Engine - opening of the floor is not wide enough for the wheel on the transmission

Fiat 806 Grand Prix, Part 2

Head with base coat

US Army Driver

Kit Wheels

Messerschmitt Me 262B-1/U-1 Night Fighter

Right front

Ju-88A/C Junkers

Right-rear

M-60 Patton

Damaged Track Links

Tiger I Ausf. H2 7.5cm Kwk 42

Underside View

P-3C Orion, Turboprop Anti-Submarine and Maritime Surveillance Aircraft

view of finished model

Sd.Kfz. 1381 Geschutzwagen 38 H fur s. JG.331

Overhead

PLA PTL-02 Wheeled Tank Destroyer

JS-2 View From Rear-Left

JS-2 Stalin Tank

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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

Hawker Hurricane Landing Gear (Fly)
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$16.95

Product provided by: Ross, CEO of SAC

The metal gear company strikes again! Thanks to Ross at SAC for sending us another of your expansive line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it to me.

This is becoming a theme; a SAC upgrade to the basic kit plastic! The set consists of 5 parts: Two main struts and side braces, two main strut drag braces, and a one-piece tail wheel fork.

The FLY models Hurricane is a magnificent bit of modeling fun. It is limited issue, short run-design, with resin, plastic that (for the most part) fits with precision (no alignment pins), only needing a bit of practiced hand to construct. I had a few areas requiring putty, but really must rave about one part: the main gear wheel well. This is a fantastic bit of resin, and once prepared and painted, makes a great foundation for the SAC main gear.

Book cover

Spitfire Aces of the Channel Front 1941-1943
Book Author(s)
Andrew Thomas
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$23.00

Osprey Publishing just released the latest installment in the Aircraft of the Aces series: “Spitfire Aces of the Channel Front 1941-1943”.

Typical of the Aircraft of the Aces series, this book is profusely illustrated with period (B&W) pictures, both of the airplanes and their pilots, plus 36 selected color profiles. The book also has many first hand narratives describing individual combats while keeping them in the overall context of the strategic situation.

The book is split into 5 main chapters, as follows

  • Defense to Offence
  • Leaning into Europe
  • Greatest Air Battles
  • The Endless Offensive
  • Preparing for Invasion

The first chapter is very brief and describes the general strategy of “Rhubarbs”, “Rodeos”, “Circuses” and the organization of “Wings” which would typically have a strength of 3 to 4 squadrons

Box Top

Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8/R11 (Overtrees)
Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.95

The fourth kit in Eduard’s FW 190A-8 series is the Fw 190A-8/R11 nightfighter variant. In an effort to fight the RAF’s night bombing campaign, the Luftwaffe searched for ways to increase the number and effectiveness of it nightfighter forces. The long term solution was the development of dedicated nightfighters such as the He 219 Uhu, but as new aircraft development was a slow process even wartime, it was forced to look for short term solutions as well. One solution was the FW 190A-8/R11 where four FuG 218 antennas were installed on the wings of the Fw 190A-8 along with flame dampeners along the fuselage sides and blast deflectors for the guns.

Box Top

Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8/R2 (Overtrees)
Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.95

The third kit in Eduard’s FW 190A-8 series is the Fw 190A-8/R2 “Sturmbock” variant. As the American daylight bombing raids became larger and more frequent the Luftwaffe searched for ways to increase the effectiveness of their daytime fighters in bringing down the B-24s and B-17s without drastically increasing their vulnerability to American escort fighters. Focke Wulf’s solution was to add additional armor to key areas of the Fw 190 and to up-gun it. The result was the Fw 190A-8/R2 which had extra armor around the engine, the ammunition boxes in the wings and along the sides of the cockpit. In addition the side panels of the windscreen were beefed up with extra panels of glass and large side panels of toughened glass were installed on the outside of the main canopy. The R2 also had the outer 20mm cannons in the wings replaced with 30mm cannons – giving the Sturmbock a hefty punch.

Product packaging

F-16C Block 50 – 50 Years of YGBSM
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.00

Two Bobs has released a decal sheet covering an anniversary scheme for the “Wild Weasel” squadrons, currently flying F-16s. The markings include a very prominent weasel carrying a lightning bolt in the rudder.

The instruction sheet (printed in full color) includes color call-outs in: FS standard, Testors, Humbrol, Gunze and Xtracrylics. This makes finding the right paint color a breeze.

The decal sheet is printed by Microscale and it looks thin, glossy and it is in perfect register. Likely the color density will be excellent too. As a “bonus” stencils are provided for AIM-9X, AIM-120, AGM-88, plus ALQ-184 ECM and AN/AAQ-33 targeting pods

A word of caution which hopefully will minimize confusion: the instruction sheet lists a 1/48th Tamiya for this decal set. That is a typo. The size of the decals is clearly for a 1/32nd scale model.

Highly recommended. You will have an astonishing looking Wild Weasel F-16C.