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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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Review Author
John Ratzenberger
Published on
July 5, 2011
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$23.50

I don't do dioramas -- it's the lack of the creative and artistic genes. But having seen other reviews of these MiniArt diorama kits, I had to see one for myself.

The very first thing I did is go to the MiniArt website and go through both the Assembly Guide and the Painting Guide. The Assembly Guide is excellent even if you are familiar with vac-form kits as there are some differences from, say, an aircraft vac-form, mostly due to the corners and molding practices. And the Painting Guide pretty much shows even the least artistic of us how to get good effects with paints, primarily oils. You can do the quick tour by just reading the captions and looking at the still pictures, or you can also watch videos accompanying most all steps.

Book Author(s)
Steven J. Zaloga, Illustrated by Ian Palmer
Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
July 5, 2011
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

Any student of the Pacific War will be familiar with Japan’s use of thousands of conventional aircraft – fighters, bombers, trainers and nearly every other type flown by her Army and Naval Air Forces – into “Special Attack” weapons: the Kamikazes. What is less understood is Japan’s development and use of purposely designed suicide weapons. Author Steven Zaloga is well known for his extensive writing on the subject of military fighting vehicles. In this Osprey New Vanguard edition, he as done a superb job of highlighting all the various types of air, sea and land weapons used by the Japanese Army and Navy “Tokko” (special attack) units.

Book Author(s)
David Fletcher
Review Author
Ben Guenther
Published on
July 5, 2011
Company
Zenith Press
MSRP
$28.00

When people discuss World War II armor certain tanks come to mind for the main combatants. For the United States it would be the Sherman tank, for the Soviet Union it would be the T-34 tank and for Germany the Tiger tank would come to symbolize that country’s armor might. The fame of the Tiger tank far exceeded the number produced or fielded. Certainly, for the average GI Joe the Tiger tank invoked a feeling of trepidation, so much that any German tank they met became the dreaded Tiger tank.

Zenith Press has produced a book that is a fine collection of articles written by experts of the Tank Museum at Bovington.

Covering the Tiger tank in general this book also covers in detail the restoration and return to operation of the Tiger tank “131” that resides at the Tank Museum. We have ten chapters of information to process so let’s begin.

Review Author
Robert Folden
Published on
July 4, 2011
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$41.95

“Die Erzählung des Schwarzen Ritters”, translated as The Story of the Black Knights, is a popular comic book series set in WWII. The series follows Oberleutnant Ernst von Bauer and his 8th Tank Company known as the Black Knights. The series begins in the fall of 1943 on the Eastern Front, and follows the unit through the end of the war as they change vehicles several times (the unit uses Panthers, Panzer IVs, StuG IIIs, and even Jadgpanzers). The Panther A enters the story early on, after the unit loses their Panzer IV’s in a battle with the Soviets. By luck, they find several Panther A’s and fight back, repelling the “Reds”.

Review Author
Robert Folden
Published on
July 4, 2011
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$21.00

Dragon’s 1/72 scale line of Armor Pro models has become the standard by which all 1/72 armor kits are gauged. Dragon’s detail in such a small scale, including photo-etched detail, is what makes modelers flock to the local hobby shops to get the latest in the Armor Pro series.

Dragon’s newest addition to this series is the Sd.Kfz 222 Leichte Panzerspahwagen. Dragon has released this little WWII German Armored scout car in a 1+1 pack, similar to their 1/72 Humvee series. The box contains two complete kits, photo-etched parts, decals, and a single instruction sheet with color paint guides. The molding is clean with crisp detail and Dragon has done their best to hide injector marks and sprue attachment points.