Revell 1/25 1970 Boss 429 Mustang Kit First Look

By Ken Kitchen

First Look

The 70 Boss 429 Mustang kit was first issued in 1982 as a stock only kit. It was reissued again in 1986 as a 2n1 street/stock kit and again in 1991 as the Boss 429. Now it’s 2005 and the latest version is out and it is the best one yet. Good looking new custom rims, all previous options, molded in white and can be built stock. It's a bit simplified, consistent with other Monogram muscle car releases of that time frame. The only major issue I have with it is the old style interior bucket and simplified chassis. Separate door panels would have been nice, but that’s a minor nit. It's a great kit of a great Muscle car.

Engine: The 15-18 piece 429 C.I. Boss V-8 engine is molded extremely well. It has an excellent level of detail typical of Monograms early 80’s releases. It can be built as the stock 429 or as a street machine with dual quads on a tunnel ram intake manifold.

Chassis: Part of the floor pan is molded with the chassis. The rest is molded as part of the interior bucket. There is no separate front suspension, it is molded as part of the chassis. The only separate parts are the front shocks. The rear suspension is separate but it is one piece. Four rear axle lifts are included for the street machine version. Two sets of rear shocks are included depending on whether you want the stock ride height or the lifted version. The exhaust system is a one piece dual exhaust which will require minor clean up of mold lines.

Wheels and Tires: Two sets of tires, and three wheel choices are included. Large diameter wheels with low profile tires are an excellent addition to this kit and they are very well done.

Interior: A bucket-style interior, with 2 piece front bucket seats, the rear seat and console are molded as part of the interior bucket. Separate arm rests are a nice touch. The dash is a well done one piece unit with a separate steering wheel.

Body: In a word “Beautiful”. No mold lines! No sink marks. Well done engraving overall.

Decals: Consist of 3 sets of license plates, engine compartment decals, two different Boss 429 decal sets and 2 stylized mustang graphics complete the sheet.

Comments: Cleanly molded, attractively packaged with excellent photos of the model on the box top and end flaps. The instruction sheet is well laid out with each part label by name and with painting suggestions. If you are interested in super detailing, Tim Boyd did a 2 part series in the Dec 1999 and Jan 2000 SAE on the 429 version of this kit. Also, a great info source is a book from Dr. John Craft called "Boss & Cobra Jet Mustangs." It covers the 1969 and 1970 Boss 429s pretty well, and gives a fantastic bit of history about the car and why it was produced. It was published in 1996 by Motorbooks International, and I think it's still available. There is also excellent information available in the December 1990 issue of Collectible Automobile Magazine.

The Last Word: One of the best of the first round of muscle car kits, showed the world Monogram was for real. It’s and excellent kit, well worth the price of admission. My sincere thanks to Revell for supplying this review sample!