Revell 1971 Boss 351 Mustang

[Mr. Metallic]

Maybe the admins can combine this with the big 71 Mustang thread?

@iamsuperdan

[Plashdaddy]

21 hours ago, vamach1 said:

I received the kit today and it is fantastic.  I would give it a 98 out of 100 and the instruction sheet and decal sheet are outstanding.  I was thinking of doing a comparison to the AMT and MPC 71/73 kits but I can sum it up easily.  The Revell kit is superior in every aspect and is based upon how the car was made by Ford - not guesses and carried over parts from a 69/70 kit like the AMT/MPC ones.

That’s the only recommendation I need given your expertise on these cars, really hope all the hints dropped about the Eleanor car come to fruition.

[Mr mopar]

A Drag racing unit would be cool to see !

Edited July 22, 2023 by Mr mopar

[vamach1]

19 minutes ago, Mr mopar said:

A Drag racing unit would be cool to see !

Now that’s crazy talk. 😉

[Hawk312]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:59 PM, vamach1 said:

Looks like the Ivy Glow.

Thanks vamach1!

Is it just me, or does that look almost exactly like GM Elkhart Green Metallic that you see on a lot of Corvettes of that era?

 

[vamach1]

Long before the Revell kit hit the shelves I took apart a Danbury Mint 1/24 Boss 351 diecast.  Who would do a crazy thing you might ask.  The  thinking at the time was there wasn’t a decent kit out there to replicate an accurate Boss 351 in 1/25 scale so copies were made for use on the AMT or MPC 71-73 Mustangs.  Now that Revell has produced an outstanding kit there was one part that I wondered if it could be added for additional realism.  From the pictures you can see that the Ram-Air Plenum (molded into the hood on the Revell kit) could work as a separate part from my test fit using the DM piece.  Let’s see where this goes as with a Mach1 version of the Revell kit will probably be out in less than a year I personally like the idea of separate part as long as the hood closes flush with the fenders.  The third picture shows the hood does fit with the part on top of the air cleaner.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by vamach1
Pics

[Mr mopar]

3 minutes ago, vamach1 said:

Long before the Revell kit hit the shelves I took apart a FM 1/24 Boss 351 diecast.  Who would do a crazy thing you might ask.  The  thinking at the time was there wasn’t a decent kit out there to replicate an accurate Boss 351 in 1/25 scale so copies were made for use on the AMT or MPC 71-73 Mustangs.  Now that Revell has produced an outstanding kit there was one part that I wondered if it could be added for additional realism.  From the pictures you can see that the Ram-Air Plenum (molded into the hood on the Revell kit) could work as a separate part from my test fit using the FM piece.  Let’s see where this goes as with a Mach1 version of the Revell kit will probably be out in less than a year I personally like the idea of separate part as long as the hood closes flush with the fenders.

I have this part (resin casted ) I was hoping it would fit under the hood without modifying it ? 

[vamach1]

26 minutes ago, Mr mopar said:

I have this part (resin casted ) I was hoping it would fit under the hood without modifying it ? 

I would carefully line it up with the air cleaner and glue it to the body color painted hood.  It would probably not hurt to sand down the top of the intake manifold a few millimeters so the carb and air cleaner sit lower.  Once I get more done on the kit I’ll let everyone know how it works out.

[tim boyd]

The inside word on the Boss 351 kit development and the underhood ducting approach...wish I had know the extent of this (the kit development process and team) earlier, but better late than never....

************************************************************

The development of the Revell Boss 351, per Ed Sexton:

"We need to recognize the make up of the "Revell Team". It was It really is just Chris Borris with some help from Don Sikora and myself."

"Chris is the only full time Revell USA person. Don (he is the Editor of Collectible Automobile) and I worked as consultants on the project. Chris also does work with Revell Germany on the development of the products. The sales end is handled by the Carrera-Revell office in New Jersey."

Directly from Chris Borris on the underhood ducting:

"Yes, of course we always want to reproduce with the most detail but as you pointed out we couldn't with the under hood ram air ducting due to space as you noted out. In the cad I have around 1mil of clearance between bottom of hood and front of 351 air-cleaner. We just simply could not afford tinkering with the multiple engines, air cleaners to add this rather large part. If there was more clearance we would have but it just wouldn't work here, so the cavity sides of all hoods received engraving detail instead."

********************************************************

Rex....keep up advised (I know you will) on your experiment with the DieCast model part..

Best to you all...TIM 

[vamach1]

11 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

The inside word on the Boss 351 kit development and the underhood ducting approach...wish I had know the extent of this (the kit development process and team) earlier, but better late than never....

************************************************************

The development of the Revell Boss 351, per Ed Sexton:

"We need to recognize the make up of the "Revell Team". It was It really is just Chris Borris with some help from Don Sikora and myself."

"Chris is the only full time Revell USA person. Don (he is the Editor of Collectible Automobile) and I worked as consultants on the project. Chris also does work with Revell Germany on the development of the products. The sales end is handled by the Carrera-Revell office in New Jersey."

Directly from Chris Borris on the underhood ducting:

"Yes, of course we always want to reproduce with the most detail but as you pointed out we couldn't with the under hood ram air ducting due to space as you noted out. In the cad I have around 1mil of clearance between bottom of hood and front of 351 air-cleaner. We just simply could not afford tinkering with the multiple engines, air cleaners to add this rather large part. If there was more clearance we would have but it just wouldn't work here, so the cavity sides of all hoods received engraving detail instead."

********************************************************

Rex....keep up advised (I know you will) on your experiment with the DieCast model part..

Best to you all...TIM 

Thanks for the backstory and yes I will let you know how it goes.

