The Mercedes SLC is a luxury coupe produced by the German car manufacturer between 1971 and the early 1980s. Its development was based upon the earlier launched Roadster model and was characterized by a harmonious and elegant design.
The 450 SLC was equipped with a 4520 cm3 V8 engine capable of 225 horsepower. This high performance was successfully combined with refined styling and the premium quality furnishings selected for the vehicle interior that reinforced the SLC luxury branding in the marketplace.
The vehicle was further adapted from the mainstream consumer model to the production of a sports version for car rallying competitions. The chassis was the same, but the rally version introduced a roll bar, competition rims, aluminum parts, and components to reduce the overall weight. All of these factors contributed to increased performance and rallying successes such as the Mintex Rally victory in 1978.
This Italeri version was originally released by ESCI in 1979. (I believe it was also released by Revell at some point but don’t quote me on that.) Given that it’s more than 40 years old, the tooling has held up very well. I found quite a number of sink marks, but all of these are in areas that will not be shown when the kit is completed. Parts related to the body are molded in white while everything else is molded in black.
The decals in the kit are Cartograph and look phenomenal. I thought this was the best item included in the kit. One thing to keep in mind, you should use a lot of water on the surface when moving the decals into place, as they are quite brittle and require a slippery surface. You get the sponsor decals for this livery as well as gauge, interior, seat belts, and other small items around the body.
The instructions outline seven steps and although the illustrations are quite basic and a little crude, they are clear and include decent color callouts. A nice color, five-view plan provides decal placement for the body.
The 11-part, eight-cylinder engine fits well and though the parts count is quite low, the engine looks rather complete when assembled. You can add more realism with the addition of distributor wiring and other small details if you wish. I found a bit of flash around various parts so make sure to do a complete inspection and flash removal before putting these parts together.
The chassis consists of 21 parts. The straightforward front suspension has upper wishbones molded into the main chassis and lower wishbones molded with the subframe. Steering is designed to be movable by the use of a tie rod with mushroom pins. The rear axle is molded onto the chassis and the installation is quite simple with the addition of two wishbones and brakes together with pinheads to hold the tires in place.
The plated parts in the kit look more as if they are painted rather than chromed but they give the parts a more realistic and original look. It also features an opened grille which is a nice touch. A little cleanup is required but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The plated tree provides you with two valve covers, four wheels, front and rear bumpers, wipers, rear spoiler, and license plate holders.
As with most race cars, the Mercedes interior is rather spare; only the essentials are there and that is true of this kit as well. It consists of only 12 parts and includes a roll bar, two racing seats, dash, and console. Doors panels are separate pieces and must be glued to the sides to complete the installation. Instructions call out for racing harness decals to be placed on the seats as well as gauge decals. All these parts fit well without issues.
After cleanup of a few mold lines around the body, I went ahead and primed it with Tamiya surface primer. I followed with Tamiya silver leaf (TS-30) for the base color and finished off with two-part clear. The kit provides you with an option of leaving the hood in place or removing it to show off the engine. The hood should be painted in a semi-gloss color shade, so it was easier for me to paint it as a separate unit rather than masking it while on the body.
Adding the chassis to the body went smoothly but I had issues with the overly protruding tires when mating these assemblies together. I had to actually sand off the inside of the wheels where the actual pins are introduced to hold the rims in place. Work carefully and remove plastic as needed to make this part work.
While Italeri’s Mercedes 450 SLC may not be on par with some of the latest offerings, it’s still a decent kit in its own right. Usually when we think Mercedes, we don’t relate the brand with rally cars, but I thought this was a fun build, nonetheless. Parts like the front tubular protective grille bar as well as the rear spoiler and spot light did not have any positioning points for their placement making it a little challenging to install but with a little creativity, it is very possible to have a great looking model on the shelf.