Consisting of 136 parts (so I'm told, I haven't actually counted them yet), are primarily injection modled styrene, There are some soft vinyl parts, a one-piece solid astronaut figure, and some metal parts for the retro-pack restraining straps. The waterslide decals are produced by Space Model Systems and allow you to mark any of the production manned capsules. Even the thermal strips for the retrorocket pack are included. 

The main body of the capsule is one piece. It allows you to build the square windowed capsules used on all but Alan Shephard's first sub-orbital flight. The instruction sheet gives you instructions on building the first round-portaled version of the capsule. The differences are shown in the photos below.
  Window Version                                Porthole Version

The actual instructions for the kit are fine for a generic Mercury capsule. The disadvantage is that every single capsule was configured differently, and some of the differences were substantial depending on the mission. So, if you want some specific information on a certain capsule and mission, some decent reference material is in order. Unfortunately, no such references are cited in the instructions. I'll list the ones I have that I've found useful.

Real Space Models (www.realspacemodels.com) has a 1/12 scale set of plans and drawings for the Mercury capsule. While I don't have the plans as of this writing (on order after Christmas), the other plans I have gotten from then are outstanding, and this set was made up in anticipation of this model. I don't have this set yet, but have them on order and am looking forward to receiving them.
 

Space in Miniature #5 is the best modelers' guide to Mercury. Written in 1999, it gives some historical information, views of markings for each mission, some mission-specific equipment information, and most importantly for me, diagrams of the instrument panel differences for the different missions. The kit instructions give very little idea of how the instruments on the panel should be laid out. This alone makes the book a lifesaver. When you go to the Real Space site, go to the links page, and there is a link to Space in Miniature. You can check on availability, price and ordering info there. I got my copy from Real Space at a Nationals.

Apogee Books is a space-related publisher that has two books on the Mercury Project. The first is Freedom 7. It focuses on Alan Shepard's 1961 sub-orbital flight in Mercury-Redstone 3. Included is a multimedia CD-ROM that's worth the $16.95 I paid Barnes and Noble for the book. The illustrations, diagrams, color photos, transcripts, and description of the Mercury astronaut selection process is simply incredible. The ISBN number for this book is 1-896522-0-7.

The second Apogee book is Friendship 7. John Glenn's 1962 orbital flight, the first by America, is very well documented. Again the number of illustrations and photos, and transcript of capsule-ground communications, and technical information is incredible, as is the included CD-ROM. One warning though- one of the color photos identifying Glenn's capsule actually shows a porthole capsule from a sub-orbital mission. It helps to have several sources to check against. The ISBN number is 1896522-60-2, and I recommend all three books highly. This book I also got from Barnes and Noble, and it is available from almost every book dealer.

Space modeling's boon was in the 1960's with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and even Vostock models by Revell, Airfix and Monogram. The 1980's was big with Space Shuttle models, and recently some newer kits of the International Space Station, Mir, and several international launch vehicles. Kits and detail sets by Real Space of the U.S. and New Ware from the Czech Republic have been the leading of a space modeling renaissance. Hopefully the Atomic City/MRC Mercury capsule kit means space modeling will get as mainstream as I remember it was in the good old days.

The opinions expressed in these reviews are solely those of the author, a space cowboy from longer back than I care to remember.