Underside painted

Ju-88A-5

Finished

DH 100 Vampire FB Mk.52 Over Northern Sky

Complete rear

Sd.Kfz. 179 Bergepanther Ausf A

Finished underside

DC-9-50

Overhead

HMS M1 Submarine

Completed Model

Bela Lugosi as Broadways Dracula Deluxe Kit

2

Salvenmaschinenkanone SMK 18 TYP 2

Finished fuselage with pulse engines

OKB Chelomey 16KhA Priboy Soviet Air Launched Missile

Completed Kit

Tupolev TU-7 and PE-8

Finished

Panzer IV/70(A)

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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.

Box Art

M4A1 Sherman Profipack
Review Author
Chris Gibson
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$74.95

I want to start by saying I don’t model much armor, this is only my third armor model completed, but I definitely will be building more.

Eduard has come up with a great kit which uses the Tasca molds for the Sherman tank and made it better with its Profi-pack. The basic kit is molded in olive drab green and comes on 14 parts trees plus a small clear parts tree and four sections of rubber tracks. It also has a nice set of photo etch parts and decals for four different subjects. The instruction booklet is pretty clear and concise and the illustrations are sharp.

Box Art

Lavochkin LA-7 (Weekend Edition) with PE Parts and Masks
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.95

History

The Lavochkin La-7 was a logical development of the highly successful radial engine fighter, the La-5, which was itself an improved LaGG-3 all wood fighter which, while having reasonable performance, was not satisfactory as a first line fighter at the beginning of the “Great Patriotic War”, as the Russians designated World War II. While the LA-5 went through numerous changes during its production life, it became obvious that the 1820 hp. Ash-82FN radial engine had reached its development peak, and that there was no suitable replacement for this engine, as the Ash-71F radial of 2200 hp. was unreliable and unsuitable for service use. Therefore, the Lavochkin Design Bureau decided to upgrade the basic La-5 design, making aerodynamic refinements on a prototype designated La-5 (206) which included a new cowling, oil cooler location, supercharger intake, exhaust cover outlet, and radio mast shape.

Package

Metal Landing Gear for the HK Gloster Meteor
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$22.95

Many thanks to Mr. Ross MacMillan of Scale Aircraft Conversions and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to try this neat conversion and replacement set for the Hong Kong Models Gloster Meteor. I am delighted to report on another sweet add-on and upgrade.

The 9 white-metal parts arrived in a blister pack, backed by the distinctive SAC company logo. The heft of the parts is very noticeable. All parts are free of sprues with the exception of the main mount retractors. The parts require very little buffing, cleanup and polishing. The SAC gear struts directly replace the Meteor kit parts. The main mount parts and nose strut parts attached to the kit fuselage with no difficulty, even as a refit or upgrade to an existing kit. Kit parts that are replaced by SAC parts are C1, C2, C8, C11, C12, C13, C14, C17 and C18. No replacement is provided for C9 AND C10, but no replacement appears to be needed.

Package contents

404 Squadron Beaufighters: Black Friday Plus
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.00

For any who have missed it, Aviaeology is a company out of Canada producing decals specific to many Canadian themed subjects. This set of for 404 Squadron Beaufighters and comes in all scales but this the 1/72nd version. The first thing that hits you when you purchase one of their sets is the detail provided to replicate specific aircraft. The research going into these decals is second to none. This set includes markings for twelve different aircraft in a variety of schemes. Here’s a quick list:

Package

Venturas in Canada 1
Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Aviaeology
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.79

Venturas in Canada pt.1 provides complete markings for ten individual Venturas of various marks, and most of the markings necessary for an eleventh subject (Ventura B.II AJ430 as a ski test aircraft) are also included. This decal set depicts training aircraft, test machines, and some early US Navy ‘visitors’ to Canada. The 8-page instruction booklet included in the set explains subject selection was focused on variety as well as available reference photographs.

The instructions describe decal application, placement instructions, provide illustrations with painting instructions for all subject aircraft, plus a number of black and white reference photographs. Information in this set's documentation includes the early-production B.II / B.IIA cockpit canopy variation, detail items on ski test aircraft, ASV radar anti-submarine warfare test aircraft, and information on rare US NAvy PV-3 interim ASW aircraft.

The following aircraft are covered: