Peter Lombardo

I have made some progress on the Riviera. In the interior, I have added the swivel front seats. These will be connected to the doors so that the seat swivels out when the door opensNext here is the body with the body color on it. The white sections are just the undercoat for the graphics that will be applied later. I think the contrast between the pink and the white is very stark right now, but it will not be the the case once it is completed.Some of the edges of the white area are a bit ragged, but that will not be visible once completed.

Very nicely done...... love these pick-up conversion "What-If's" One note, I really like the painted rear bumper but think the front bumper painted to match would complete the lower body look. Other than that, I love it.

Very nicely done!

Built many years ago... 1970 Plymouth. These are not decal flames. I computer created the paint masks in two slightly different sizes, one for the red outline and one for the top flames which are a yellow and orange fade. All air brushed with House of Kolor paints, topped with a crazy pearl shimmer clear all over a custom metallic maroon mix.

I also built this kit light years ago... obviously, it is a simplified kit, but it builds up nicely. Go for it!

so am I, thanks.

Great looking car..... I just love the old 62, 63 64 and 65 big Ford's and Chevy's. Really nicely done and very clean.... I love the look of the stock built car in the muted color with sharp after market wheels, very period correct.

Looks great, I am not familiar with that "Porsche looking Ferrari" but it a unique and sharp looking build, very nice.

Very nicely done..... super clean.

Really nice, I just love the old John Player Special paint schemes. I have a number of the Lotus F1 cars in that livery and would love to get my hands on the Mustang one of these days and maybe I could build it as nice as yours. Looks great

super clean and well done. Very nice.

Great, this looks interesting........ sometimes it just takes a good kick in the butt to get things moving again. It happens to just about all of us, and when the inspiration comes along don't hesitate to move on it. This is the best thing about plastic, if you make a mistake, you can correct it fairly easily so you can be fearless. Other mistakes in life, all too often, are not as easy to fix. Just go, head down and forward.

This is very perplexing to me. I shot the photos with my Samsung phone and transfer and save them on my computer in a google share album that is set to "share" (means can be seen by the public). I set the picture by clicking on it to enlarge it and then right click it to get the dialog box and click on "copy picture location". Open the workbench thread back up and right click again and tell it to paste the picture, and it appears on the thread. I do it the same way every time for every picture. Why some appear and some don't is a complete mystery to me. Maybe it is just me, but I am not a huge fan of google, for a number of reasons, one of which is that it seems to me that you need to be no older than 15 to understand what all the silly symbols and icons mean......... I guess I am just to old for them. I guess I need more investigation on this to figure out what I am doing wrong. Sorry, I am not as technically aware as I should be.

Okay, looks like I have time now to show this, the only problem is that I do not have access to our oven as it is being replaced, being that is summer and not being used. I have a previously molded body so I can show you using that. First thing, obviously you need a vacuum forming rig. I got mine a number of years ago from a guy, I think, in Texas. I just googled vacuum form machine and found many priced around $400 to $600 each. Professional units and way more than you need. We paid just under $100 and I found a couple on E Bay around $100. Just google "cheap vacuum form machine" and you will see them if you need to purchase one. Step one. You need a vacuum cleaner to provide the suction to pull the heated styrene down over the buck I use an old Sears canister model for that The vacuum form table has a hole in the side where the other end of the vacuum fits intoOn the vacuum form table I have place 4 coins which I use to elevate the buck off the table top so I get a cleaner bottom edge. Next I place the buck on the table top balanced on the 4 coins. Note, this is an older car I did back in 2010. Now, and this is very important to note. One of the serious limitations to vacuum forming is that you can't, let me rephrase that, shouldn't design a buck that curves inward at the bottom because once the hot plastic is sucked down over it, you can't get the buck out without serious damage to the body and maybe even the mold master. If you have a design that must come in on the bottom, you way want to vacuum form the top side, then turn the mold over and vacuum form the bottom side.... I have done this a number of times and it works well, but requires skill to "cut and paste" the two half together. As you can see on this design, it is created so that it is relatively easy to separate the master from the body shell.Here is a side view of the master on the table Once this is set and ready, you need to find a roasting pan that can go in the oven which is big enough to handle the styrene sheet clamped in the frame.Here the two part frame (which comes with the vacuum table along with the alligator clamps to hold the frame and sandwich together Pre heat your oven to 400 degrees with just the roasting pan in the center. Once the oven is up to temperature, and just know that too hot is better than not hot enough, so give it some time as your patience will be rewarded. Once your oven is hot enough, open the door and place the styrene sandwich in the frame on the roasting pan as shown above. Now it gets a little weird. As the molecules in the styrene heat up they get all confused and begin to move about within the styrene. The styrene will get all wrinkly, but don't touch it because within a few seconds the styrene molecules will clean up their act and get back in line and the styrene will smooth out again. Be patient. After about 30 to 40 seconds you will see the styrene begin to sag a little. (of course, you should have the oven door closed, but most likely you will be peeking in to see what is happening. You can open the door a little and if so, blow some air (using your mouth) at the styrene in the frame if you can see that it moves with little waves when you blow you are just about ready. Grab a pair of oven mitts, unless you have hands of asbestos, turn on the vacuum cleaner which should be positioned as close to the oven as possible to get the suction going and grab the frame on the sides careful not to touch the styrene so as to not leave any marks from the oven mitt since the styrene is very, very soft and susceptible to damage. Now as quickly as you can strongly place the framed styrene over the master and press down so the frame rests on the vacuum table. You will hear and feel a "rush" as the hot pliable styrene gets pulled down over the master by the suction. Close the oven door and then pull the frame and molded car off of the vacuum table. Remove the frame, be careful, it is still hot, from the styrene. Let it cool, if you want to speed up the process, you can place the styrene with the mold still in it in the freezer to help shrink the master within the formerly hot styrene. It may be a little tricky to get the master to release, but with care, a small screw driver and even a hobby knife it will come apart but be careful not to damage the master too much. I like to use a scissor often to cut around the master as close to it as I can if the master is being overly stubborn to release. If you think it will help, if you have mold release powder handy or even talcum powder brush some over the master before you place the styrene in the oven. I have used both and really don't see any improvement with it, but hey, if you want to use it, it will not hurt anything. In extreme cases I have had to cut the edge of the molded car body to aid in its release. That is not a big deal as the styrene glues back together very easily. In this last picture you see the molded body after the master is removed. Notice in the front left bottom of the fender there is a little "flap" of excess styrene. Don't worry about that it is an easy fix with a little glue and putty. Now place another square of styrene in the frame and place it into the oven if you want another body and repeat the process, or if not, remember to turn off the oven so you don't get yelled at by your wife later for wasting energy. Seriously, the hardest part of the process is creating the master, the rest is actually very simple, once you have done it a few times, oh, and don't get frustrated if the first one or two body's come out kinda screwed up.... it took me a while to get it right...... the biggest problem I encountered early on was not allowing the styrene to heat up sufficiently enough to to be soft enough to capture all of the detail of the master, so remember as I said before, a little too hot is better then not hot enough...... patience when heating the styrene up. Any question, please do not hesitate to ask, any corrections, keep them to yourself..... NO, just kidding, anything you think I got wrong, by all means let us know, and if you have had a different experience, feel free to mention any and all of it.

