Revell

1/24 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C

Kit Number 2828

Reviewed By Walt Fink, #2447

Carroll Shelby was a top-notch race car driver whose racing career was cut short by a heart problem.  His entrepreneurial spirit, however, has become legend in Motorsports, both as designer and builder of some fantastic cars.  I surely wouldn't wish a heart problem on anyone, but in Shelby's case, if his hadn't happened, the Cobra might not have been born.

According to a story I read, Carroll Shelby brilliantly played both ends against the middle with an idea for a world-class sports car.  Having neither engines nor cars, he approached the British firm which produced the small two-seat AC all-aluminum-body "Ace" with the notion that he had a few Ford 260 V-8 engines that just needed bodies to go into.  He also approached Ford with the idea for a Corvette-beater and said he had several AC bodies and just needed the engines to power them.  Lee Iacocca reportedly tossed Shelby out of his office saying, "Get him out of here before he hurts himself".

In the end, however, Shelby garnered both cars and engines, and the resultant marriage of the two produced a car whose performance astounded even Shelby.  It was blindingly fast, but (in the best tradition of Tim Allen's "More Power!  Arr!  Arr!" routine) Shelby figured he could do even more with additional horsepower, so the 260 V-8 was removed and replaced by the high-performance 289.  Later, the monster Ford 427 V-8 was substituted, which enabled the Cobra to go like the proverbial Bat Out Of Hades---zero to sixty in less than four seconds.  Its performance was sufficient that it won the SCCA Production A road racing class four years in a row: 1965 - 1968, and again in 1973.

The Revell kit of the Cobra 427 is a re-issue (the stamping on the upper surface of the gas tank saying "1988" is the giveaway here) with new decals for the 1965 and 1973 winners.  Let's see how it's held up over the years.

The kit's molded in white, with a chrome sprue, a clear sprue, and a small clear red sprue for the taillights.  The engine builds up well with no problems, and the chassis/suspension is likewise fairly straightforward.

Part 5 (the front crossmember) has two tiny locating holes for the steering unit (Part 8) to fit into, and care needs to be taken to make sure it's installed with those holes facing forward.  It'd be easy to get it reversed, as the part is symmetrical.

The interior tub features a nicely-done instrument panel, but I used the optional decal instrument faces, secured with Future Floor Wax to simulate the glass over the dial faces.  The entire interior is basic black, so I put in some Detail Master seat belts just to give a little color and interest to it.

The radiator and oil cooler assembly gave me some problems.  The attachment surfaces of the radiator to the front of the chassis are minimal and the instructions don't clearly show at what angle this unit is supposed to be attached.  Further, the radiator hose (Part 16) just wouldn't fit in place and still clear the front crossmember and steering unit.

The kit's chrome pieces are a mixed bag.  Like most car kits, the smaller pieces generally feature a prominent mold line, and some parts' attachment points need touching up after their removal from the sprue, with usually mildly disappointing results since silver paint doesn't quite match the surrounding chrome plating.  Most parts are well-done, but the roll bar, headlight bezels, and side mirror needed touch-up to the point that I resorted to stripping their chrome plating off, sanding off the mold lines, and "re-plating" them with ALCLAD II Chrome lacquer.  They don't quite match the kit's chrome parts but they're close.

The side pipes are each two-piece assemblies which just plain didn't fit together well, so I stripped these chrome parts, filled the seams, and used the ALCLAD II treatment on them too.  The Halibrand wheels are really nicely molded with separate knock-offs; they're a really tight fit into the tires (as are the inner wheels) so some fiddling with them was needed.

One chrome rear jack point was missing from my kit, but a quick e-mail to Revell's website was promptly rewarded with a replacement one in short order; good service and very much appreciated.

I opted for the "alternate windshield configuration" for my Cobra instead of the low-profile racing windscreen; the sun visors are molded to the clear windshield, necessitating a little masking and painting, and I found the left side of the windshield frame didn't fit the car body very precisely.  I used Sobo brand white glue to attach it to the car.

I painted my Cobra with Testors "Sapphire" enamel, which approximated the "Guardsman Blue" of Hal Keck's #11 car from his 1965 winning season. The Cartograf decals are excellent; the dual white racing stripes needed just a little coaxing to get them into place except where they followed the curve of the trunk.  They just wouldn't conform here so I had to make a couple of judicious slices in them with the trusty X-Acto.  Also, the opening for the license plate mounting bracket needs to be cut out of the decal before application.  The hood scoop has its own decal, and after all was dry, a little touch-up with white paint was needed on the front of the scoop and where it mounted to the hood. The decals are nice and opaque and look great on the model.

This is actually a pretty simple kit---painting the chassis and interior is easy as it's all black; the body shell and hood fit together well, and only minor glitches were discovered during the build-up.  The chassis is true and all four wheels sit on the ground equally.  It makes a handsome model of a mighty good-looking car, and I spent maybe 25 hours on it, total---"real" car modelers will be able to complete it in much less time.

Highly recommended to modelers of most any age and experience.

Thanks to Revell and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this kit.

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