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.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$59.95

Although not as glamorous or well-known as some of its contemporaries during World War II, the Bell P-39 Airacobra was an innovative and effective weapon system -- when employed to take advantage of its strengths while minimizing vulnerability to its shortcomings. Originally commissioned in the mid-1930’s as a high-altitude interceptor, the Airacobra’s lack of a supercharger limited its effective operational altitude to 17,000 feet. By 1941, adversary aircraft – fighters and bombers – had effective operational ceilings considerably higher than the P-39. As a result, the Airacobra found it’s niche in ground strafing and close air support roles, namely in service with the Soviet Air Force, but did also see some success with U.S. and other Allied air forces in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters of operation.

Book Author(s)
Braxton R Eisel and James A Schreiner
Review Author
William Seaman
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$50.00

If you’re a military aviation geek like me, you can’t get enough of books like this. It chronicles the exploits of the authors as they deployed, fought, and returned home from Desert Shield / Desert Storm.

  • Chapter 1 covers the history of the Wild Weasel program, including the origin of the now infamous “YGBSM” unofficial motto. They also get into the specific threats faced and the basics of how they can bring down enemy aircraft.
  • Chapters 2, 3, and 4, detail the career paths of the authors and their training to become Wild Weasels.
  • In chapters 5-16 every imaginable detail of the their exploits during Desert Shield / Desert Storm are chronicled.

Occasionally, it does tend to get very technical but there’s an excellent appendix that spells out the more complex Iraqi systems. The color plates are excellently done and the B & W are very well placed in the context of the mission descriptions.

Review Author
Jim Stratton
Published on
Company
Monogram
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$22.95

This is a re-release of a real “Golden Oldie” show car. The original kit was released in 1970. As the box top art states, this is a Tom Daniels design. Tom Daniels designed 87 model cars for Monogram between 1967 and 1976. As I stated in the review of “Rommel’s Rod” most of his kits could be built in an evening or two.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$230.00

First comment

Thanks to Stevens once again for providing yet another superlative Trumpeter kit for IPMS to review. The best we can do for appreciation is to buy kits they offer; and this one is worth every dime! I’ll go on record as saying this was the best Trumpeter kit I’ve built.

On the porch

“Hey, that’s a big box”. It’s also a heavy box. Postman is rolling around on the lawn in pain kind of heavy. I go out and do a clean-and-jerk lift…. And it’s off to the workbench!

Review Author
Jeff Faucett
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$159.95

Editors note: The reviewer has included Cyber-Hobby Models Photo-etched Railing Upgrade Set for “Scharnhorst” Kit Number CHC-3880 ($19.95) with this review.

The Dragon 1/350 scale model of the German Battleship Scharnhorst is one impressive kit, not only in the size of the model itself but the enormous number of parts. The large box was stuffed full with 28 individually bag sprues, 5 photo-etched frets, an upper hull, a lower hull, a plastic base, a decal sheet, and an instruction sheet. If that was not enough, there wis also a supplemental photo-etched set of railings and other miscellaneous items provided by Dragon that was used as part of this build.