Chassis front wheel

Scania R730 Streamline

12

Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate

Wings & Weapons

Battlestar Galactica Viper Mark II (2 Pack)

Rear Turret

Lancaster B Mk.III Dambuster – Part 3 of 3

Complete Rear Underside 1

CF-188A '20 Years of Service RCAF'

Finished Model - Left Rear

Beechcraft Bonanza F33

Finished hull

British Holland Class Submarine

Misc Image 8

WWII Wehrmacht Infantry Set

completed model

U.S. Motor Grader - Part 1

Right front quarter

E-2C Hawkeye 2000 VAW-115 Liberty Bells “Sayonara Atsugi”

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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.

Packaging

D9R Doobi Big Ed Set - Part I
Review Author
Matt Quiroz
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$69.95

First off, the MENG D9R kit is a beast, but it’s a beautiful piece of modeling goodness once you get going. The Big Ed photoetch (PE) set that Eduard has designed for this kit is an exceptional addition. There are some rather tedious steps involved if you plan to use the entire set of PE, but it isn’t out of reach if you’re patient and pay attention to what you’re doing. The set consists of three separate smaller sets: 36265 Exterior, 36268 Interior (color), and 36270 Cooling Slats. In part one of this review, I will focus on the cooling slats and interior. I’ll follow this up with the exterior set in part two.

PE Fret 1

A-6A Interior Photoetch (2 Frets)
Review Author
J.R. Sharp
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$39.99

This review is an expansion on my previously published review on the Eduard A-6A Intruder SA Interior kit posted (here).

The 32813 version of this PE set adds a second fret of plain brass cockpit features in addition to the same fret as the 33134. Unlike the 33134 set, the additional fret is not painted or self-adhesive and features canopy frames, mirrors, rudder pedals and some of the details that lie behind the seats on the bulkheads. As with any Eduard sets, the work is top notch.

If you are looking to add PE to you’re A-6A build, look into this set further as it contains more parts for a marginal increase in price.

As always, thanks to Eduard and IPMS USA for the opportunity to review this sample.

33134 Fret

A-6A Interior S. A. Photoetch
Review Author
J.R. Sharp
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$29.99

Having never built anything but “out of the box”, I was intrigued when I saw the availability for PE cockpit details for the Trumpeter A-6A. Having had the kit for a year, I stalled out very badly due to some poor build decisions on top of questionable engineering. I thought that getting these sets would potentially light my fire, so to speak.

The stock A-6 cockpit as provided by the kit, is no slouch. It was fairly well detailed. Unfortunately for me, I had it completely assembled by the time I picked up the PE sets. This greatly increased the difficulty as there was no easy way to remove the detail on the existing. As nasty of a job as it was, it came through okay in my opinion.

Box Art

Space: 1999 Alpha Moonbase
Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/2000
MSRP
$39.95

British sci-fi has always intrigued me and in 1975 Gerry Anderson released a TV series which we youngsters just had to watch, Space: 1999. We didn’t care about the improbability that the Moon could be blown out of Earth’s orbit and hurtled across the Galaxy finding a new planet each week and somehow not collide with anything. All we cared about were the cools ships, neat, futuristic sets and the characters and if you were in your mid teens like I was, especially the female characters.

MPC acquired the rights to the show and released several kits including the Alpha Moonbase. This was really 2 kits in one. Mounted on a 12 x 18 inch vacuformed base you had a smaller version of the moonbase (missing 2 of the Eagle pads) with the travel tubes molded into the base itself. You also got the Mission Control which was molded in a larger scale and included several figures. This was mounted to the right of the base.

Box art

Back To The Future III Time Machine
Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
Company
Polar Lights
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$32.99

Introduction

The “Back to the Future” (BTTF) movie franchise began in 1985 with the release of the first movie. The film series featured the adventures of Marty McFly as he traveled back and forth in time in a Time Machine built by wacky scientist Emmitt “Doc” Brown. That first plutonium-powered Time Machine creation had been built by Brown from a vintage DeLorean sports car. For the second movie, “Back To The Future Part II”, the DeLorean had been converted to a flying Time Machine. At the end of the second movie, just as order had been restored to the 1985 timeline (once again?), the Time Machine was struck by lightning which fried the time circuits and sent Doc Brown whirling back to 1885. A third iteration of the movie franchise was needed to rebuild the Time Machine using 1950s technology (is anyone else confused?) and to set the timeline straight one last time.