Kit Description:

1/25th scale, 117 pieces, molded in white, clear and chrome; newly tooled 2010 body and wheels with retooled 2005 Mustang interior and chassis, decals for three racing stripe versions.

History and Research:

Who in this world is not familiar with Ford’s iconic Mustang? Ford’s 2010 Mustang is the first restyle of the 2005 retro-styled version of the brand. The 2010 restyle further enhances the car’s aerodynamics and aggressiveness. Today’s Mustang remains the oldest American pony car in continuous production, 47 years to date.

The Build:

As with my prior IPMS reviews, I start the build by painting the body parts and then move onto everything else. After separating and cleaning up the sprue attachment points on all of the body parts, everything goes into the spray booth for a single coat of Tamiya TS-49 rattle can Bright Red synthetic lacquer paint. Those of you folks that have not tried this paint, I can honestly say it is wonder in a can. This paint is beyond a doubt the best spray paint on the market; it goes on smooth and has a very glossy finish to it. This paint requires no primer. However, red, white, grey or black priming is a good idea if you are covering dark or colored plastic with white or bright colored paint like reds and yellows. Obviously, the bright red popped over the white plastic.

I didn’t particularly like the “bling” look of the chromed 10 spoke stock wheels and decided to bring the overall wheel look up to current boy-racer standards, which meant that the chrome wheels took a short bath in my Super Clean tank. Super Clean is a semi-industrial strength cleaner/degreaser and does an excellent job stripping paint and chrome. Be sure to wear rubber or nitrile gloves and eye protection when handling this stuff because it is caustic. After the chrome was stripped, the wheels were treated to a coat of black primer, followed by a topcoat of Alclad ALC-120 Gunmetal metallic paint. I then painted the wheels outer rims with a red pin stripe with the help of a red paint pen.

All of the interior parts received an airbrushed coat of Tamiya semi-gloss black acrylic paint. Since the car was painted in “arrest me” red, I decided to bring some of that color into the interior by adding red striping to the front and rear seat backs. This was done by measuring the molded in stripe embossing on the seat backs with my dividers and then cutting thin strips of red decal with that measurement. After the stripe decals were dry, the seat backs were brush coated with clear semi-gloss to blend the decal into the seat. The rest of the interior was painted and detailed per instructions. RM includes decals for the interior door handles and speaker surrounds. Those I did not use. Instead, I used my Deco Color liquid silver pen to pick out the handles, speaker surrounds, and seat belt buckles.

The 2010 4.6L 315 bhp V8 is little changed from the prior 2005 variant; the only thing that is missing on the 2010 version compared to the real deal is the “Mustang” plastic cover that fits over the induction manifold. As it stands, the inductions system as molded is beautiful and enhances the boy-racer personality of the car. The chassis is again little changed from the 2005 issue. The only thing I can find different is that the texturing on the 2005 gas tanks has been removed. In short, the engine and chassis build up extremely nice and easily.

The body assembly was straightforward, although I would like to see a slot and tab arrangement used for attaching the front and rear clips. Gluing surfaces are limited on the current set up. All of the glass has molded-in masking lines. The masking was done with a broad black chisel-point marker. All glass installs from the front.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a great update of an excellent kit. Mustang aficionados and you car builders out there will enjoy this model. The only “major” issue of this kit, if you want to call it major, is that the tire’s profile is too tall in relation to the wheels. Thanks to Revell and IPMS for the pleasure of reviewing this kit for you.