[Motor City]

I remember with some 1960s kits the hood not closing properly due to the height of the carburetor and/or intake manifold.  In some cases, it was so bad that you had to leave the carb out and just glue the air cleaner to the intake manifold.  These kits also had the straight axle going through the engine compartment.

[Luc Janssens]

12 hours ago, tim boyd said:

The inside word on the Boss 351 kit development and the underhood ducting approach...wish I had know the extent of this (the kit development process and team) earlier, but better late than never.

Best to you all...TIM 

Well from what I've seen and read so far on this kit, this small team did a realy splendid job.

Thank for letting us in the know Tim!

Cheers

Luc

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Luc Janssens
Spelling

[dbostream]

14 hours ago, tim boyd said:

The inside word on the Boss 351 kit development and the underhood ducting approach...wish I had know the extent of this (the kit development process and team) earlier, but better late than never....

************************************************************

The development of the Revell Boss 351, per Ed Sexton:

"We need to recognize the make up of the "Revell Team". It was It really is just Chris Borris with some help from Don Sikora and myself."

"Chris is the only full time Revell USA person. Don (he is the Editor of Collectible Automobile) and I worked as consultants on the project. Chris also does work with Revell Germany on the development of the products. The sales end is handled by the Carrera-Revell office in New Jersey."

Directly from Chris Borris on the underhood ducting:

"Yes, of course we always want to reproduce with the most detail but as you pointed out we couldn't with the under hood ram air ducting due to space as you noted out. In the cad I have around 1mil of clearance between bottom of hood and front of 351 air-cleaner. We just simply could not afford tinkering with the multiple engines, air cleaners to add this rather large part. If there was more clearance we would have but it just wouldn't work here, so the cavity sides of all hoods received engraving detail instead."

********************************************************

Rex....keep up advised (I know you will) on your experiment with the DieCast model part..

Best to you all...TIM 

I always wondered why it took so long to make this kit but I understand now sounds like it was almost a one man show. Very impressive and it looks like a great kit.

[Mr. Metallic]

1 hour ago, dbostream said:

I always wondered why it took so long to make this kit but I understand now sounds like it was almost a one man show. Very impressive and it looks like a great kit.

You also have to take into account (which has been discussed here before) that normally we are not privy to the exact date of the commencement of a new tooling project. We are normally made aware of the kit well into it's development. So what seems like along time in this case really hasn't been since they formally announced it (not counting the 3D scanning picture which accidently showed us what they were up to).

[vamach1]

I put the engine together and did more test fitting.  My conclusion there would be no problem with a property designed ram-air plenum part fitting underneath the hood and on top of the air cleaner.  The resin part I’ve been using is by no means a perfect fit but despite that it has shown that with a recessed area for the top of the air cleaner and indentation or hold for the vacuum motor that sits on top of the air cleaner snorkel there is adequate clearance.  A better fitting part would be ideal especially the parts that connect to the twin scoops.  This area is far enough of the engine that for the part I used this test fit did not create any problems.  I made one modification assuming it would help “lower” the completed engine if clearance was going to be an issue.   I cut off about half of the mounting pin as noted in the picture.  Whether this helped or not I cannot say for sure but that locating pin just looked long to me.   Since Revell appears to be pretty flexible in creating parts for future versions of the kit, it is my hope that a ram-air plenum part be reconsidered.  Thanks for looking.

['70 Grande]

Do you think the firewall to shock tower braces might get in the way?

[vamach1]

6 hours ago, '70 Grande said:

Do you think the firewall to shock tower braces might get in the way?

No.  Also keep in mind the resin part could fit better meaning despite it not fitting as flush as I would like it the hood still closes without any problems.

[wrenchr]

Just ordered mine up.  

[Luc Janssens]

Just picked up a copy at my local hobby shop.

Took a photo of the decal sheet as it probably differs from the North American edition.

Also what is part 57 on the chrome tree (gas cap for a racing version?)

[sfhess]

Mach 1s had a flip open gas cap.  Other models had a twist-off gas cap.

[vamach1]

1 hour ago, Luc Janssens said:

Just picked up a copy at my local hobby shop.

Took a photo of the decal sheet as it probably differs from the North American edition.

Also what is part 57 on the chrome tree (gas cap for a racing version?)

The 71 Mustang Mach1 gas cap was a one year option only and is designed to fit with the honeycomb panel.  Any other Mustang that has one would have been added later.  It “pops” open by pushing on it.  While it might resemble a “racing” gas cap, it was undoubtably more expensive than the standard gas cap and thus was not available from the factory in 72-73.

[Luc Janssens]

What I also noticed is that the window trim is Jo-Han like, crisp clean lines, makes applying BMF that much easier.

[tim boyd]

21 minutes ago, Luc Janssens said:

What I also noticed is that the window trim is Jo-Han like, crisp clean lines, makes applying BMF that much easier.

That supercrisp molding is also present on the grille and the taillamps.  I too thought it was Jo-Han like in its execution.

Biggest difference in the decal sheet is that this one adds the front seat color inserts in two color choices (see top of sheet; really nice add!) and the European style license plates at the bottom.  

TB

[Chuck Kourouklis]

It's just so freakin' good I want two Bosses even in anticipation of the other versions coming, and the German boxing and decals are going some way to justifying that...

[Luc Janssens]

Had some time yesterday to dig into the kit some more...

Don't think I've ever seen a US kit with underhood fender bolts.

They did forget the parting line between the fender and rockerpnl tho, but a few strokes with a BMF scriber or needle file will fix that in under a minute, and yes as Tim and Chuck said the RH C-pillar needs some massaging near the 1/4 window.

Also a question;

What Tamiya TS spray cans come close to factory spec colors for this one?

Thanks!

Luc

Edited August 3, 2023 by Luc Janssens