Reviews : MPC 1973 Ford Mustang

Let me start by saying this is a very old tool/kit, I built this back in the mid 1970's and not much has changed! I'll start with whats good=The body and interior are nice, not a ton of definition on the door panels. the kit gives you many options including a stock/drag car interior. I can't report on the later as I used the stock set up.I did not find the front chin spoiler anywhere in the box as depicted on the box art, alsothe spoiler is not mentioned in the instructions,a small let down! The kit offers a 351Windsor or a Boss 429 for engine choices. I used the Boss 429 and can only report on that set up. now for some bad= I can't believe anyone from MPC or Round 2 has ever built this model! the 429 does not fit in the chassis! TEST FIT EVERYTHING IN THIS KIT! Upon engine installation the oil pan was hitting the cross member and front sway bar! (I double checked all parts to make sure I had the right ones (you never know) Also I was forced to use the 351's exhaust manifolds as the correct 429 manifolds did not fit! I could've just glued it into place but the stock air cleaner stuck up WAY above the fender level making the stock hood useless! (also the hood scoop provided may be one of the most ridiculous I've ever seen) I ended up removing the cross member and front sway bar then making real engine mounts from scrap (I'll submit this with my pictures later) so now the chassis is very generic looking. The chassis does not fill up the lower body area and you will need to paint inside the body to make things look OK! the front and rear axle mounts have 3 locations each so you will probably find one to your liking. The front suspension is non existent even with the sway bar in place. The front grill is 2 piece, the outer grill must have a bunch of material removed from the inside to get the inner grill to lay flat. also the headlights are all chromed and I painted the outer rings black to make things look right. The chrome in this kit is sub-par at best and the rims provided are lacking definition, you may want to rob the parts bin! This will make up into a decent model keeping in mind the age of the tool, this was about as good as it got back in the day! Thankfully the industry has progressed! make sure you have a NEW hobby blade at the ready! I will recommend this model however it is NOT for beginners as there are a few problems to work through. Happy Modelling!

Interior detail is fair. The choice of engines almost makes up for interior. a 351 or 429. The 351 has a problem fitting exhaust other wise it fits. The 429 needs some modification to fit under hood without a scoop, had to trim cross member and sway bar. For that sleeper look I did use the 429 with stock exhaust manifolds. Had some twisting and excess mold flash. Till looks good when done.

Lots of flash but not a terrible kit. Had to do some customizing to the exhaust for the 429. Pegs for the front tires are really short and had to cut the inner hub to let them stick out farther. Not a bad kit wouldn't recommend for starters. Also some of the part numbers don't match the instructions.

The body was full of extra flashing and had at least 6 sunken in spots from the plastic cooling. The taillight panel has 2 holes and only 1 piece to use to fill the middle one. The wheels dont line up with the bodies wheelbase. Overall i give it a 4 out of 10

This was arguably the worst kit I have ever built. Lack of detail, loads of flash and sink marks and parts don't line up. Avoid this kit.

This is a fantastic model. The only problem I have with it is It doesn't come with a rear view mirror