1968 Ford Mustang GT500 3 in 1. AMT ertl kit. 1/25 scale.
The second kit I built was one of these, and it was 'orrible. So when it was recently reissued, I decided to pick one up while they last(the parts selection included is great for transfer).
Body: The body is well molded, accurate and a great rendition of a 67-68 Ford mustang. The GT spoiler came molded onto the body and it looks great. There was some minor flash along the lower rails under the doors, but nothing that couldn't be taken care of. There is only one hood included, which can have a hole cut in it if the high rise manifold is used. Unfortunately, the biggest let-down of the kit is the mega lame rear taillights. They're molded in chrome as a single piece without any clear lenses at all. best to strip them, paint lenses red and then rechrome with foil or just paint aluminium. The rear bumper, while beautiful, is just a bit large for the body. Not bad for AMT.
7/10
Interior: First off, the centre console(molded to the seat bases, for god's sake
) doesn't reach the Floor of the interior tub when placed on the trans tunnel. The Seats themselves are quite nicely molded, and also come with a set of low back buckets for the custom and race versions (seriously 80s equipment though). The rear seat can remain as normal or be folded flat in a race-like appearance. The latter is quite difficult to do for a beginner because of the awkward centre fold down piece, which glues only on its sides and would probably fall onto the seat base. Kit comes with a Roll bar, which can be fitted along with a roof console. The steering wheel, shifter, gauges and lining are excellently molded and are a highlight of the kit. They are very easy to detail. The Kit also comes with a fire extinguisher and an auxilary gauge panel which covers the existing radio for a more race car look. Interior is overall quite good.
8/10
Chassis: Well molded, detail is okay. only problem is that it is slightly too large for the body and requires a bit of squeezing to get it to fit. If fitted incorrectly the wheels will look too close to the front of the guards, and its easy to stuff up. The diff is molded to the leaf springs and refused to glue down, until I submitted and sat my finger on it for ten minutes while it was drying. Front suspension was a nightmare and would thoroughly bowl over a beginner. Don't even bother with the tie rod, the instructions don't make any sense in that part anyway. No disc Brakes are included. You have a choice of two wheel and tyre sets, the factory shelby 10 spokes which are moderately accurate, or the torque thrust wheels for the custom and racing versions. Also comes with a set of Goodyear blue streak rears for the drag version, but fitting them requires both a suspension lift and trimming the rear guards. Best to just not bother.
6/10
Engine: Ahh, the 428 big block Cobra Jet. This was easily my favourite part of the kit. You have three options with the engine, factory built, Custom street engine or Racing engine. More on that later. The factory rendition has a wholely inacurate but pretty chrome air cleaner, and a manifold that sits up between the heads and doesn't really meet with the block. Not very noticeable, but it will look a bit ridiculous. Factory and custom use the same headers, the custom version has side exit pipes and the racer has full open headers. The factory valve covers are smooth chrome, the Customs are engraved with the 'COBRA' lettering. The racing and custom manifold is a dual high riser. It uses TWO of the factory carbs (which is really silly). On the custom version, we get an oval air cleaner with the engraved namesake again. The racer gets two velocity stacks, a big front chrome engine piece and gigantic ford valve covers to turn it into a ferocious 427 SOHC. While the instructions doesn't mention it, you WILL need to cut the bonnet hole open for the custom engine setup. the engine will look quite nice with just some mild detail enhancements, or you could detail it to the max.
9/10
Sum Up: The kit has a lot of interchangeable parts which can be used to make the car more individual, or be put on other kits entirely. I saved my oval air cleaner and second carb and velocity stacks for other projects, but I added the COBRA rocker covers to give the car a more custom look. I might add the kit has some funky decals, red or white stripes and some eighty's styled stripes. I painted mine with gloss aluminium under telefonica blue and the result was dazzling. Although the chrome headlights took the whole thing down a notch. Definately not a beginner's kit, but with some strategic work, you can make it a real dazzler. I'd recommend it.
Total: 8/10
