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.

Review Author
Chad Richmond
Published on
February 8, 2011
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.50

The casting of these elevators and stabilizers is as good as the original plastic parts in the kit. The stabilizers have a pocket trailing edge that accepts the rounded leading edge of the elevators perfectly and the fit is better than I could ever do if I had taken the kit parts and cut them apart. The resin is a cream color, but their web site shows some cast in gray, so I guess it depends upon the batch and what kind of resin they were using that day.

I looked through all of my Skyraider references, couldn’t find that many pictures of A-1s with the elevators displaced, except for those taking off or landing. But, if you want your Hasegawa A-1 to have displaced elevators, you really need these. They are a direct replacement for the kit parts.

My thanks to Aires for the review samples and to IPMS/USA these review samples.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
February 8, 2011
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Czech manufacturer Eduard keeps expanding its Brassin line of aftermarket details this time with the release of the ejection seat for the KP Su-7 in 1/48th scale. A while back Eduard re-boxed the KP kit adding some aftermarket goodies, including this seat.

The seat is now available as a stand-alone upgrade for those that already have the KP kit in their collection. In my opinion, the seat is the weakest point of the whole (original) plastic cockpit and Eduard is offering us the solution.

Eduard provides you with 2 exquisitely molded resin pieces and a pre-colored photo-etch fret for seatbelts and other minor placards and color details.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
February 8, 2011
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$7.00

This is the third item from Master Model that I have had the privilege of reviewing, and once again, I have had a very positive experience with some remarkable items. The subject of this review comes from the Sea Master line of parts, in particular their 1/700 scale offering of 28cm/54.5 (about 11 inches) SKC/34 gun barrels as carried by the German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. I volunteered for this particular review as I already had a Tamiya Water Line Series Scharnhorst (kit 77518) lying in wait in my stash, ready to accept these new parts.

Review Author
Les Walden
Published on
February 8, 2011
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$59.95

Basically, this is a catalog of the Tamiya Paint line in a soft bound, in a ninety-six page format. The book is in Japanese; however there are English captions under the paint chips. The book is divided into sections of colors for cars, metallic’s, clear coats, primary colors and AFV’s/aircraft/ships by nationality.

Also included are photo instructions of masking techniques for those modelers who don’t have an airbrush but rely on hand brushing and spray cans. They are broken down into aircraft, armor and ships. As an added plus there are pictures of their fine line of tools, tape, weathering kits.

This book would be very welcome to any modeler who uses Tamiya paint. It’s a handy reference to have on hand before going down to the local hobby shop or ordering mail order because you know what color you will want and its number.

Review Author
Clarence Wentzel
Published on
February 7, 2011
Company
Pavla Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$30.95

Background

The P-43 Lancer was developed in 1938 by Seversky Aircraft Corp. as a successor to their P-35. The new model was larger overall and featured the Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine with an exhaust driven supercharger. While the airplane possessed good altitude performance, it was apparent that it would not be able to compete with the aircraft then in operation in Europe. Small numbers were produced for the Army Air Corps and some others for export to the Chinese Air Force and the RAAF. In service, the airplane suffered from leakage from the integral wing fuel tanks and combined with the lower fuselage supercharger this caused a number of fires. The airplane was replaced by the larger, more powerful P-47 Thunderbolt.