January 30, 2008
 NINCO Mitsubishi Pajero 'Guardia Civil' Review By Shawn Smith Appearance:  NINCO has produced Pajero's in the past, in full racing decoration, however this is the first Mitsubishi that I recall to come decorated in a 'public service' paint job. This Civil Guard paint job no doubt makes total sense to slot car enthusiasts in Spain but I'm curious to see how well it fairs in markets like the U.S. Paint jobs that might interest more 'domestic' buyers, I noticed MRC also showing this same truck in 'Ambulance' and 'Fire Brigade'options, however for our review the 'Guardia Civil' arrived on my door step and I'm certainly not one to turn down a review simply because the subject lacks some relevance. Truth be told I'm a fan of odd and unusual slot cars so while the Civil Guard of Spain isn't something I normally would consider to purchase we will see that this truck is more than just a paint job...  Details... on the light side as you can see with tampo decorated grill emblem and bumper identifications. The headlamp buckets are seprately applied and as we'll see later they are part of a little surprise that helps make up for the limited details of this Pajero. Something else that was a surprise to me was the rough paint line that ran along the underside of the trucks hood. The green paint was an issue here as well as a few other places on the truck.   Here along the raised section of the hood you can hopefully make out what appears to be a white line where for some reason the green paint is thinly applied. There are also a couple locations showing minor examples of overspray most notably near the roof line where the rear roof spoiler is also painted green.  Dark tinted windows keep the identity of our officers a secret... Huh? Ok, the truth is that the dark tinted windows are designed to hide something and that something is;  Big honkin' wire bundles that route through the floor of the interior and head straight up toward the ceiling. I was immediately excited when I saw these because they were a dead give away that the blue light bar on the roof would be operational.  The back, like the front, is lacking in the details department. The Civil Guard symbol and name are printed on the painted over rear glass area and aside from the 'number to call' graphic the reamining details come in the way of the license plate bracket, seprately added tailights and the under body mud flaps fitted behind all four wheels.   The rims themselves are again a commonly used design and have been used on the majority of the NINCO Raid line up. The five-lug, bead lock designed rims are fitted with the standard NINCO off-road 'knobby' truck tires... of which I actually like the sound they give off while running around the track.   And it's no secret that I also love lights. Headlights alone add a fun element to slot car racing for many enthusiasts yet this Civil Guard truck goes a step beyond with a full working roof mounted light bar. Click here to watch the lights in action. In fact I've always wanted NINCO to do more in the way of slot car lighting and they are proving that they can do it here and still offer this model at the same MSRP of their non-lighted trucks. The sequential movement of the five LEDs in the light bar are a cool effect and I'm a little upset that the NINCO Hummer NINCO produced didn't get this feature, which in my opinion helps make up for the non-flashy paint job chosen and limited number of details. Notice though exactly how much light this NINCO light package gives off. It's coming from the headlamps, all of the grill openings and from under the body which shines down on the track surface. The reason is that the LED's aren't fitted inside of the headlamp bucket's themselves. The LEDs are simply directly fitted to the light kits circuit board and are bent down to be positioned behind the clear molding post that holds the headlamp buckets in the nose of the truck.  Interestingly, with having bright headlights and a cool blue sequential roof bar, the Civil Guard Pajero doesn't have operational tail lights which makes the light package feel a little incomplete. It's the blue light bar that is the star of the show though and when watching the truck roaring around the track, blue lights blazing, the issues such as the paint flaws all but vanish. I even turned off all of the lights in the race room and man what a sight that was!  Performance:  The mechanical parts of the Pajero Civil Guard are by now self explanitory to many NINCO racers. In fact I did a review of the first ever NINCO Pajero RAID and it was so long ago I can no longer find it... I think it was 2004 maybe? In any case if you have one of the older Pajero's you'll know exactly what we'll find here. If you haven't, let's lay it all out...  Ok, so it's not exactly like all of the other NINCO Pajero's as to my knowledge this is the first version to have the lighting wires to consider when taking the truck apart.  The wires aren't very long, but with all of the all-wheel drive stuff going on in there I can understand why you wouldn't want a ton of loose wiring going on. The wires for the lighting system are soldered on to the connectors that attach to the motor tabs. While this is ok I far more prefer the plug type systems used by companies such as Auto Art that allows you to simply disconnect a little plastic connection and you can work on the chassis freely.  The NC-7 Raider motor is the standard power plant for every truck-style slot car in the NINCO Range. The 19,300 RPMs do a great job powering this Pajero around the track and the torque makes the truck lunge and leap down the track when you quickly goose the throttle.  A brass pinion turns a plastic crown that is snugly set between two of the four brass bushings fitted on the axle. The other two make the connection points for the blue 'medium' spring shocks.  And of course there is yet another spring installed over the shaft of the guide blade with the guide blade itself fitted in to the NINCO guide drop-arm.  The Final Verdict: While I'm not 100% sold that the NINCO Mitsubishi Pajero 'Guardia Civil' will be a big draw for buyers here in the US there no doubt will be an interest in the truck's fun factor and uniqueness. It's certainly a niche product that has a ton more relevance to buyers outside of the US, most notably Spain, but its still a cool little option for anyone wanting something a little different. The paint job isn't perfect, the decorations are (dare I say) a little boring but it's a capable all wheel drive slot car that in its own right carries a little 'cool factor for those that are a fan of the series. Thanks to Model Rectifier (MRC) for providing the NINCO Mitsubishi Civil Guard for review. Please stop by the HomeRacingWorld.com Message Board to talk about this and all other models of slot cars. Happy Slotting! Shawn Smith - SJSlots Shawn@HomeRacingWorld.com Thanks Go To MRC For Sponsoring This Review!
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