Post image for Kit Review – Revell 1/25 Mustang Shelby GT 350 H 1/24

Kit Review – Revell 1/25 Mustang Shelby GT 350 H 1/24

January 12, 2013

I’ve written a review on Revell’s 1965 Mustang Fastback 2+2 kit a while ago. As I’ve got this kit as a Christmas present from my sister (thanks!), I though about making a kit comparison, just to let you know what are the differences and maybe you can pick the kit you like the most.

To start with, both kits have the same moulding quality, which is quite good in both cases – nothing to complaint about, just some sanding here and there, as usual. The main differences are basically that one car is a Shelby and the 2+2 Fastback is just a basic street model.

The first thing I’ve noticed is that you get a some different chrome parts with each kit. On the left, you can see the chrome parts from the Shelby kit. You get the correct Shelby grille, plus the competition oil pan with a cooler, the Cobra valve covers and a different set of rims. The Shelby dashboard features five round instruments, instead the linear speedometer with the two round instruments from the 2+2 Fastback. All the Shelby specials are there.

The decals are also different. Not only you get the rally stripes with the Shelby kit (as expected). You also get decals for the instruments, plus the decal for the air filter and some license plates. Too bad the 2+2 Fastback doesn’t have these kind of “goodies”. You also get a Cobra logo with the Shelby kit. The golden stripes look terrific!

The tires are kind of the same in both kits, just with minor differences. On the left, you can see the Shelby tires. They are a little wider than the 2+2 Fastback tires. Other than that, neither have any kind of tire brand on them – sometimes it is better that way. I mean, in some cases, the lettering is just too thick and looks unrealistic. Decals for the tire brand make a good impression, but those are not included in any of the two kits.

I also had a look at the instructions. I liked the 2+2 Fastback instructions more than the Shelby’s. The ones from the Shelby, by Revell Germany, don’t have any written hints on them but just references you have to look up. I personally prefer the instructions with all the hints written directly on them.

As for the other differences, the Shelby comes with the a typical body details, such as the hood air scoop, the side air scoops behind the doors and the glass windows for the back seats.

I guess most of you know about the GT 350 H. It was specially made for Hertz, the car rental company – promoting them as “Rent-a-Racer”. Once their rental life cycle was over, they were returned to Ford to be refurbished and sold to the public. Some of them were painted white with blue stripes, but the majority were black with gold stripes. Ford produced about 800 of these.

George Shaeffer January 20, 2013 at 5:17 pm

One of the differences is that the Shelby GT-350H is a 1966 model, not a 1965. Also, Ford did not build the Shelby Mustangs – they supplied a basic chassis with certain options and a lot deleted to Shelby American in California. Shelby then stripped them further and and started rebuilding them as the GT-350. There are significant differences between the two, many of which are not visually apparent. They had the same instrument panel as the stock Mustang GT, except that they also had a “pod” inserted into the center space on top of the Mustang that contained some more instruments. Shelby basically sold the 1965 GT-350’s just to get enough built to get it certified as a production car for racing. The customers basically received street-legal race cars. Because of their successesduring the 1965 racing season, Ford applied some pressure on Shelby for 1966 and some options, including color choices other than white, plus a few appearance amenities (like the windows in place of the louvres behind the doors) appeared. Many more 1966’s than 1965’s were produced, including the Special balck and gold ones made for Hertz.

Iggy January 25, 2013 at 3:20 pm

Thanks for adding those facts!

Iggy

Marty January 25, 2013 at 3:34 pm

Once again a great article, with good material and reference photos. Love the kit comparisons… can never get enough of someone’s constructive opinions. Keep up the good work.
I mentioned that I’m working on a graveyard (dedicated to the MacabreMobile)… and fibre optics. I have pics and a small writeup. How would you like it presented?

Marty

Iggy January 25, 2013 at 3:34 pm

Thanks Marty!

Iggy

robbie June 13, 2013 at 3:21 am

i have this model, but i want to build it in red, with white rally stripes, would anyone be willing to trade me those for the hertz decals?

Anthony August 4, 2013 at 3:18 am

I enjoyed this article. A kit very similar to this was the first one I did when I got back into making model cars. I love Mustangs. I have a dream of either doing the 1/12 kit, or getting the photetch kit and building another one.
Has anyone used the photoetch kit? I am wondering how it would turn out.
Thanks for your help or advice.

Seb September 26, 2013 at 2:42 pm

Hi Anthony, thanks for the feedback. I didn’t use the photoetch kit, can’t help you with that, sorry.

Previous post:

Next post: