Photo 6

Star Trek – U.S.S. Enterprise – NCC-1701

Completed kit, forward-left

B-17G Flying Fortress "D-Day Doll" Limited Edition

Both Cockpits

MiG-25PU Foxbat-C

Hull detail

Nagmachon Early Heavy APC Israel Defense Forces

Rear doors

53 Foot Smooth Side Trailer with Reefer

Parts

Honest John Tactical Missile

Cockpit - 1

Fokker Dr1 Triplane

Blood on the sword

Roman Gladiator

Finished

Goods Shed

Fuselage test fit

A-20G Havoc Test Shot

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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

Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate Expert Set
Review Author
Kurt Hollenbach
Published on
Company
Arma Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$24.79

What is in the Box

  • 2 gray injection molded plastic sprues
  • 1 clear sprue
  • 1 photo etched brass fret
  • 1 set of pre-cut masks
  • 1 decal sheet with 6 markings options
  • 1 instruction book

Construction

Construction of this kit starts with the cockpit. The cockpit features a separate cockpit floor, rudder pedals, throttle, and two control sticks. The control sticks are inserted through the bottom of the cockpit floor. The seat is attached to a seat mount, which is then glued to the cockpit floor. Decals are provided for the instrument panel and for the photo etched brass seatbelts.

Cover

Boeing 707: Boeing’s First Jetliner
Book Author(s)
Ron Mak
Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
Company
Key Publishing Ltd
MSRP
$24.95

The Boeing 707 was the first widely used commercial jet. It brought the US into the “jet age” in the late 1950’s. The 707 remained in production until late 1978, by which time other more economical and larger designs were needed due to increased passenger amounts over longer routes. This book is a tribute to a wide range of 707 variants, and airline liveries.

The soft cover book is a rather compact size containing 180 pictures over 96 pages. Most pictures are a little muted and dark, but still show to good effect, the individual aircraft in its full paint scheme and colors.

As a child, I was fortunate to have flown on a number of the airlines in these pages and brought back memories of being able to visit the cockpit, helping to develop my love of aviation. I still have my BOAC Junior Jet Club wings and logbook given to me on a flight. I have a Boeing 707 trip logged in it, signed by the captain, as well as an entry flying on a VC-10. Exciting times!

Cover

British Escort Destroyers of the Second World War
Book Author(s)
Les Brown
Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$28.95

This is not really a full history of these ships. Rather it is a brief overview of their design and development. It starts with sections giving brief descriptions of the various classes, then moves into a section on all the products, kit and aftermarket, available to construct models of these ships. After that are twelve pages of some excellent models of the ships in varying scales. The next section deals with camouflage patterns and has four pages of line drawings of assorted patterns then three pages of photos. Then comes several pages on the different modifications made to the ships, listing each ship and what was done to it, and winding up with seven pages of line drawings of sample ships from each class.

Cover

Key Aero Avro 748

Book Author(s)
Barry Lloyd
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

This is the 3rd volume of the Key Aero Historic Commercial Airliner series on the Avro 748 British production airliner. The book covers the complete 30-year history of this groundbreaking aircraft which as a project started in January 1959. The aircraft was never glamorous but was a remarkably successful. The total production was 381 aircraft. These aircraft were operated in over 100 Countries by 80 operators.

I personally worked on the Queens Flight 748 VIP version interior monuments a few times in the 80’s. So, this book is a great addition to my library. All the photographs in this book to be great and cover nearly all the operaters and versions of the aircraft over the 30 years.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in Commercial Aircraft and for modelers. After reading this book I look forward to adding more of this series to my library.

Box Art

M119/L118 105mm Light Howitzer
Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Vargas Scale Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$84.50

Up here in Seattle we have a large IPMS club. Over the past two years or so, one of our members, Rick Taylor, has been busy building a large variety of very unusual resin, 3-D printed, limited-run armor models from a small company called Vargas Models. Owner Luis Vargas specializes in 1/35th (and more recently 1/72nd) scale models that, for the most part, cannot be found elsewhere. His prolific output, along with Rick’s building expertise, has created quite a stir up here in Seattle. Rick drove most of his Vargas builds out to the recent Omaha Nationals and had them on display at the vendor booth, eventually picking up several awards in the show. I was lucky enough to be provided with one of the latest kits myself for review; the L118/M119 105mm Light Towed Howitzer.