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.

Package

Churchill Mk. VII
Review Author
James Binder
Published on
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$70.00

The Churchill Mk. VII is AFV Club’s 14th entry in the line of Churchill tanks. Pretty much every variant you can think of has been produced by them. This kit is a dichotomy of both over engineering at times and at other times extreme simplicity.

The Build

Building this Mk.VII begins with a highly detailed engine and engine compartment, so if you want to have all the engine access hatches open you have something great to look at. That being said there is no other interior parts for the entire kit. I chose to keep the engine out and all hatches closed. Moving on body sides, forward gun mounts, and upper panels are added to the build. AFV Club has made this kit very modular due to the large number of variants for this tank. I did not find too many extra pieces but always double check as AFV Club doesn’t always pack everything into the box correctly.

QuickBoost Tornado Antenna

Tornado GR.1 Antennas
Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$4.95

The PANAVIA Tornado was the RAF’s standard attack bomber from the early eighties until just a few years ago, serving across the World and in combat and proving itself to be one of the finest of Cold War military aircraft. Many kits have been issued of the type, including three 1/32 kits. The initial Revell kit was released in 1985 and was very basic for a kit of its size. This was replaced by an all-new and far better detailed tooling in 1996, one that has been re-released at least 8 times since, including a Revell-Monogram boxing in the US. This has been supplemented since 2020 by a new-tool kit of the GR.4 from Italeri.

The Tornado GR.1 was a sophisticated aircraft and as such was festooned by a large variety of antennas and aerials for its multitude of electronic gizmos. The ones in the kit are rather thick and not always correctly shaped. This new set from Quickboost by Aires solves these issues.

Product

Acrylic Paints Set for Humvee US Military Cars
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
N/A
MSRP
$12.99

ICM continues to be prolific despite the ongoing Russian initiated war in Ukraine. While most subjects released by ICM are welcome, fans of modern soft skin US vehicles are having to make do with older kits. ICM recently released a 1/35 M1097A2 HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, commonly called the Humvee in all its guises). Acrylic Paints Set for Humvee US Military Cars is the paint set specially released to accompany/compliment this excellent new kit.

Acrylic Paints Set for Humvee US Military Cars consists of five 12ml paint bottles and one 17ml bottle for the primer (the primer bottle is slightly larger), that are surprisingly not dropper top, but rather are wide-mouthed. The colors include:

MoH AAF Aviator of WW2

Medal of Honor, Volume 5: AAF Aviators of WW2, Part 1
Book Author(s)
Alan Durkota
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Aeronaut Books
MSRP
$49.99

Author Alan Durkota succinctly explains this book in his Introduction:

The Army Air Force has 36 aviation-related Medal of Honor recipients in World War Two. One mission to attack oil refineries located at Ploesti, Romania, resulted in five Medals of Honor being awarded. making it the most highly decorated mission of the war. Two of the five will be presented in this volume.

James Doolittle’s raid on 18, April,1942 (sic), shocked the Japanese military and at the same time filled Americans with hope. History would show this mission caused the Japanese military to prioritize their effort to eliminate the American carriers which escaped the attack at Pearl Harbor, thereby setting into motion a series of events, including the Battle of Midway.

Reamer

Micro Pyramid – Shanked Reamer RM (2.5mm)
Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
Company
UMM-USA
MSRP
$5.16

While attending the IPMS Nationals in Madison, WI, in July, I was looking for a few specific tools and came across the UMM-USA (Unique Master Models) tables. They had several tools I had been looking for. UMM-USA is an on-line Store, importing and exporting kits, specialized modeling tools and supplies and consulting services (see web site).

UMM-USA had also provided a few product samples to the IPMS Reviewer Corp for review, so I was able to pick up this small hole reamer they produce and a biplane jig/stand kit they retail for review (see the review titled: Biplane - Wooden Jig Stand & Transport)