Words and photos courtesy of Karsten Weiss

“Italian Style and Glamour” is what Maserati promises in its brochure for the Quattroporte and what is true for Maserati on dry land can rightfully be claimed on the water by Riva Boats. This summer Italian dolce vita is not only brought to us in 1/18 through AUTOart´s diecast (!) Maserati Quattroporte: French manufacturer Kiade have released their first 1/18 boat, the Aquariva Super.

And the passion blue Quattroporte and the standard coloured Aquariva do go together well, don´t they?

AUTOart´s Maserati is neatly badged up on all corners with intricate photo-etched Maserati emblems of different sorts: The trident in the grille, the oval on the radiator shell, more tridents on the C-pillar and “Maserati” and “Quattroporte” on the boot lid. We’ve got excellent rims, brake calipers and discs. All the grilles are photo-etched, no solid plastic. Complaints about the exterior are that the blue paint’s metallic flakes could be finer and the headlights look a bit plasticky.

The brown interior is a lot more Italian than the black option and the of course the cabin is fully carpeted in brown. The carbon trim on the dashboard contrasts nicely with that and everything (buttons, light switch, centre clock, centre screen with dials) is present. I particularly like the 3-d-sculpted gauges behind the wheel (while you only get flat stickers on the composite Vanquish and Huracan) and the flimsy paddle gear paddles left and right of the wheel.

Kiade’s Riva Aquariva Super is the maritime equivalent of the finest model car. It’s upholstery is real leather, it´s chrome trim is all metal and what looks like wood is wood on this model. It is mainly down to the quality of these materials that the boat´s helm cannot be expected to be as flimsily fine as on a model car, but the more impressive the effort that´s been made here. That the model is on scale can be seen by the sexy crew by American Diaorama; girls in Bikinis are more appropriate here than on a car´s bonnet IMO. The Aquariva is made like a convertible car, with the wheel (untypically for a boat) on the left (port) side, an instrument cluster like a car´s dash and a rear-view mirror on the windshield. The searchlight, like the entire boat in its wood and chrome trim, is a nostalgic nod to the marque´s heyday in the 1960s when Riva Boats were popular with celebrities on holiday at the Italian Riviera, but with the sleek and elegant lines for the 21st century. If you like the idea of adding a boat to your 1:18 car collection, Kiade make 1/20 scale boats and with something so big you won’t really notice that it´s slightly off-scale (see more Bikini girls on my two other boats on my website www.1-18-karmania.de/yachts/)