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.

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Review Author
Pat Villarreal
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.00

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps a set of 1/48th scale metal landing gear for Clear Props F-86A Sabre. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.

In the Package

The metal pieces are packed in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. No instructions are provided.

However, my review sample did not come with the nose landing gear and came with an extra RHS strut, part H19 (a quality control slip).

The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts H19 & H15 (RHS & LHS struts) and the K2 oleo arms are molded with the strut. The nose strut, part K22, was missing from my sample review, but it too should have the oleo arms, part K27, molded with the strut. Also, the nose gear extension arm, part K9, is included.

Review Author
Chris Vandegrift
Published on
Company
Reskit
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$74.99

ResKit has obviously spent some time designing their packaging to make a visual impact both from the outside of the box and then when opening it. The parts are capped on top and bottom with foam and each resin print has a cage around it in addition to major pieces also being in small plastic baggies. I assume the baggies are to catch any parts that might inadvertently come off during shipping. All the parts are finely detailed, and the only place I could find layer lines was on the very ends of the cargo platform, and they barely showed up under primer. It took me roughly 2 hours to detach all the parts from the print supports. The main cargo bed was definitely tricky to detach. I worked from the outside, meaning the longest supports, to the inside one layer at a time. I was able to cut the lower base plate in between the layers of supports. By doing that I was able to pry the layer up and twist it off without any damage to the cargo bed.

Book Author(s)
Dick Taylor and Andy Brend
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$49.00

Real Weathering Volume 2 is a reference book with photos of military vehicles showing various conditions of wear and exposure to different environmental conditions. This volume features military armor and land vehicles. The book is the second in a series and is intended for military modelers who want to weather their scale models to better replicate actual vehicles.

The book is not an instruction manual that describes how to model the effects shown in the photos. The value in this book shows examples of vehicles that can be used by the modeler to replicate various effects on actual vehicles. The photos are large and many are zoomed in on particular details.

The only text in the book is in the Introduction and captions on some photos in the Introduction. The main chapters of the book are strictly photographs with no descriptions and are as follows:.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
Scale
N/A
MSRP
$26.58

It’s not a marker…it’s not a brush…it’s the Missing Link! The ultimate solution for adding weathering effects to your models.

AMMO by Mig is proud to announce its new Missing Link Sets: Aircraft, Trains and Tanks. Per their website:

The new brush tip watercolor marker set from AMMO by Mig Jimenez represents an evolution in modeling tools. Designed for precision, versatility, and ease of use. This set of 12 transparent colors has been carefully selected to reproduce realistic effects on military vehicle models. With Missing Link Brush Tip markers, you can apply everything from filters to weathering effects on your models.