Richard Petty #43 1972 Dodge Charger Race Car

I love these Salvinos Jr kits. There is excellent engineering and detail, and they go together well if you show a little patience. Everything is crisply molded and with minimal flash. The instructions are great as are the Powerslide decals. Let me first get a few negatives out of the way; the rear wheels are designed to be mounted using a metal axle – which is not supplied. You will need to source it and drill out the rear end housing. There are sink marks on both doors that should be filled. There are locating pins on the inside of the body that the firewall butts against. I filed these off so that the body could be positioned correctly on the chassis. The chrome plating on the rear bumper is incorrect, is very thick, and I could not remove the plating using bleach or 320 grit sandpaper. I painted it white before the blue went on, otherwise the chrome would have showed through. In addition, the recommended paint scheme appears to be incorrect, judging by images from the internet as well as the box art. Portions of the rear quarter panels should be painted blue much in the same way as the front fenders. The decal sheet contains 2 pinstripes marked “E” (for extra?) that should be used to highlight this color separation. I used tracing paper on the pinstripe decals to make templates for painting the Tamiya TS36 Fluorescent Red. I let this cure for several days, then back-masked and sealed the mask using TS13 Clear, then painted the remainder of the body Tamiya TS23 Light Blue followed by unmasking and more TS13 Clear. After the well-fitting “glass” is installed, I added the body to the chassis. I started at the front and as it is lowered it needs to be pried apart with some force for it to clear past the roll cage. The decals need only a second or 2 in water or else they will lift off the paper. They are nicely printed but do not adhere particularly well. The kit builds up into an awesome looking model!