72 Buick Riviera Boattail (Update 18/12/26)

[MrObsessive]

This is looking really good Rico! I'd definitely be interested in the just the body and hood once this is done and ready to roll. This looks so much better already than the resin I got.

I can come up with the rest BTW.

[Can-Con]

Did you lower the door window sill ? 

The bottom of the rear window now looks more concentric with the wheel opening and the character line between the two. Did you do anything with the 1/4 panel besides the window opening?

[Can-Con]

BTW, I have one of the R+R Resin kits. It's a modified copy of Arts Anderson's Resin one as all of the boat tails available now. 

[camaro69]

THX Bill,

already had an offer for the rest of this and couldn´t resist.

@ Steve: Yes, I lowered the window sill and reshaped the whole quarter panel.

[Paul Hettick]

Here comes a bunch of photos.

[Paul Hettick]

More photos

[Paul Hettick]

More photos

[Paul Hettick]

One thing on the resin kit that has always bugged me is that the length of the rear from the rear of the rear wheel opening to the end of the quarter panel is way too long. Get out your saw!  I'm guessing .080 to .10 needs to be removed.

[peteski]

Paul, that is a gorgeous car - one of my all-time favorite designs.  Nice to see it in such great shape.

[camaro69]

Hey buddies,

sorry for the late reply. But I wanted to wait till I can present you an update. Had a little bit time last days and started to correct the rear fenders. Nothing glued yet.

A lot of puttying and grinding left to do... Also have to reshape the wheel opening and the lower edges behind it.

 

And the first 3d printed parts arrived yesterday. The headlights fit like gloves. The grille needed some grinding but the bumper I have to reshape for a better fit.

Hope you like it anyway. Thanks for looking.

Rico

[Paul Hettick]

Thank you Peter and it is looking good Rico!!!

[camaro69]

Thank you Paul !!! Feels good to hear this from an owner of the real thing...

Today I have to present some little progress. Drivers side is mostly done. Some small areas to clean and the chrome trim around the wheel openings to renew.

But I have this side in primer to make my fails visible. Hope you like it... Now the pics !

 

Door detail...

 

Front detail...

 

Rear fender detail...

 

Thanks for looking. Rico

 

[Kris Morgan]

Coming along nice.

[camaro69]

Thank you Kris!

A small update before Christmas... Added the chrome trim around the wheel openings out of 1mm sheet styrene and sanded them in shape.

And I corrected the rear a little bit for the parking light and the rear bumper. The cut above the upper side window edge was filled too.

 

At least some filler primer again.

I still thinking about how to mount the side view mirror and the door handles. Hope you´ll like it. Any comments and suggestions will be much apprecciated.

Thanks again for looking and wish me luck for the passengers side.

Rico

Edited December 23, 2018 by camaro69

[MrObsessive]

Rico, you might want to consider at least a hole location for the mirror and some sort of 'depressions' for the door handles in the door outer panels. IMO, they should be separate pieces if possible as not many care for molded on stuff. We can always pin the mirrors (that should be done anyway for reinforcement).

Thanks for the updates and this is coming along VERY nicely!

[camaro69]

1 hour ago, MrObsessive said:

Rico, you might want to consider at least a hole location for the mirror and some sort of 'depressions' for the door handles in the door outer panels. IMO, they should be separate pieces if possible as not many care for molded on stuff.

Thanks Bill, the mirror and door handles will definitely be seperate parts. I had the same thoughts about the mounting. We´ll see how I can handle it.

[iBorg]

I appreciate your skill in this. You've taken a very hard to find piece and had the courage to extensively and very subtly modify it to greatly improve it.

Are you going to cast it? 

[Paul Hettick]

Looking good Rico! Keep going.

[peteski]

You are doing amazing job accurizing this body Rico, but the moldings you added to the wheel openings look too heavy (wide), and 1mm seems to thick too.  At least to  me. That will be especially visible after chrome foil is applied to them.  They just don't look right to me. They should be narrower.  I wonder if Paul could measure them on his car and give you those dimensions?

[camaro69]

Thank you all for your encouragement.

@Peter: I noticed already that the moldings will be to thick. Will try to correct this the next days and show you the progress when done.

@Mike: Yes I planned to cast this when ready.

 

Edited December 25, 2018 by camaro69

[peteski]

7 hours ago, camaro69 said:

Thank you all for your encouragement.

@Peter: I noticed already that the moldings will be to thick. Will try to correct this the next days and show you the progress when done.

@Mike: Yes I planned to cast this when ready.

 

Excellent!

Will you be selling those bodies?  Also, will you create a vacu-formed glass for it?  I have couple resin kits, but I would love to get a more accurate model of this unique car.

[camaro69]

Hey buddies,

shaved down the moldings around the wheel openings. Think it looks much better now but don´t know if it´s the final result.

@ Peter: I really apprecciate your interest in this and I want to make it offerable for everybody who wants one. New glass will be created too.

 

Then came my first attempt ever to build a door handle from scratch. It should become a little smaller I think but the shape looks just right to me.

Also I´m thinking of making the thinner side a little longer for using it as a pin and adding an extra pin to the wider side. Then only drill two holes into the body where the handle should sit ?!

The handle plate I would glue directly to the body without the block behind it... What do you think about these suggestions?

Thank you all for looking.

Rico

[peteski]

Thanks Rico. If you offer these for sale (especially with the "glass"), I'll be in for at least 1 body.

The wheel-well moldings still look too wide to me.  Maybe @Paul Hettick could measure how wide they are and let you know.  Yours still look about 1/3 too wide to me. They probably also do not stand off more than 0.25" from the surface of the body. That would be only around 0.010" or about 0.25mm!  Again, I hope Paul can chime in here since he owns the real car.

Door handle looks nice, but it seems too rounded and a bit too thick. Again, knowing the dimensions of the 1:1 handle woudl be handy.

Edited December 27, 2018 by peteski

[camaro69]

Thank you Peter for your suggestions. I really apprecciate this.

19 hours ago, camaro69 said:

shaved down the moldings around the wheel openings. Think it looks much better now but don´t know if it´s the final result.

The wideness of the wheel-well moldings is no problem. I can ever grind there a little more.

 

7 hours ago, peteski said:

They probably also do not stand off more than 0.25" from the surface of the body. That would be only around 0.010" or about 0.25mm!

There is no point with more then 0.25mm offset from the bodies surface on these... Maybe it´s the photos angle which makes them look thicker.

 

7 hours ago, peteski said:

Door handle looks nice, but it seems too rounded and a bit too thick.

 

19 hours ago, camaro69 said:

Then came my first attempt ever to build a door handle from scratch. It should become a little smaller I think but the shape looks just right to me.

We´ll see how it´s going on...

Thanks, Rico

[Jonathan]

Wow, this is just beautiful!