For thirty years, the Ford Bronco was the top 2-door SUV available in America. It offered good off-road mobility and high engine power as well as more seating than traditional light trucks. Many models featured popular removable tops and hosts of equipment options. Overall, the mark was far from a record breaker in terms of sales, but it was popular with its market and advanced the technology of the SUV.
1966-1977
The original Bronco was an ORV (Off-Road Vehicle), intended to compete primarily with Jeep CJ models and the International Harvester Scout. The Bronco’s small size riding on a 92-inch (2,337 mm) wheelbase made it maneuverable for some uses, but impractical as a tow vehicle.
The Bronco was Ford’s first compact SUV. The idea behind the Bronco began with Ford product manager Donald N. Frey, who also conceived the Ford Mustang. The initial engine was the Ford 170 cu in (2.8 L) straight-6, modified with solid valve lifters, a 6-US-quart (6 l) oil pan, heavy-duty fuel pump, oil-bath air cleaner, and a carburetor with a float bowl compensated against tilting.
Styling was subordinated to simplicity and economy, so all glass was flat, bumpers were straight C-sections, the frame was a simple box-section ladder, and the basic left and right door skins were identical except for mounting holes.
- Highly detailed pieces molded in white and clear
- Chrome plated parts and soft black tires
- Detailed 289 cu. in. engine
- Swing-a-way spare tire
- Removeable hardtop
- Waterslide decals
- Illustrated instructions (See the instructions in PDF here)
- Scale: 1/25
- Kit Number: Revell 85-4320
- Length: 6-3/8″ (161.95mm)
- Width: 2-3/4″ (69.85mm)
- Height: 2-13/16″ (71.43mm)
- Skill level: 5
- Parts: 137
- MSRP: $24.99
- Street Price: $19.99 (approx)
A few weeks ago one of our authors (Pedro Negrón) posted an entry on the website about the new 1/25 Revell Ford Bronco. I saw the box art on his post and could help to daydream about my younger years. My neighbor rest in peace had one these Ford Broncos as well as an old 60’s Chevy Suburban brush painted in enamel flat khaki color.  When the brown truck showed up at the studio with a production sample of the new Revell Bronco, I paused to take a peak at the box.
Inside the box you will find a small body shell cleanly molded in white. Slightly shallow you will get 5 ejection pin marks. They aren’t really there but they are present thus worthy of mentioning them. I did not take the time to fill and sand. They are invisible with the to on display. You will also get a chrome plated sprue. Personally I did not find the plating robbing the parts of much visible detail so I decided to use the chrome parts as they came instead of removing the plating and repainting. As with the real thing, the interior and dashboard is a very simple and straightforward.
The remaining parts are molded in white and the sprues being a new tooling are 100% clean of flash or heavy mold lines. The injection gates are quite small even for a Revell new tooling (IMHO) leaving the parts with little stress cut marks using a modestly used XURON cutter. All theclear parts are also nicely injected. Very clear without flow marks. The included vinyl tires have a very nice and clean thread pattern.
As you can see on the provided link above, the Revell Ford Bronco model kit is comprised of 137 parts and you can call it done after 28 easy steps. I did not find fit problems around the model to write home about them. So in my humble opinion this model has been beautifully engineered to give the modeler a great building pleasure free of hacks and headaches. A word of caution though: do no not commit the radiator and fan cover to cement until you do a dry test on the hood. It did happened to me and the fan cover wouldn’t let the hood fit evenly around the engine bay. The decal sheet provided with the kit is of great quality. The side white lines are a one pieace deal so take your time.
I would have no problem recommending the new Revell 1/25 Ford Bronco to our readers. I wonder how this kit would look with the tires and wheels from the ’80 Dodge Ramcharger kit 85-4372. Huummm???
Highly Recommended!
My sincere thanks to Revell USA for the review sample.
