Moebius Models 1/25 1972 Ford Sport Custom Pickup Kit First Look

By Ken Kitchen, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)

First Look

Unless you’ve been living as a hermit on some mountain top it would be nearly impossible for you to not know about the Moebius “Bumpside” Ford Pickup kits. Moebius partnered with Model King to produce multiple versions of the ’69 -’72 pickup filling a large hole in Ford pickup history.  Every message board that has anything to do with automotive subjects has been talking about these kits since word of this particular body style was first leaked several years ago. These kits have been discussed and cussed every which way, photos of early pre-production kits were picked apart, experts of every type weighed in pontificating about what was right and what was wrong with it. Now that the kits have been out for awhile and people have been building them there seems to be an almost universal agreement, these kits great and fill a much needed niche.

Here’s the text straight from the boxart: … the Sport Custom represented the top of the line in consumer styling and performance in a pickup truck. Moebius Model’s precision-tooled model kit of the 1972 Sport Custom features extraordinary detail and accuracy. The kit is highlighted by a fully detailed interior, accurate 302 CID V8 engine and detailed chassis.

As stated above Moebius has partnered with Model King to produce multiple versions of this iconic truck. So far there have been 69 and 70 shortbeds with the popular 300 straight 6 released under the Model King label. Moebius’ previous release of this kit was a 71 longbed with the 390 V8. Now they have released the short bed version as a 72 with a 302.

Moebius really knows how to reel you in the first thing to catch your eye the box art; I’m not sure if the art was copied from an old sales brochure or not but that’s what it puts me in mind of. When I opened the box I was struck with how full it was. I literally have not figured out how to put all the parts back in the box after taking the pictures for this review. The parts are placed in the box like a jigsaw puzzle. Moebius more than any other model company I’m aware of seems to go the extra mile when designing their packaging, carefully packaging all the parts in plastic bags protecting each part from shipping damage.

This kit is molded in light gray, red and clear styrene with five vinyl tires. There are 9 trees of gray, 1 of clear, 4 chrome and the taillights in clear red.

The body is nicely molded with good detail, however the engraving around the doors is fairly light so I’d suggest you scribe the door lines deeper before painting. What few mold seams there are, are light and easily taken care of. Once those details are taken care of the body seems to be fully polished and ready for paint.

Also of note is the instruction sheet. It follows Moebius’ usual approach of several pages of exploded views resembling engineering drawings with part name callouts. The final two pages of the instruction sheet include full color pictures of the painted engine, interior, chassis & body. This really helps when it comes to understanding how to paint the various subassemblies. It also includes a color chart showing the colors and names that were available.

The final item is the decal sheet. It contains the markings needed for the body and tailgate as well as the instrument panel. It also have whitewall decals for the tires and a selection of license plate decals.

All in all I’m really looking forward to the next release of this kit, whatever that may be. A 4 x 4 perhaps or a custom hauler of some sort, whatever it is I’m certain we’ll see this kit come out in several more versions.

Once again Moebius Models has produced an excellent model of an iconic automotive subject, and one I am looking forward to adding to my completed list.

Thanks go to Moebius Models for the review sample.