Tail

Mirage 2000 D/N

D version Gun Port

F-14D Tomcat, Part 1 - Kit Review, Cockpit, and Fuselage

Top view

Sd.Kfz.167 Stug. IV ‘LAST PRODUCTION’

Machine Guns

LVT-4 Water Buffalo

Stand

USS Akron or Macon LTA Aircraft Carrier

Osprey Prop Rotors Up

MV-22B Osprey

Aft

Space Shuttle Discovery

Completed kit

Haunebu II

Closed fuselage

Ki-21-Ib "Sally" Japanese Heavy Bomber

Molding Error

Su-27C Flanker, Part 1

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Welcome to IPMS/USA Reviews

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.

Cover

Kagero Super Model International, No. 4
Book Author(s)
Various
Review Author
Tom Dunford
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$16.00

Super Model International No. 4 is the fourth installment in Kagero's series combining ‘how to’ information with a ‘showcase gallery’ of armor models in diorama settings. The publication is sub-titled: “Polish Steel, vol.2” and includes reviews of four armor models all featuring world-class builds from Polish modelers:

  • SdKfz-234/3, Hasegawa 1:72, by Adam Juszczak
  • M3 Lee, Mirage 1:72, by Radoslaw Rzeszotarski
  • KV-2, Trumpeter, 1:35, by Robert Chmiel
  • BT-7, Tamiya, 1:35, by Tomasz Kica

There are minimal ads, excellent photography with a useful layout making it easy to navigate the 4 main articles. Each build is presented in the Author’s style so the format is varied. The first article on the SdKfz-234/3 places all the text into the individual photo captions; whereas, the following three articles include all of the written information into a comprehensive ‘body of text’ in the more customary style.

Cover

Pacific Profiles Volume 19 - American Night Fighters Pacific Theatre 1943-45
Book Author(s)
Michael John Claringbould
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Avonmore Books
MSRP
$42.95

Michael John Claringbould hit another home run (the pun works with both baseball and cricket) with this latest addition to the Pacific Profile series. Night fighters grew out of necessity and are rarely noted, much less written about. This book fills that void in great and interesting detail.

From the Introduction,

Welcome to the diverse world of Pacific War night fighters. This volume focuses on their markings and insignia, mostly under-represented to date with the exception of the P-61 Black Widow series. In addition to the P-61, other types illustrated include the P-70 series Nighthawk, the P-38 Lightning, the B-25 Mitchell, the F4U-2 Corsair and the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura. Three other miscellaneous types associated with the night fighter program are illustrated in the final chapter.

SAC P-40 N/M Landing Gear

P-40 N/M Landing Gear for 1/48 Mauve, Eduard, Academy
Review Author
Chris Surber
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95

I guess the most important thing to keep in mind about this review item is that it is designed and fitted for the 20 plus year old 1/48 Mauve/Eduard kit and the similarly aged Academy P-40N/M. This aftermarket set is not intended for the new 2025 Eduard P-40 N and possibly forthcoming M.

Package

Landing Gear Set for the P-51D #1
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Kazan Model Dynamics
Scale
1:48
MSRP
$27.99

The Eduard P-51Ds are excellence in plastic. They are beautiful plastic kits, but the landing gear is a little fragile. Enter Kazan Model Dynamics, with their HybridCAST sets. What does HybridCAST mean? There is an aluminum rod surrounded by resin pieces. This gives you superior strength along with the superior details offered by resin.

Packaged in a top opening stiff card stock box with plenty of foam to protect the parts. The instructions are printed on a single-sided sheet. This particular set has 20 resin pieces, but what sets these apart is the inclusion of aluminum tubing INSIDE the strength critical parts such as the landing gear struts and the actuator rods.

Box Art

Black Hawk Crew
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1:48
MSRP
$20.00

Finding helicopter crew member figures, especially in 1/48th scale has been like finding hen's teeth. Thankfully, ICM has listened, and provided modelers with some great figures in this scale. Finally, we have a modern helicopter crew in 1/48. These are the most recent US Army helicopter pilots and crew.

Packaged in a really sturdy top opening cardboard box with the artwork on a sleeve that fits over it protects the entire contents from anything short of fire or a trash compactor. Inside you’ll find a single sprue of light grey plastic that contains 32 beautiful parts for THREE figures.

There are two pilots and a crew chief. The crew wear A2CU OCP flight suits with Aircrew Combat Equipment (ACE). There is a two-sided instruction sheet included that has the ICM paint numbers and full color of the subjects. A nice touch is the small box that explains the multicam camouflage colors and how they should look.