In 1977, the Pontiac Firebird became the rage of pop culture in its strong supporting role in Smokey and The Bandit, and ensuing sales of the Trans Am variant skyrocketed overnight.

Revell does a magnificent job capturing the essence of The Bandit's ride in this re-release of their 2004 tooling of an American muscle car legend.

Molded in white, clear, and chrome-plated styrene with steel axles and vinyl tires, the kit consists of 89 parts and a sheet of decals. Mold quality is very good, with little flash and very manageable mold parting lines. Detail, raised and recessed, is crisp and in-scale, and tracks well to reference photos. The tires are beautifully seamless, and just need to be pressed over their hubs to be display-ready.

Assembly was without incident. Instructions flowed logically and had good color call-outs, although reference photos nearly universally showed the headers in Pontiac Engine Blue rather than chrome. Fit overall was very good, with no need for hacking, chopping, or modifying, although I do need to go back and slightly adjust the fit of the hood pinions to allow the hood to close flush. Interior detail is very nicely engineered, with a multi-layer instrument panel including a decal for the instrument faces. The 6.6 liter V8 is also very nicely appointed and bears striking resemblance to pictures of actual powerplants.

Finished in gloss black Testors Custom Lacquer with a Testors enamel high gloss overcoat, the body readily accepted the well-registered decals. Final assembly, including 4 screws to hold chassis and body together, took only a few minutes and yielded a striking finished product.

In summary, Revell has a winner in this kit. I highly recommend to modelers of all skill levels.

Thanks to Revell for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review it.