#11 Cale Yarborough 1978 Oldsmobile 442

I have seen some negative reviews on the 1/25 scale Salvinos Jr kits. Despite that, I took a chance on this Olds and was pleasantly surprised! There was minimal flash and the parts fit was very good overall. I loved the high parts count. To illustrate, the rear suspension assembly in step 3 consists of 20 pieces! The decals were really nice and the instructions mostly clear. One glaring omission was attachment of the rear wheels in step 20. A metal axle was provided, but there was no provision for inserting it into the rear axle housing. I instead attached the wheels using stub axles. I chose to build the roll cage in step 14 using liquid cement, but added part 84 from step 5 and painted it as a complete unit. In step 7, the provided part, a combination of the front lower control arms with the transmission crossmember, is not called out in the instructions. This part needs to be cut apart into 3 individual pieces. In step 15, part 85 needs to be filed a bit at its front edge to clear the grill. Failure to do this will cause the body to sit too high and forward on the chassis. In step 21, the 2 retaining slots for the front bumper need to be opened up on both the right and left edges. To me, this is a 5 star kit, but I like a challenge!