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.

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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.

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Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$7.00

For those of you that have never heard of Aerobonus, they are a line produced by Aires that includes various RBF tags, munitions carriers, and some select weapons. The product for review today is a set of six resin seeker head covers in 1/32 scale for any of the AIM-9L/M/N variants. In this case, the RBF tags are printed on yellow vinyl and are marked in white letters in Hebrew specifically for the Israeli Defense Force.

Review Author
Keenan Chittester
Published on
Company
Dutch Decal
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.30

Dutch Decal has released this decal sheet in 1/48 scale to coincide with their excellent book on the Grumman Tracker used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. The sheet also gives modelers a chance to do something a little different with their Kinetic S-2 kit. There is also an option provided on the sheet for a single Airspeed Oxford, which the Royal Netherlands Navy used in 1947. Special Hobby has recently released a kit of the Oxford in 1/48, so now I suppose I will have to buy one of those.

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Lone Star Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$5.00

Thank you, Lone Star Models, for providing a very timely improvement to an excellent recent kit release. Thank you IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps for once again allowing me to evaluate a cool new product!

This product replaces the Revell PV-1 exhaust pipes. The Revell PV-1 kit exhaust pipes seem a little thick-walled and awkward looking. The Lone Star exhausts are a direct replacement of Revell kit parts 40 and 41. The Lone Star parts come in a plastic bag with an instruction sheet and are cast in tan resin on pour plugs. The exhausts require a little bit of fitting to the kit engine nacelles. I found this fitting to be not too difficult. The interior of the exhaust was thinned just a little with a quick file pass. The resulting appearance on the kit is excellent!

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Lone Star Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.00

Thank you, Lone Star Models, for providing a very timely improvement to an excellent recent kit release. Thank you IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps for once again allowing me to evaluate a cool new product!

This product replaces the Revell PV-1 main mount tires and wheels. The product is cast in tan resin, with no mold parting seam lines to be removed. This eliminated the need to rescribe the tread patterns, a common task when gluing together injection molded- wheel halves. The pour plug is in a great place, with minimal sanding required. The pour plug flat spot is eliminated by placing it on the ground contact point! The diamond tire tread detail is much more visible and realistic looking than the kit parts, as is the wheel and hub detailing. The axle holes needed to be deepened a bit to sit correctly on the mounts, but that was a very quick and minor fix.

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Lone Star Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$10.00

Thank you, Lone Star Models, for providing a very timely improvement to an excellent recent kit release. Thank you, IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps, for once again allowing me to evaluate a cool new product!

If you wish to build the Revell PV-1 with a closed bomb bay, this conversion part is well worth the time and money. The part is cast in tan resin with minor flash and a couple of insignificant casting marks. It is a single part replacing the accordion folding bomb bay doors included with the kit. The kit doors are excellent, if you choose to build the model with the bay open. However, if you attempt to glue the kit parts in the closed position, you may discover some interesting fit issues. Using the Lone Star closed bomb bay part reduces the fit problems significantly. The part does require some trimming and fitting. It is critical to omit the bomb bay bulkhead (part 126). Otherwise, the closed bay piece will not come close to fitting.