Interior

Batmobile: 1989 Movie

Completed 1

V-Twin Custom Wild Chopper

Raised surface detail.

Fiat Br. 20

Misc Image 7

Yak 9T WWII Soviet Fighter

Problems with the Exhaust

Focke-Wulf Ta-152C1/R14

Typ 320 German Staff Car decals

Typ 320 (W142) Soft Top, WWII German Staff Car

Flack fuselage

Airwolf

Left side

T-24 Medium Tank

Fw 190A Front view

48 Reichsverteidigung Profipack Dual Combo

Base assembly

REP 1912 Floats

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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.

Box Art

Type 63-1 (YW-531A) Armored Personnel Carrier (Early Production)
Review Author
John Lyons
Published on
May 9, 2011
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.95

Short History

The YW-531a was the first APC manufactured by Norinco for the PLA. It was designed in the early 1960’s and first appeared in 1964. It can carry a crew of 4 to 10 troops. The YW-531 was first used in the Vietnam War by the North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) and was in action again in the Iran-Iraq War.

APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), or mortars. They are not usually designed to take part in a direct-fire battle, but to carry troops to the battlefield safe from shrapnel and ambush. Amor on APCs is usually composed of simple steel or aluminum, sufficient for protection against small fire arms and most shell fragments. Just about any type of anti-tank weapon can defeat the armor of an APC. Some APCs also come with NBC protection, which would protect its crew from radioactive fallout or the like.

Kitset packaging

F-4 Exhaust Nozzles Late

Review Author
Greg Wise
Published on
May 9, 2011
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$34.95

Contents

Detail set of F-4 exhaust nozzles for the Hasegawa F-4E/F/G/J/S Phantoms powered by J79-GE-10/17.

  • 8 highly detailed resin parts
  • 1 Photo etch fret.
  • Instruction Sheet.

The Product

Packaged in the standard clear double blister pack you find secured by a small black foam block the delicate resin pieces, found intact and without flaws of any type. In the shallow upper blister section resting on a black back paper is the photo etch fret. The folded instruction sheet features well illustrated detailed instructions in color, on the reverse side also in color they feature other products offered by Brassin for the Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom phamily along with the standard contact and safety information.

Book jacket

The Concorde Story
Book Author(s)
Christopher Orlebar
Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
May 9, 2011
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$35.00

Let me begin this book review by giving a little background. When I saw that IPMS received this book from Osprey Publishing, I jumped at the chance to review it. The reason for my excitement to doing this review is that back in 1995 I was working part time as a courier, this entailed traveling all over the world delivering different packages that needed hand delivery and were time sensitive. One day I got a call at my office to go to Dublin, Ireland via Atlanta. That evening I flew to Atlanta to meet another courier and accept the shipment for Dublin. The other courier did not meet me on time to make my connecting flight to Dublin and the courier office told me to bring the package back to NY and that I would take the 9:00am British Airways Concorde flight the next day.

Box Art

F-16I Sufa, Part 2
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
March 4, 2022
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$169.95

This has been a long time coming and that fault lies with me. First, like a lot of modelers, I couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to add Aires 1/32nd scale wheel well to the kit and also the Wolfpack 1/32nd scale F-16I Exterior Set (Part 32031) which includes two corrected pylons and the front fairings. I elected to use the wheel well set as the kit part has lots of ejector pin marks and the Aires set has even more detail. I placed the part in and had to do a little spacing with strip but it fit well and looks great. The exterior set is much less necessary but does have some slight shape corrections to the pylons. I also elected to add intake and exhaust covers to the kit. There is nothing wrong with the intake trunk (it is fully complete) or the exhaust- I just liked the way it looked.

Kitset packaging

B-13L Soviet Rocket Launcher
Review Author
Charles Landrum
Published on
September 21, 2021
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.00

The B-13L rocket launcher was developed out of the Soviet experience in Afghanistan because the existing rocket systems lacked the punch to take-down stone houses, rock walls or cave openings. The ubiquitous 122mm rocket had the requisite explosive weight to do the job. So necessity being the mother of invention, the B-13L was developed to air launch to the 122mm rocket. The system was fielded in 1988, the final year of the conflict and it remains in the inventories of Russia and its current and former patron states.