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)
Wayne Mutza
Review Author
Chuck Bush
Published on
September 12, 2011
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$19.95

Wayne Mutza has written his second book on American Fire Apparatus aimed at the scale modeler. This volume covers Aerial Equipment and, from Don Greer’s paintings on the front and back covers to the more than 300 color and black and white images inside, it is a feast for the eye.

The introduction explains that by the late 1800s the increase in multi-story buildings brought on the organization of the first Hook and Ladder Companies. They arrived at the blaze carrying multiple ladders and pike poles, or “hooks”, for pulling down walls and ceilings. American LaFrance purchased the patent for a wagon-mounted ladder raised by a worm gear and fitted with a tiller seat from Daniel D. Hayes of the San Francisco Fire Department. The Hayes Aerial went into production in 1881.

Review Author
Perry Downen
Published on
September 12, 2011
Company
Yellow-Wings Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.95

I would like to thank Yellow-Wings Decals for this review sample and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.

The U.S. military had some of the most colorful aircraft ever prior to WWII. There were bands of bright colors on the fuselage and chevrons on the upper wings to identify section leaders. The rudders had red, white, and blue stripes. Bright tail colors were added to identify squadrons or assigned carriers. The national insignia was a large blue roundel surrounding a white star with a red roundel in the center. Added to all this were the orange-yellow wings and horizontal stabilizers. The color schemes could not get more garish. But, they did. Enter the Boeing P-26.

Designed and built by Boeing in the early 1930s the P-26 was the first all-metal monoplane production fighter aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps, USAAC. However, it was a transitional design retaining the wire-braced wings, fixed landing gear and open cockpit of previous designs.

Review Author
Mike Hoekstra
Published on
September 12, 2011
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$29.00

This is my first experience with Model Art publications. This issue is dated August 2011 and titled Model Art “Auto Modeling” No. 827, Vol. 24. Its main focus is on the spectacular race cars of the ’70’s Formula 1 series. The first few pages are an index of topics and noted cars of 1973-78 in succession. The first noted car is the ’73 Tyrrell Ford from that year’s championship, driven by Jackie Stewart. The kit supplied and meticulously reviewed is a Tameo Kits 1/43 white metal kit. It’s not a common scale for autos, as most are 1/24, 1/25, 1/20, or 1/12. This is the first offering I’ve ever seen in this scale for autos that is a complete white metal cast kit. The next 40 pages cover the same format of various kit offerings from Tamiya, Studio 27, Hasegawa, and E.Jan conversion kits. Each includes detailed pictures of kit components and steps in assembly. Pages 43-50 cover specs on the vehicles, including blueprint-type drawings.

Review Author
Bill Hollis
Published on
September 11, 2011
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$39.00

One thing you can never say about Dragon kits is they don’t give you a whole bunch of plastic for your outlay of freshly printed samolians.

I’m sure the aftermarket folks will work their magic in resin and brass for this kit, but in reality, little of it is necessary to the builder who wants a neat, well detailed miniature of the prototype for his collection. It’s all right here in the box.

As we’ve said, if you like lots of plastic, there must be half a dead dinosaur in this box. Beaucoup interior parts including the requisite cockpit goodies are there along with nose cannon bay, multi-part wheel wells and two very nice “bonus” engines, which you do not have to use if the mood doesn’t strike you. There are no corresponding “open” cowling pieces to go along with them, so without modifying the closed covers it’s pretty much an all or nothing proposition if you want to mount one or both Daimlers exposed.

Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
July 4, 2020
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/160
MSRP
$29.95

For years I have wanted to replace the old Aurora kit of the Orion III that I lost years ago but the cost was too high and the old Airfix kit has several accuracy issues. But now my wait is over as Moebius has released their second kit from the movie 2001 and it is a beauty.

The new kit of the Orion III Space Clipper is very simple to build with only 12 white plastic parts and 5 clear parts (and that includes 2 pieces for the stand). The parts are well packaged with the tail parts extra protected for the tail prongs. Unfortunately, one of mine was bent but a little finger pressure put it back in line. The fit is pretty good though I still had a little trouble matching up the fuselage seams and there were gaps between the upper wings and fuselage. I used some styrene strip to fill the later.