I decided to order Pendle Slot Racing’s MGA kit to go alongside my MG Racing Comer Q25 (which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2026/07/03/george-turner-models-commer-q25/)
I’m sure I’ve said this before but the quality of Pendle’s kits has really gone up in recent years. Value for money wise, I’d argue they’re some of the best value kits on the market.
The chassis are now 3D printed and come partly assembled. The resin pieces are all nicely detailed and well cast with minimal flashing.
Before you start it’s a good idea to wash the resin body in room temperature water with a drop of washing up liquid. Resin bodies sometimes have a release agent on them which paint won’t adhere to.
As you can see the chassis has been designed specifically for the car.
The body shell is lovely and crisp!
As are the accessories. Aside from a slight mould line on the driver’s head, there’s very little clean up to be done in terms of flashing.
Rather than using the little resin aero screen provided with the kit, I used these metal ones that had been sitting in my spares box for a number of years.
To fit them, I put a little blob of black paint on the end of the stems, and placed the stems against the body so I knew where to drill the holes.
I managed to find a drill bit close to the diameter of the stems. I was still expecting to have to use a little filler, but it actually worked out perfectly and the filler wasn’t needed.
The only bit of flash was the inside of the steering wheel.
With a very fine rotary tool bit, I was able to file away the excess material.
I then sprayed the body. I used Halfords grey primer, MG Iris Blue as a top coat and a couple of coats of Halfords clear lacquer.
Anything that will need painting again is then coated in Army Painter’s brush-on primer.
I then tried out Green Stuff World’s chrome paint on the bumpers, aero screens, grille and light surrounds.
It’s a very clever paint, but it needs to be dabbed on, or you will get brush marks in the finish.
By this point I had also done the black on the floor of the interior and the panel lines were done with Army Painter’s Dark Tone wash. I also used the Dark Tone wash on the grill to give it depth.
I then planted in the driver and details.
There sadly isn’t any moulded detail on the dashboard. I tried to recreate it as best as I could.
I wasn’t confident doing the glovebox door. If the black lines where the door meets the dashboard were too thick, it would look silly, so I left it out.
The only bit that needed doing mechanically was the wiring.
A slot car is a very simple thing. There are two wires that run from the guide that goes into the slot at the front of the car, to the terminals on the motor.
Simply cut two lengths of wire to an inch or so over the distance between the motor and guide. As the guide pivots as the car corners, you want a bit of excess wire to allow it to move freely.
Feed one end into the brass eyelet and fold the wire over to lock the eyelet and wire together.
Next we’re going to prepare the guide.
On either side of the guide are pick-ups/braids that conduct electricity from the rails on the track, through the wires to the motor.
With a Pendle Slot kit you normally get a little length of braid that you have to cut to size.
I start by cutting the braid clean in half.
I then fit the braid to the guide and trim off any excess. You don’t really want the braid to be any longer than the guide itself, so the guide can act as a physical barrier between the two preventing short circuits.
Fit the wire with the eyelet to the guide and then solder the other end to the motor.
Finally we’re ready to fit the body! The chassis is held in place with two screws at the back, and one through a post under the bonnet. Pendle’s have kindly marked where to drill on the bottom of the body with dimples.
Now it’s just finishing details. First were the wheel centres. The kit provides a choice of a cap or a knock-off spinner. I went for the spinners.
Then the glass for the windscreens. I simply made this out of the thin, vacuum formed, soft plastic that’s used in so much packaging.
In real life these would be perfectly curved. Unfortunately, even with curved scissors, I’m not very good at cutting curves haha!
Finally the roundels and numbers are waterslide decals.
Job done! As one would expect from Pendle’s it was a fun, simple little kit and I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.
My Dad is really into British sports cars from the 1950s to the 1970s and that’s the era of kit he tends to build. So this little MGA has a lot of cars that it can race against. Plus, it looks pretty cool getting towed around by the GTM Commer van.
Thanks for reading!
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By Richard Francis
