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Introduction: The primary organization of the IPMS/USA Review website is by IPMS/USA National Contest Class. Within each Class there are sub-menus by kits, decals, books, etc. The Miscellaneous Class is for items that are not class specific or that cross two or more classes.

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Manufacturers, publishers, and other industry members: IPMS/USA is pleased to offer your company the opportunity for product reviews. All product reviews are performed by IPMS/USA members, and are posted in the publicly-accessible section of our website. With very few exceptions, we perform full build reviews of new kit releases, aftermarket products, and supplies. If you would care to provide product samples for review, please contact John Noack, IPMS/USA 1st VP.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Be Izzi
MSRP
$27.95

UMM-USA has provided the reviewer core with a riveting tool for 1/32nd and 1/35th scale models.

This is a single row rivet pounce wheel with a rivet pitch (distance between rivets) of 1.10 mm. Its main target use is for larger models of 1/32nd or 1/35th scale. The handle is made from a 3-D printer and the filament is colored white and black. An olive-green dot is colored into the handle and correlates to the size on the sheet packaging for 1.10 mm rivet pitch.

I used this tool on a plastic sheet and then darkened it with a weathering wash to bring out the divot locations. I also placed a steel ruler as reference to see the pitch distance between divots.

Conclusion

This is a neat tool to have which will add more detail to your builds by adding fastener/rivet detail to the surface of your larger scaled kit(s).

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Atlantis Model Company
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$32.00

Atlantis Models has provided the IPMS/USA reviewer corps with Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen’s “AA” Fuel Dragster (front engine mount) in 1/24th scale. Per Scalemates.com, original mold for this kit is from 1971 by Monogram/Mattel. This review is for the 2024 boxing.

In the Box

The kit is enclosed in a top open box with a painted illustration. The main color is blue with white accent in the middle of the body. There is one white sprue of parts, right and left side body halves, one chrome plated sprue, and one vinyl sprue with tires. Decals are on a single sheet.

Instructions are well illustrated and have ten assembly steps along with a decal placement guide in Step 6.

Book Author(s)
Technical Illustrator: Marek Rys
Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$19.95

This is a soft bound book of 26 pages on the Messerschmidt ME 163, Komet. Included is a sheet of decals in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale of the 163 as seen on the front cover. The cover is printed on heavy glossy stock and shows a Messerschmidt ME 163, Werk # 10061 in both top and side view. The book contains little text except for short descriptions of each of the 27 black and white photos that make up the front section of the book. The photos appear to have been taken at an unnamed museum in Europe. There isn’t an author of the book listed. However, the author of the technical drawing that makes up the final section of the book is listed as Marek Rys.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Agora Models
Scale
1/2
MSRP
$1,500.00

Agora Models is out of England, and they specialize in large-scale, highly detailed and illuminated/automated models of all genres. This goes from figures such as Alien and Optimus Prime to ships like the Constitution and Bismarck to vehicles such as Aston Martin DB 5 and Lotus Esprit to military vehicles such as a Leopard tank and aircraft like the Japanese Zero. All are large scale from 1/2 for some figures to 1/200 for the ships. The kits are made of everything from die cast zinc to wood to plastic. Due to their size and complexity, they are expensive, but Agora has softened that by selling them as very reasonable monthly subscriptions. And when you are done, you have a showstopper.