The Monte Carlo is one of my favorite cars even today, so could not resist purchase of this item! First thing to mention is that this kit does not have red decals and therefore one has to paint and mask this portion to complete as illustrated. Tamiya TS-23 Light Blue and TS-49 Bright Red seems to be the general recommendations if one does not order from a custom mixing house like MCW. Black decals are provided to put in between the two colors. To make the masks, I first copied the illustrations in the manual at a magnification to match the body size. Unfortunately, this did not work as the body dimensions have no relation to the decals. Alternately, even sizing the STP decals did not work for the overall length. Found that making a copy of the decals and piecing together the pinstripes to match the body the way to go if one insists on paint. Contacting Salvino for decals or patterns to print out went unaswered. Tired of all of this, I found aftermarket decals from Salvino's reverse scheme version on sale and purchased those at an additional $15 or so.
This is one of Salvino's early kits so no color painting guide is provided for the kit, fortunately I had the directions from another JR kit. Perhaps the internet, Salvino themselves or your own favorite colors can be the source of inspiration. As another reviewer has stated, the instructions are a little confusing, and I must agree. I had to use my experience and knowledge of cars to figure out the end location of parts. Sometimes seeking pictures of the real car helped. Furthermore, there are notes about not gluing at a particular step, but never mentioned again a second time. Some parts just don't fit, the front shocks and roll cage for example. Others take a little finagling, the air scoop is made up of 4 pieces held together with glue (anyone have 90 degree model clamps?) and one roll cage tube was too short to reach the chassis. Front and rear body parts needed a lot of putty and sanding. Since the chassis is generic, there is an 1/8 gap to the body, but sits well in relation to the tires, well almost. Found that I needed to chop the axle to get a realistic location, along with thinning out the fenders 1/16th of an inch. For the front, I ended up cutting out the uprights, installing the longer axles then thinning out the fender well here also.
The thing I liked the most of this kit was the chrome, others have described it as real chrome, closer to what you see on a full size car. At the very least realistic looking and much better than what one normally finds in kits. I had no inclination to strip and refinish. In fact, I could not scrape the chrome off to glue as others have reported, and had to use CA. Finally, the decals are crisp and go on easily, helping to make one nice model.
For the reasons stated above, (I stopped taking notes about half way through the build), I would not recommend this to a beginner and chose 2 stars, only for a die hard kit builder looking for this specific model or body for aftermarket decals. I understand the 1/24th scale Salvinos if a classic model, use old Revell/Monogram molds which are better designed, and the 2022 or newer ones or are based on a more modern design and therefore also go together more easily. I would recommend those before trying to tackle this kit. Happy modelling!
![Salvinos Petty #43 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 1980 Nashville Plastic Model Racecar Kit 1/25 Scale #19800](javascript:h17.showPopupImage("//web4.hobbylinc.com/gr/sjm/sjm19800.jpg","ItemMain"))
