The Car
No matter where you go, everybody knows the name "Mustang". The Ford Mustang is extremely popular in the automotive world and after 45 years, is still around today. Starting in 1993, Ford’s Special Vehicles Team (SVT) offered their version of the Mustang, which was given the name Cobra. This was exciting because in 1999, the Mustang was in its first year of the "New Edge" generation. On this model a lot of the bodylines were sharply designed to give it a better look than the rounded style from the preceding years.
The Cobra differs from the Mustang and GT models by having an independent rear suspension (which was new for the 1999 Cobra), a hand-built aluminum engine, and bigger brakes. The 1999 Mustang Cobra was fitted with a 4.6L V-8 engine that produced 320hp and 317ft.lbf of torque.
Ironically, the 1999 Cobra had problems producing the advertised power and Ford issued a recall to remedy this problem. The car itself looks very sharp and is intimidating to find on the road at a red light. You also can’t miss the "gurgle" of a Mustang Cobra Exhaust.
The Kit
The kit itself is well engineered. I will be honest; I have built this kit approximately three times. This particular case is the third time.
I built one for my cousin who drives a 2000 Mustang GT. I also built one for my brother who drove a 2003 Mustang Cobra. The reason is because this kit is the closest made to that generation of Mustang.
No other model car manufacturer has built this generation of the Mustang. For each of the builds, I had to paint it the right way and make it look like the cars my cousin and brother drove. The most recent build of this kit had my personal interests at hand.
Anyway, back to the kit itself. As mentioned, it is very well engineered. The parts fit together very nicely and there are few warped parts. The kit doesn’t completely match the picture on the box, however. Some of the differences you will notice are the wheels, front bumper and decals. All very minor things that aren’t easily noticed when the model is fully assembled.
The wheels on the cover of the box have a slight groove down each spoke and the wheels in the kit don’t have this. The front bumper has a different design when it comes to the fog lights. Also, the decals are black as opposed to the aluminum on the actual car. Like I said, all are very minor differences which, on the finished model, don’t make much difference.
The signature Mustang "Pony" grille centerpiece is rather small and very difficult to get off the sprue without damage. On other kits, I have broken the tail or a leg off which doesn’t look right when assembled. The only other issue I had with this kit was the fitment of the exhaust on the back of the car. There are nice tabs that protrude and are intended to sit on a little shelf molded near the tank. However, when fully assembled, the tips are a lot lower than they should be. I am not too worried about it though. After all, the car will sit on display with the front facing forward.
I painted this kit with Tamiya’s aerosol lacquer Mica Red, TS-39.
This color looks very nice on the car and it needed very little polishing, because the aerosol sprayed so smoothly. I painted the interior with TS-29, Semi-gloss Black. I wanted to have the black leather look, which is what my cousin had in his GT. Perhaps because I had already built this kit several times in the past I was tired of the appearance of the stock wheels.
So, to add a custom look to it, I added a set of Pegasus Chrome T’s. They look a lot like the old Mag wheels and looked pretty good on this modern muscle car. With Pegasus wheels, a little drilling was needed so the wheels would fit around the ends of the axle.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed this kit. It was a fun project and now that I have built three, I think this one is the best. I would like to thank my cousin Danny and brother Ricky for accepting my sub-par assembly of this kit, each of which was intended as a miniature replica of their full size cars. I am glad they were willing to be the guinea pigs as I improved my build quality on each of their models, which eventually led to this one. The third time was truly the charm. I am also really happy that Revell manufactured this kit. This design of the Mustang was a popular one, and I was glad to see that at least one kit manufacturer produced a kit of it.
Also, when building this kit, I learned that it had been discontinued. Get them while you can, I did. I have a 4th kit in my closet, which, as you might expect, is low on the "To-build" list. But you never know how much it might be worth. Ahh, who am I kidding? It’s not like it is a priceless baseball card. If you get a hold of this kit, build it and you will be glad you did. They look nice on the display shelf!