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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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Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Plusmodel
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.99

Plus Model out of Czechoslovakia continues to add to its list of quality aftermarket and modeling supply products; this time with a package of wooden (yes wooden!) warning signs identifying an active mine field – perfect for a diorama, or even amongst a pile of detritus found in the back of a Maultier.

The package contains enough material to create 30 signs of two different styles. The signs and their posts are made from soft, laser-cut wood that look terrific.

The parts are protected in a sturdy plastic sleeve to prevent damage in shipping, and can easily be removed from their wooden ‘sprues’ using a hobby knife. Once clipped and touched with a sanding stick, they can be assembled using white glue or any other adhesive suitable for gluing wood.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$15.99

Bronco Models is well-known for producing some of the finest after-market track sets available. Chances are, if there is not already a Bronco after-market track set made for whatever you are working on, one will be available soon. Such was the case for their recently released T84E1 M-47 track, which I have been waiting for ever since my Italeri M-47 ‘rubber-band’ style tracks split, and then split again, soon after I placed the completed model in my display case.

This is my first foray into building Bronco tracks and I went in knowing their reputation for being both excellent and challenging to assemble. Opening the box, however, I soon realized that these tracks would take even more time than I thought to bring together - too much time, in fact, for me to complete a set for this review. Instead, I decided to put several links together to explore the process and pass on what I learned along the way.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.00

Hasegawa has re-released their 1/48 F-2A, this time as a “Detail Up” Limited Edition, with photoetch parts. The detail set includes seatbelts, landing gear wiring and some details for the underwing pylon stations and air discharging cones in the wings/tail section.

When opening the box you find 12 sprues for a total of 179 pieces. Typical of Hasegawa the underwing stores include drop tanks and, as a nice surprise, some air-to-air missiles (AAM-3, I’ve believe). This boxing has regular Hasegawa printed decals for 3 different versions of the F-2A in Japanese service.

Construction starts with the cockpit and with the air intake. Both subassemblies have good fit and decent detail, but probably the cockpit instrument panel could use a PE replacement, even more considering how visible it is under the clear bubble canopy. I wished the PE fret would have included some instrument panel detail.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$17.00

Way back when, I built the Airfix 1/72 MiG-15. I was more than happy to get Eduard’s new Weekend MiG-15, because it’s a far superior kit. So this review is going to tell you the wonderful things about this kit. But because it’s a review, there will be a couple of things that could use improvement.

Since it’s a weekend kit, there is no photo etch or additional detail parts. On the other hand, the seat, cockpit and canopy are all super examples of what can be done in a 21st Century kit. I also cheated some and painted the external parts with Testors Metalizer Aluminum. As it turned out, I could have saved the trouble, because most of it rubbed off during handling.

Review Author
Tom Moon
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$64.99

This is a multimedia kit comprised of 470+ styrene parts on 24 sprues, DS tracks, two small photo etched fret, decals and the set of instructions that need to be reviewed very carefully before gluing any parts together. The DS tracks have no shape or sag. I have tried to introduce this shape by using the Hobby Trax forms. Generally I was successful, but if your model is to be shown in a contest, I suggest that you replace the tracks with individual links (magic tracks or Fruil).

Most Dragon models today are a collection of old sprues and new sprues added to create a new kit variant. In this case, Dragon has done so and you will have some sprues with the same letter but are called out by the color (see Sprues Blue A & L).