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Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$37.00

Many, many thanks to Danielle Rogers of Revell and to the IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps for allowing me to share my experiences in building a new kit release. It is an honor and privilege!

Review Author
Andy Renshaw
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$34.95

The coconut palm is ubiquitous across the tropic and subtropical areas of the globe. Basically, any coastal region or areas with ready access to water, direct sunlight, and high yearly temperatures are fertile places for the coconut palm. In most of recorded military history, many of the world’s conflicts have been fought in this same tropic and subtropical zone. Thus, where the soldiers went, so were the palms. Representing these palms in scale for dioramas has always been a challenge for modelers, and a wide variety of solutions have come about. Doing photo-etched palms is nothing new. However, the application of color to make them pre-painted makes this set quite novel. Eduard’s new set provides some palm leaves (fronds) if the modeler wishes to go the photo-etch route.

Review Author
Timothy Funnell
Published on
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$45.99

Let me start this out as saying this is my first IPMS review and I hope you find it informative and interesting. The IT-1 was a Soviet Cold War missile tank based on the chassis of a T-62. Instead of a main gun, the tank fires specially designed 3M7 Drakon missiles from a pop-up launcher atop the turret. The vehicle saw very limited usage from 1968-1970. The tank became unpopular with the military due to the limited amount of ammunition and a large dead zone around the vehicle which was created by the missiles minimum range. Eventually the IT-1s were converted to recovery vehicles.

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 replacement propeller set addresses the incorrectly shaped kit parts that come with the new Revell PV-1 Ventura. The Revell kit is otherwise excellent, but appears to have incorrect propellers. The replacement parts are molded in tan resin requiring little cleanup and prep, and arrived in a small plastic bag with a sheet of instructions.

The detail on the replacement parts is more finely done than the kit parts and the blades have the correct paddle shape I observed in USN photos of the PV-1. The blades are very thin and sharp on the trailing edges. This sharpness is an accurate feature, but requires careful prep. The resulting parts look great, but my clumsy sanding broke one of the blades. CA easily fixed the part and my patience.