Decals

Bristol Beaufort Mk. I, Bombing Raid, (Part 2)

On base with oil drum for scale

FT-17 French Light Tank

Green shirt back

USN Deck Crew "Vietnam"

Cockpit and Engine Assemblies Installed

Blue Max Pfalz

Box contents

Sd.Kfz.167 Stug. IV ‘LAST PRODUCTION’

Right rear

Spitfire Mk. VI

Jeep, Trailer, and Gun

Douglas Dakota Mk III and Willys Jeep

Finished aircraft

Gloster Gladiator Mk. 1 with British Pilots in Tropical Uniform

Dragon and HP Models comparison

German Z-39 Destroyer

Truck assembly

JASDF Patriot PAC-3 Launching Station

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.

Package

Lancaster B.I/B.III Air Intakes
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

Thanks to Aires/Quickboost for providing more of their prolific output for us to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it my way.

These are ridiculously simple additions to the basic Airfix BI/III merlin engine kit; they are drop in replacements for the kit air scoops, and as such have hollowed-out intakes in place of the kit items, which have the injection point where the hollow intake should be.

This is a great place to put the injection point, as it makes it blemish –free on the sides of the intakes…. If Airfix had over-engineered the intakes to have the injection points on the sides, along with two halves for the scoops, it would about be a nightmare to assemble correctly, and would have resulted in wailing and gnashing of teeth…

Quickboost once again saves us AMS modelers from ourselves… remove from the pour stubs, and glue in place.

A worthwhile purchase, highly recommended… Thanks to Aires/Quickboost for these items!

Package contents

Rotol Propeller for Spitfire Mk 1
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.50

Thanks to Aires/Quickboost for providing more of their excellent aftermarket parts for IPMS USA to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it my way.

The new Airfix Mark 1 1/48 Spitfire is, by all accounts, an excellent kit. Detail is on par with 1/32 kits… and will make a show-stopper if built to the max.

One area which can, however, be improved on,is the Rotol Propeller. The kit items are slightly heavy; a resin replacement is definitely in order!

The Quickboost item addresses two areas; the thickness of the propeller blades themselves, and the spinner itself. The kit item has a baseplate, to which a propeller assembly is attached (it is keyed, so you can’t really mess it up), after which you install the spinner itself.

Package

Lancaster B.II Gun Barrels (Round Perforation)
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

Thanks to Aires/Quickboost for providing more of their prolific output for us to review, and to IPMS leadership for sending it my way.

Once more, a quick review for a quick upgrade; Quickboost have provided 12 miniscule Resin gun barrels with round cooling vents for use with the Airfix Lancaster B II. This is the Hercules radial-engined Lancaster release, but the gun barrels will work on this kit and their recent other Lancaster B I and III Merlin engine released kits as well. As noted in my other review of the .303 barrels with oval holes, these should work on just about any aircraft requiring .303 gun barrels.

The muzzles are hollow, and the simulation of the round perforations is well done. In my case, Painting them black, then using the side of a #2 pencil then (GENTLY) polishing with a soft cloth was able to bring out the detail.

Product packaging

Lancaster B.II Gun Barrels (Oval Perforation)
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$5.00

Once more, a quick review for a quick upgrade; Quickboost has provided 12 miniscule Resin gun barrels with oval cooling vents for use with the Airfix Lancaster B II. This is the Hercules radial-engined Lancaster release, but the gun barrels will work on this kit and their recent other Lancaster B I and III Merlin engine released kits as well. As noted in my other review of the .303 barrels with round holes, these should work on just about any aircraft requiring .303 gun barrels. As a note, the oval perforation gun barrels are slightly shorter than the round perforation barrels.

The muzzles are hollow, and the simulation of the oval perforations is well done. In my case, painting them black then using the side of a #2 pencil and (GENTLY) polishing with a soft cloth, I was able to bring out the detail.

Box Art

Tiger I Early Production
Review Author
John Shimek
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$93.95

This Tiger I kit by DML is the command version used by Tiger I ace Michael Whitman and is an early production vehicle. This kit has distinctive early production characteristics including smoke dischargers, cylindrical cupola, pistol port, and are accurately reproduced. Included in the box is a molded complete crew set as though posing for a propaganda photo. There is a small fret of photo etch parts included which most noticeably is the engine deck screens.