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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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Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$77.99

ICM continues to floor me with the boldness of their release choices, and the Gloster Gladiator in the impressive 1/32nd scale range is certainly one of them that I never expected to see in my lifetime.

The Gloster Gladiator was one of the rare biplanes to see combat service in World War 2 and was the last operation biplane fighter in British service, seeing service in most theaters of action via a number of air forces. Despite its obsolescence it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat, even making a couple of aces into the bargain.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$10.00

OKB Grigorov has provided very nice and unusual submarine in this German Type 201. This was the first post war German submarine. They only built three type 201’s U-1, U-2 and U-3 and they first entered service in 1961. The had issues with the Amagnitic steel material which lead to cracks in the structure, so all were scrapped.

Included is:

  • Two Photo Etch Sheets
  • One resin submarine
  • Two small resin parts

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate parts that need careful removal from the resin bases.

There was no instruction sheet in the box I received to review, this was not a problem as it was a simple build although there was not much reference materials online due to this being a very short lived program.

The ssembly is quick and easy.

I would like to have seen some small decals.

The final part is painting.

Book Author(s)
Dennis Oliver
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$26.95

Information from the Publisher

The Tiger I tank, probably the most famous German armoured vehicle of the Second World War, might have been a war-winning, break-through weapon if it had been produced in sufficient numbers and if it had been introduced earlier on the Eastern Front, before the balance of strength had tipped towards the Soviet Union. At the Battle of Kursk there were not enough Tigers to make a decisive difference and thereafter the Tiger was forced to play a mainly defensive role as the Wehrmacht struggled to withstand the advances of the Red Army. And it is this period in the Tiger tank’s short history that Dennis Oliver concentrates on in this, his third book on the Tiger in the TankCraft series.

Review Author
Blaine Singleton
Published on
Company
Brengun
MSRP
$6.47

This is a review of an A-4 Skyhawk crew access ladder in 1/72 scale made of photo etch parts. Given the scale of the ladder, it is obvious that all parts are going to take some patience to remove from the PE sheet and apply to the ladder.

The package contains a photo etch sheet containing all the parts needed to construct the access ladder and a one-page instruction sheet.

Instructions

The instruction sheet clearly marks parts. The ladder construction has all the parts and their locations in an exploded view of assembly

Building the Ladder

I started out by laying the PE sheet on a strip of tape that I had rubbed on the back of my hand and removed a couple of times to reduce the stickiness of the tape. The parts are so small that I was afraid of the parts flying off into infinity when they were cut from the PE sheet.

Review Author
Blaine Singleton
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.00

Brengun is known as a supplier of high-quality detail parts for aircraft, as well as other subjects. Once assembled and painted the bomb provides a very nice addition to an aircraft model.

Package Contents

  • Eight resin bomb bodies
  • One sheet of photoetch
  • One instruction sheet

Instructions

The sheet contains one page showing how the parts are assembled on the bomb (fins, fuse arming fan and bomb rack attachments).

Construction

As you can imagine the parts for this bomb are very tiny. The fins once cut from the PE sheets mount with a butt joint on the aft end of the bomb. The fuse and bomb rack attachments are extremely small, so it is advised as you remove the parts from the PE sheet you cut them while the PE sheet laying on a piece of double backed tape.

All parts were attached with C/A.