Welcome to IPMS/USA Reviews

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Book Author(s)
Author: The Spy Museum, Illustrators: Myriam Bell Design
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$19.95

The first paragraph in the Introduction sums up the book well,

Barry Faulkner was an artist from New Hampshire whose best-known paintings are two prominent murals in Washington, DC, in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives. Few people have any idea that Faulkner was also a co-founder of the American Camouflage Corps, an alliance of artists and architects in World War I who served as camouflage experts (referred to then as camoufleurs) with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France. Years later he remembered that, during the war, French soldiers said that camouflage was the only French word that American soldiers could pronounce correctly.

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$157.00

ICM has reboxed its B-26 line of Marauders and now offers a B-26C variant.

From the instruction’s history, the “B” variant was built in Middle River, MD (near Baltimore), and to expand production capacity during WWII, the “C” variant was built in Omaha, NE. Physically, they look virtually identical.

The other ICM B-26 variants (B, G, & F) have been reviewed by fellow IPMS-USA reviewers and can be viewed at these links:

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26b-marauder

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26b-marauder-0

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/b-26g-marauder

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$21.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS Reviewer Corps with a set of 1/48 scale metal landing gear for Hobby Boss’s MiG-35 Fulcrum-F. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided by SAC. The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts C8, A31, A29 (nose wheel), C28 (LHS MLG), and C27 (RHS MLG). Note that the oleo parts (D27 & D28) are molded into the main struts. The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending if needed. Seam lines will need to be cleaned up prior to painting, just like the plastic kit parts.

Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS Reviewer Corps with a set of 1/48 scale metal landing gear for Hobby Boss’s Su-17M4 Fitter-K, which will also fit on the Su-17UM3 Fitter-G. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing, and no instructions are provided. The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts C2, D12, D13, D32 (nose wheel), E20 & E2 (LHS MLG), and E21 & E1 (RHS MLG) for the Hobby Boss kits. The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending if needed. Seam lines will need to be cleaned up prior to painting, just like the plastic kit parts.

Review Author
Paul Dunham
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$25.00

In recent years ICM has been in the practice of producing figure kits as accessories to their model kit releases. This year ICM has released a set of figures to crew their new B-26 Marauder kits. This figure kit includes parts to build four figures: a pilot, a co-pilot, a bombardier, and a turret gunner. While a Marauder had a crew of six or seven, the other crewmen would be difficult to see in a finished model, so I understand why ICM includes only four figures.