the mating areas at the top of the parking light bezels. The firewall has a minor gap situation where it meets the cowl. I don't usually get this fussy but I'm slowing down on this build. I want to clean up my act a little ?.

Thanks Tim, I'll look I to it.?

I have a few questions ?......concerning the firewall/interior/body....ummm...relationship. ERTL wants me to glue the firewall to the floorboard. Jimbo wants to glue it to the body shell. Who's gonna win this one?

Thanks for your interest and your comments, guys. Dominick, I'd love to see that 3D body! Be sure to give us a look when you get it (I'm not a facebooker.)

Yes, Dave, it is. There is little to no flash and the body has almost no parting lines. A couple of sink spots here and there but minor.

Gee, Steve......just had a peek at your Fotki page...your Riv with a couple of small alterations? ? Yeah, right.. That subtle "chop" is pretty darn amazing and , as far as I can tell, the model for a chop that I have in mind. The Galaxy Ltd. '47 Aero. It took me a while to "see" it....but then it hit me. This is how it's done....basically. A few more cuts maybe but basically, this should work for a fastback. I may box up the Riv tonight and break out that Aero kit! No sleep tonight ?

Wow, Steve, that's frikkin' awesome! (I can say "frikkin', can't I?) Thanks for the engine tip! Geeez, that's beautiful ! ! ! I think you just picked out a color for me ?

Rusty, I totally agree and you are welcome to jump in here whenever the spirit moves you! Those cars were beautifully styled, heavy, smooth riding, powerful, generously equipped, comfortable, and a pleasure to drive. BUICK had an image of being an "old man's car." Well, I'm an old man ! ?‍♂️ I'm close to getting out from under my present project and I think I will do some preliminary clean- up on the Riv today. If anyone that has built or is building this kit would like to share info or pictures, please do. Thanks! Concerning the question by Doggie427, the gas tank and the wheelbase mods could be coordinated, yes? I don't know what the '65 floor pan looks like but my guess is it incorporated frame and floor. The '66 frame shortening is simple. Mine was twisted when I pulled it out yesterday and I straightened it out just by twisting it cold. What a strange chassis design! ?

Although my personal experience with a 1:1 Riv was a '70, I do think the earlier ones were better looking cars. The '70, with that odd side trim and smoothed out fender to roof line was a departure from the classic lines of what came before. AFTER that, (and a lot of disagreement will probably rain down on me for saying this) it got weird.... but beauty is in the eye..... Will we see your '66 annual project here? I hope so ?

Yeah, I'm happy enough with the '66. Real classics, those Rivs. I love 'em all.

Long story short: I owned a '70 Riv in '78-'79 that I bought for 500 bucks from a co-worker. It was an awesome vehicle. I found this AMT / ERTL '66 Riviera on Ebay for a good price sans box. It appears complete. OK, it's not a '70 but the basic body shape is close enough and the '69 isn't a whole lot different than this one. The '70 was a unique style but favors the previous 4 model years a lot better than the one that followed it. Next to my ol' DeSoto, the '70 Riv was another one I'd love to have back. This is my next build and I want to keep it totally stock but, of course,, with the usual common detailing. For those of us who may not be familiar with this kit, it looks pretty good. I don't feel that many AMT kits are terribly well detailed but it seems, IMHO, the ones from the ERTL era are almost on par with Moebius kits (a slight exaggeration.) Very little flash on this one but the chrome isn't perfect, probably due to the kit suffering poor handling and storage, but it's serviceable. Some pretty decent detail.. Behold!I haven't decided on colors yet but it won't be black, red or silver. Up for discussion ?. No vinyl top. Not up for discussion ?

Thank you Carl! It was a lot of fun doing the mods on this build with the exception of the rear bumpers. That was an unmitigated P I T A ! Glad you liked it.

Could you stick a Thunderbolt chassis/engine under that nice body? ?

Thank you Austin Powers! ?

Thanks, moparfarmer. I hate to disappoint you but I butchered a '69 Z28 body for that glorious crown. Sorry ?.

Thanks, Dave, it wasn't my idea!......☺️......o.k......some of it.....?