Revell

1/24 #20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot

2005 Monte Carlo

Kit Number 85-2895

Reviewed By Dick Christ, #18127

The Kit:

The Revell Tony Stewart Monte Carlo kit is a model of the car driven by the 2005 Nextel Cup Champion.

Molded in light grey plastic, the kit contains 52 parts and a single pre-painted transparency for the windshield, rear quarter windows, and backlight.  Vinyl parts for the tires, driver side net, and ventilation hoses are included. Three metal parts are provided: 2 pins to attach the front wheels, and a rear axle.  There is some flash, which takes minutes to remove and fit is fair to good.  The clear plastic parts fit OK.  This kit has some improvements and upgrades from the first generation kits.  The screws that attach the chassis to the body are gone.  A post and socket joint replaces the screws and looks much better. Some of the interior details are also improved

Packaging of this kit is much improved for a Revell kit.  The clear parts, tires, and the metal and chrome parts are each bagged separately.  The chassis plate is also bagged separately.  There is also a sheet protecting the printed side of the decal sheet.

The molding of this kit has some pluses and minuses.  In general, the plastic in the body is very thick.  This may contribute to driver figure/seat fit problem.  The complex roll cage with the appropriate padding is well done and fits well, too.  The Oberg oil filters on the chassis floor are a little overdone.  It is difficult to fit the tires on the wheels.  Molding of the shock absorbers is not crisp.

After the flash on the chassis plate and roll cage was removed, I painted the chassis parts with Model Master Gloss Gull Grey from a rattle can.  The roll cage pads were painted with Model Master Interior Black.  The flash isn’t bad, but there is a lot due to the number of tubes in the roll cage. The three piece firewall on NASCAR is difficult to get right.  This kit is no exception.

Several of the roll cage joints were glued with gap filling CA for strength and appearance.  The gage faces are on the decal sheet and are installed dry behind the open gage bezels in the instrument panel.  The frame rails are molded with open tops.  The tie rod ends and the sway bar links are molded together.  Both details were fixed with some putty and a little carving.

The driver figure and seat are well done.  The seat represents the current configuration of the seat with all of the extra guards to protect the shoulders and head.  The figure has all of the contingency patches, including the legs and arms.  A decal can be used for the front of the driver’s suit, or the front of the suit can be painted.  Separate contingency decals are provided for the painting option.  Three decals are provided for the markings on the helmet.  The driver seat/ driver combination fit well together, but seem to be oversized.  The window net had to be trimmed to clear the seat and the top of the seat protrudes outside the roll cage.  I painted the driver figure with Testors orange and gloss black.  After the decals were dry, I over-coated the driver’s suit with clear semi-gloss.

The engine detail is overall good.  I checked some references and the configuration of the Chevy SB2 engine is correct.  The distributor cap retention clips are molded into the distributor, but this detail is lost when the air cleaner is installed.  The spider frame around the engine is included; a lower radiator hose is not.  The dry sump pump is molded with the oil pan and the alternator and power steering pump are separate parts.  No brackets are included, so the alternator and PS pump hang in space.  The headers fit well, but the collectors have only three sides.  I filled the slot with Model Master Red Putty. I painted the engine assembly with Model Master Aluminum paint and various shades of Metallizer.

All of the suspension bits were painted gloss black.  All of the pieces fit well.  The front suspension attaches in six places and there was no trouble getting all of them to fit.  The top of the rear axle is open, but this does not show when the model is assembled.  The NASCAR teams paint the different spring rate springs a different color, so I dry brushed the rear springs, one with yellow and one with blue.  The mounting of the rear shocks shows on the upper surface of the chassis.  The wheels have open slots and the brake rotor have grooves molded in.  Once the tires are on, the whole assembly looks good.  The drive shaft was painted insignia white and Metallizer for the u-joints.

The body is one piece with a separate hood.  The body attaches to the chassis with three post and socket joints, two in the trunk and one in front of the radiator.  These are not visible when the body is installed on the chassis.  There is no fuel cell detail.  I painted the body with Tamiya rattle can orange lacquer over Tamiya white primer.  The front spoiler, side skirts, and rear spoiler were painted with Model Master gloss black enamel. 

All of the markings, including the black around the side windows are on the decal sheet.  Separate contingency decals are also included if the modeler wishes to paint the black around the side windows.  The large decals (#20 and Home Depot) had significant crazing in the clear top coat.  The orange in the Home Depot logos was washed out.  The decals fit reasonably well. The black around the windows consists of four decals and these require some fiddling to make them fit.  The decals respond to Micro Set and Micro Sol.  The decals do not respond to Solvaset (I also found out that Solvaset will attack Tamiya lacquer).  The decals do not snuggle down onto the engraved screen on the radiator inlets.  Next time, I will use flat black paint and a Prismacolor pencil for the screens.  The tire markings are not on the decal sheet.

This is a good kit.  I will build more of these.  Other than some difficulty with the decals, I think this is a Level 2 rather than the Level 3 as shown on the box.  Overall, this model has most of the up-to-date NASCAR configuration details.  It is definitely better than the first iteration of the current generation of Revell NASCAR models  Some of the details are either not crisply molded or missing when compared to the previous generation of Revell NASCAR offerings.

Thanks to Revell and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this kit.

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