Sure, I will be glad to show you how I use vacuum forming, from start to finish. I will start a thread in a couple of days.

Yes, on this car I wanted to represent black molding like you would see on a factory car. The salt flat cars will not receive that treatment but the attachment of the clear acetate adds plenty of strength to the area. Many ways to get the strength needed on the car and internal bulkheads achieve extreme rigidity.

The sheet polystyrene that I vacuum form the bodies and tops from is .02 thick. It is much closer to the correct scale for 1/25 cars than the thickness of most model kits. I buy 4 X 8 sheets and cut it into 1 square foot sections which fits my vacuum form unit. It can be a little thin but with the usual internal bracing and support structure, it is just fine. I have had absolutely no issues with this thickness. Another advantage to this thickness is that it is very easy to open up doors and windows in it. Here is a car I did a few years ago, you can see the thickness of the material on the door at the edgeand finished..... note the blackout around the window edges like I mentioned about your Riviera windows. This car is entirely made of the .02 styrene and it is very strong with no "body wiggle".

Well, since no one appears to be interested in this build, I am only posting this update for myself just so I have a record of what I have done to the car. I just opened up the twin vents behind the cockpit to allow air into the engine compartment to cool things off as it is running in the hot salt desert. That air would exit from the rear vents on either side of the chute which are yet to be added.next I have added the louvers over the 4 wheel areas. These are quarter round stock which are being sanded into shape. The first shot is prior to any shaping and the second shot is after the first round of sanding and shaping has startedhere is the rear section

Yeah, that must be the cause of the distortion. The later pictures definitely look like the roof line flows just like the rendering.... very well done. Personally, I like the black-out border on the windows you did.... I do it whenever I can on a custom.

Looks great....... got that kit weeks ago. One of these days and hopefully it will look as good as yours........... Nice job.

Pretty cool and different. I also like the use of the chevy grille piece for the rear tail lights. Very nice.

It would appear that we have a renaissance of Riviera's going on all of a sudden. Very nice, and very different. Maybe it is me, but to my eye the roof line looks a little "awkward" in a few of the first pictures because it looks like the section behind the rear window is too high giving it the appearance of an "air scoop" where the rendering shows the window flush with the body , but in the subsequent shots it appears to flow better, it must be the angle that the picture was taken at in the early ones. Interestingly, in the rendering of the conversion, the designer took the liberty to extend the center of the bumper and the point of the roof extension to exaggerate the window point to make the design flow better. That would be very difficult to build into the model.

Wow, it is 1959 all over again...... nice period perfect custom. I remember those days like it was yesterday......... very cool, Daddy'O.

Nice and clean, a well done build. I remember seeing a lot of Chevelles in the light metallic green and light metallic blue back then.... love the green with the black vinyl roof and hood stripe.

Love it ..... just so period correct with red line tires. My brothers friend had one very similar to this (black but with a black interior) back in the day, it brings back the memory..... well done