Welcome to the IPMS/USA Reviews site!

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.

IPMS/USA Members: We encourage you to submit reviews, both here and to the Journal. To volunteer for membership in the IPMS/USA "Reviewers Corps" and submit your own reviews, please read the Guidelines For Submitting Product Reviews.

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.

Book Author(s)
Matthew Willis
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
October 20, 2020
Company
Tempest Books
MSRP
$19.99

Historical Background

Nearly every historical modeler and historian is thoroughly familiar with the British Spitfire fighter, which probably did more to help the Royal Air Force achieve victory over the Luftwaffe than any other aircraft. However, less publicized is the role of the Spitfire as a naval, carrier-based fighter, replacing older types including the Gloster Gladiator biplane, Fairey Fulmar two seat fighter, and Sea Hurricane, which were in Royal Navy service at the beginning of the war.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
January 4, 2021
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$46.00

ICM continues to crank out some lovely combo kits these days, especially around World War 1 subjects. This kit, which includes both their previously released Type B Cargo Truck, as well as US drivers, is an example of this.

The Standard Type B Liberty Truck was the first standardized vehicle ever produced by the U.S. armed forces and was essentially an attempt to reduce the enormous inventory parts problems then associated with logistical support as well as come up with something that had all the best features of trucks of the time. It was produced by some fifteen firms to rigid specifications and served overseas starting around fall of 1918, so they were in service for little over a month before the end of the war. A large number of these were sold off to private companies and some served with postwar armies around Europe. All told almost 10,000 were produced – a prodigious number of one vehicle for those times.

Book Author(s)
Reiner Decher
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
October 23, 2020
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$45.00

History

This book covers the development of aircraft powerplants as they relate to the airline industry, going back to the beginnings of air transportation in the twenties. The author is especially well qualified to write in this area because (1) his father was an engineer who worked on jet engine development in Germany during World War II, and later France and the United States, and (2) the author grew up with this background, and competed a Doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering at MIT, after which he worked for AVCO-Everett Research Laboratory and the Boeing Corporation, later pursuing a career teaching and doing research at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
December 25, 2020
Company
ICM
MSRP
$44.00

ICM has certainly put its Ford Model T molds to good use, making no less than four different variants of this ubiquitous little vehicle previously, all variants which served with distinction in World War One. Now a fifth variant has been added – a little-known armored version used by the Royal Naval Air Service along the Russian Front. Really more of a weapons carrier than an armored car, only nine of these were ever made. I rather suspect that it was seriously underpowered for the additional weight of the armor, which would have made this a strictly hard-surface weapon of war.

Like the vehicle itself, the kit is a relatively simple build. It also comes with a separate sprue containing the parts for their newly released Vickers Machine Gun, which is a fine little kit in and of itself. There are three moderately-sized sprues with lots of parts you won’t need, a clear sprue for the lamps, a small decal sheet, and that’s about it for complexity.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
October 14, 2020
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$10.80

As an avid figure modeler, I was given the opportunity to examine this new paint set by Ammo, which replicates the rather fiddly camouflage pattern often seen on modern Russian infantry. As an avowed enamel/oil paint aficionado, I thought it would be interesting to examine this acrylic set from my own jaundiced perspective.

To try out these paints, I elected to use a rather crude figure from my collection, the argument being it’s easy to make a good figure look good, but somewhat more challenging to get the same results from a poor figure. The uniform is not exactly right, but I was more interested in giving these paints a good test than in creating something to add to my collection.

To give the overlay paints some “tooth” I airbrushed a coat of light grey lacquer primer onto the figure first. This primer coat was allowed to dry for several days.