The cockpit “folds” up into a solid little box, with easy detail painting access before assembly. The top of the wheel well juts up into the cockpit floor.

Gloster Meteor MK 4

12

Volvo S40 BTCC 1997 Brands Hatch Winner

M1082 Tire 2

M1082 LMTVT

11

Tom McEwen's Mongoose Rear Engine Dragster

Finished Kit

US Army Field Kitchen

Underside

Kawanishi N1K2-J SHINDENKAI (George) '301st Fighter Squadron'

Contents 2

1992 Mazda Miata

Finished model - from right rear

Boulton Paul Defiant MK. 1

Nose Weight

MQ-1C UAV

Completed model

E-2C Hawkeye 2000, USS Ronald Reagan

Previous Next

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.

Box Art

LAV-25 Piranha

Review Author
Phillip Cavender
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$27.99

This kit by Italeri is a new release for 2016. The LAV-25 was developed in the 1980’s in response to the LAV program which was started during the late 1970’s. After several companies submitted their plans, General Motors of Canada was selected as the manufacturer for the Army and the Marine Corp. Later the Army withdrew their plans due to funding issues. The Marine Corp continued and eventually six variants of the LAV-25 were procured. This kit represents one of those variants: The LAV-25 with the 25mm M242 Bushmaster Automatic cannon. The LAV-25 I will be constructing represents the vehicle named “Croaker” from Charlie Company, 2nd LAI Battalion during Operation Desert Storm as seen in D'Angina, James, and Henry Morshead. LAV-25: The Marine Corps' Light Armored Vehicle. Botley, Oxford: Osprey, 2011. Print. Decals are provided for this version in the kit.

Front Cover

Model Art 946, August 2016
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$29.99

Model Art Modeling Magazine is an excellent monthly from Japan providing an abundance of modeling subjects in each issue. It doesn’t matter what your modeling focus is, each issue will provide something of interest for you, and more than likely, you’ll find something interesting that you didn’t know you would.

The magazine is published in Japanese, but even if you can’t read Japanese, the photography is really fantastic and the old saying “a picture says a 1,000 words” is very true. Each issue includes enough “work in progress” photos for even a layman to be able to follow along. The photos of the builds highlight many of the tools, materials, and techniques used by the master builders for each model built. Although, I’m sure something is lost in translation, the photos go a long way in explaining the builds visually. Honestly, sometimes I find myself spending as much time looking at the many advertisements as much as I do on the work in progress photos.

Package

P-38 Lightning Early Armament
Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.50

Master Model has released three new gun barrel sets for the P-38 Lightning, one of my favorite aircraft. This one is listed as the early version with 4 x .50 cal. Brownings, with drilled cooling jackets & early and late 20mm cannon tips. These are mostly seen on early versions of the plane but the instructions have photos of some later birds sporting the drilled cooling jackets, so check your references.

The detail is beautiful with drilled out jackets and barrel ends. The early 20mm also has some additional detail.

Construction depends on which kit you are using. Many have separate barrels so these are just simple replacements. Other kits (like the Hobby Boss) will need to have the original barrels cut off and holes drilled for the barrels. Either way the detail on these is much better than any of the kit guns.

Package Contents

Meteor F.8 Landing Gear
Review Author
James Corley
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$18.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white-metal replacement parts, now including the 1/48 Airfix Meteor F.8.

The set includes 10 parts with the following breakdown:

  • Nose gear main strut
  • Nose gear retraction strut
  • Nose gear wheel housing halves (2)
  • Main gear struts & wheel housing halves (2)
  • Main wheel housing halves (2)
  • Main gear retraction struts (2)

These parts are drop-in replacements; the white metal parts actually are

the equivalent to several plastic parts, and interchangeable as they fit the plastic parts almost perfectly.

Box Art

Fw 190A-8/ R2
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.95

I don’t think the Focke Wulf 190 needs much introduction, so I’ll keep it short. When introduced in 1941, much to the surprise of the RAF, the fighter design was found to have excellent maneuverability, while being rugged and well-armed. The design went thru a number of changes, with the FW-190A-8 version becoming the most produced model. The FW-190A8/R2 was noted for its increased firepower, with 20mm cannons being replaced with 30mm ones, and increased survivability due to additional armor in and around the cockpit.