Left wing and tail

Avro Vulcan B.2

Operating Allison Engine

Allison Prop Jet 501-D13 Engine

Nose bottom

U-2A Dragon Lady

Figure Back

U.S.A.F. Fighter Pilot, Pressure Suit, 1960-1975

Cab

Magirus-Deutz 360M19 Canvas Truck

Wiring detail

Gatchman II New God Phoenix plus LED kit

Cockpit tub closeup

F-4J Rockin Rhino

Wheel Wells Rear

Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB, Part 2

Fuselage top

F-35 B Lightning II

Nose Conr/Exhausts

Chinese J-11B

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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.

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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.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Front cover

Model Art No. 936, March 2016

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$9.81

Model Art Issue 936 is typical of other Model Art magazines in that it is written entirely in Japanese, with occasional English words, usually in article titles or in captions. The Model Art magazine is a monthly issue that has evolved from their first issues in 1966 that focuses on all modeling subjects. I’ve attempted to capture the contents below, but please be aware of translation difficulties. There are about 40 pages of advertising, out of the 160 pages, showing what is available and new, always useful for building up that wish list. Nearly all the articles are supported with color photos. A few of the ongoing series are supported with black and white drawings and photos

Product packaging

Matra R-530 Missile
Review Author
Clarence Wentzel
Published on
Company
PJ Production
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$4.32

Background

The Matra R-530 is a medium range air-to-air missile. This two stage rocket propelled missile entered production in 1962. Frequently, interceptor aircraft utilize this missile for longer range along with the Matra R-550 Magic 2 short range air-to-air missile. The missile is available with Infrared Homing or with Semi-Active Radar Homing. In some cases, a missile of both types is carried. This weapon is used by at least sixteen countries, most utilizing French sourced aircraft.

Product Picture

F-104 Resin Wing Pylons
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.95

Hasegawa’s 1/48th scale F-104 kit has been around for a while and it is a very nice kit making the grade at many shows all over the world. One thing missing from the standard kit is any underwing pylons. Granted, there are a lot of pictures of F-104’s with any pylons attached but they were able to carry one under each wing and also a centerline pylon also. Eduard gives that option in spades with this newest release- a complete set of pylons for the entire airframe.

Inside the package, you’ll find 25 beautiful resin cast parts, a photoetch fret with 25 detail parts for the pylons and also a full set of decals. This is a very comprehensive set for $14.95.

Let’s take a little more detailed look at what the pylons are and what they are used for:

Product Picture

HMS X-craft Submarine Photoetch Set
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$19.95

Merit quietly issued a 1/35 X-craft submarine and once I got my hands on it, I was impressed with both the molding and size of the kit. Still, there was some room for add-ons and improvements and Eduard has issued a photoetch sheet to help address some of the issues.

Eduard’s sheet is composed of a single sheet with 30 superb parts. The sheet addresses the hatches on the top of the ship by replacing 6 individual parts and adding detail and texture. A little removal of the hinges and these go on smoothly. There are slight folds on four of the parts but this is easy to accomplish with a new #11 blade.

Next, the kit propeller is undersized and Eduard uses the kit hub but has you wrap three individual blades around a dowel and add them to the hub. This takes a little patience but the result is a larger and more accurate prop.

Product packaging

Modern Cockpit Dataplate and Warning Decals
Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.95

Applications

Airscale, as usual is a leader in making cockpit enhancing products and this is a new product to their line. Finally the modern cockpit has been addressed with these decals allowing a modeler to get just the right look of warning markings and dataplates. Trying to paint the cross hatch lines of two colors is extremely difficult and these decals make it easy to do so. There are also tri-color (black/white/yellow) markings in the selection. In addition to the striped markings, dataplates for the sidewalls and for ejection seats are also provided. There is a little surprise and a real bonus in this set, a legend giving the name of each placard and warning type.