7

U.S. Combat Task Force Fleet

General parts breakdown

Railroad Water Crane

6

Russian Medium Tank T-34/85

Hardpoint Issue

P-51D Mustang "Aces of the Eighth" Dual Combo

Front Wheel Well

F-4B Phantom, Part 2

Tauro Smoke ring decals with kit decals applied to model

Macchi 202 Folgore

KI-100 painted model

Kawasaki Ki61-1 & Ki100-1 & Metal Figure Limited Edition

Detail

German U-XXIII Coastal Submarine

Finished 3

Douglas C-47 Skytrain

Underside

IAI KFIR C2/C7

Previous Next

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.

Package

Nakhon Phanom Air Base
Review Author
Bradley Moreland
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$95.00

I have built and reviewed one other ICM kit, the Kozak-001. The Kozak kit was very advanced for my skills and I did not do that kit justice, by any means. However, the challenge of putting that kit together, while it did not produce the results I was hoping for, it helped me improve on my model building skills and was my most satisfying build of a kit overall. It inspired me to give another ICM kit a try. This time I took on the Nakhon Phanom Airbase kit (DS4804). This kit is phenomenal! It has 2 complete aircraft models, armament, figures and ground cover kits all together in 1 box.

As the Kozak did, this kit has really challenged me. I have once again learned so much while working on this kit. The most important thing I have learned is patience. DO NOT RUSH this kit! Take your time and enjoy it!

Box Top

Zil-131 with Trailer
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$33.00

This is one of the newer offerings from the Ukraine based company ICM. The Zil-131 has been reboxed many times by ICM. The original tool, however, dates to the 1990s. Considering the age of the tooling, despite some very minor flash, the details are very crisp for a military truck and trailer at this scale. A note on the trailer, I cannot find any information on the trailer, so I do not know if this an older ICM mold or from another manufacturer. The kit comes in a sturdy ICM box. The sprues for the truck and the trailer are packaged in separate cellophane bags. There are two separate instruction sheets in ICM’s typical style with paint callouts in their own brand of acrylic paint. There are decals for two vehicles.

Packaging

DeHavilland Mosquito Landing Gear (1/72)
Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$18.94

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps a set of 1/72nd scale metal landing gear for the Airfix DH Mosquito B.XVI/PR.XVI kits. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

In the Package

The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. There are no instructions.

Review Process

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts F1, F36, and F37 for the under wing gear and G1 and G18 for the tail wheel. The kit’s remaining plastic parts are needed to complete the rest of the landing gear assembly.

The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending that may be needed, since there is some slight deformation when coming out of the molds. Also, seam lines will need to be cleaned up before painting, just like the plastic kit parts.

Book Cover

Colour and Scale 06 Henschel Hs 126
Book Author(s)
Illustrated by Robert Panek and Krzysztof Wołowski
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$10.00

The book is number 6 in a series of books covering aircraft. This book covers World War II German Luftwaffe Henschel Hs 126. This was a twin-seat Parasol wing reconnaissance and observation aircraft. It saw service from 1937 through to 1944. It first saw action in the Condor squadrons in the Spanish Civil War.

This book was informative and full of great profiles and 1/72 scale outline drawings. It was a little lacking at 16 pages and could have been done with a few more unusual schemes that would have been added to the book.

Thanks go to MMP Publications for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Box Art

Humvee M1097A2 Cargo Carrier
Review Author
Bradley Moreland
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1:35
MSRP
$55.00

This is my 3rd ICM kit to review. This kit was by far my fastest build out of the ICM kits I have done. This one took me about a week to complete. Quick build, but just as satisfying as the other kits I have done from ICM.

The Humvee has always been a personal favorite of mine and I have always wanted to do a Humvee build. Based on my previous experience with the other ICM products, I was looking forward to this build. As I have come to expect from ICM, this kit was very nicely detailed and very clean. Almost no flash to clean up at all. Had very few issues of parts not fitting correctly, and those few problem spots were easily fixed, either through clamping parts together until the glue was able to set, or very subtle manipulation of the parts to get them to connect correctly.