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.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Airfix
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$175.00

This kit is the 2nd release of a 24th scale Mosquito by Airfix, the first being the Mosquito kit, A25001 released toward the end of 2009. Note that the box art for the two releases is not the same and the item numbers are slightly different. The original release is “25001” and this new release is “25001a”.

Opening the box, one will find 14 plastic bags containing 18 sprues loaded with 617 parts. Having some experience with the original release, a very cursory inspection leads me to conclude that the new release is the same, or very similar to the original release. I noticed the same pattern of ejector pin marks that appeared on the original release, and that is a bit of a disappointment. Many will not be visible when the model is complete, but those that are visible can prove to be time-consuming to eliminate.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$19.95

The Products

  • 672 077 - Eduard Brassin UTI MiG 15 Cockpit (Resin) - $19.95
  • CX 427 - Eduard UTI MiG 15 UTI Die-Cut Canopy mask - $9.95

Eduard Brassin Resin Cockpit Interior For MiG 15 UTI

This kit contains 13 resin-cast interior parts plus one small PE sheet for the Eduard MiG 15 UTI jet trainer kit. Included are a cockpit floor, two seat mounts, two ejector seats, one rear canopy part, one front instrument panel, two control sticks, two cockpit side panels, one clear plastic forward gunsight, and a PE sheet containing such things as seat belts, rudder pedals, and other very small details.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.00

Aerobonus has provided another addition to the great Diorama releases with this US WWII load cart. These were used to manually transport single bombs to the aircraft on Aircraft Carriers and also airfields.

The detail quality is great, there minimal flash or other imperfections. The parts once removed from the mold base are ready to assembly. The small parts are very delicate and you must take extreme care when removing from the mold base. I had a big problem with the four small grab handles which all broke and I had to replace them with wire ones I made.

The Assembly is quick and easy. The final part is painted yellow and looks great as an addition to any diorama.

Thanks go to Aires for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$119.95

Revell has re-released their vintage WWII Gato Class Submarine in enormous 1/72 scale – topping off at just over 52 inches in length! Surface detail of the deck and fittings is excellent, as well as their renderings of the 20mm, 40mm, and 4inch deck armament. Also included are three sets of pre-bent, steel wire steps as well as a variety of pre-drilled stanchions for stringing safety cabling.

Overshadowing everything, however, is simply the sheer size of the hull – an ambitious project for any modeler.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

The Vought F4U-5N Corsairs were delivered from the factory with four 20mm cannons with installed flash suppressors. Quickboost provides you with a set of Vought F4U-5N 20mm cannon fairings with flash suppressors. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the Hobby Boss provided plastic parts with the new Quickboost replacements. Although these cannon fairings with flash suppressors could be used on other F4U-5N kits with modification, Quickboost already has a set out for the Hasegawa F4U-5N kit (QB 48 680).

Quickboost has molded the cannon fairings with flash suppressors perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost exhausts have no mold seams to sand off along with a hollowed out barrel flash suppressors.