Left Side Nose

Mi-24/35 Mk. III SuperHind

Finished Bottom

Kawasaki KI45KAI Nick Limited Edition

Officer, back

British Infantry, Somme Battle Period, 1916

Final Picture

Bf-109G-6 Late Series

Front View 1

F-4B Phantom

Decals

Foose ‘65 Impala

Base

Kriegsmarine U-Boat U-96

Stencil decals and mask

Spitfire Mk IXc Late, Part I - What's in the Box

IP coaming and side panels 1

F4U-1 Corsair, Part 1 – Fuselage and Cockpit

Starboard

R.M.S Titanic

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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.

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Boxtop

Big Sin Russian Modern Aircraft Missiles Set
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$44.50

Modern Russian aircraft have been making a surge in the marketplace of late. The SU-24, SU-25, SU-27, MiG-29, MiG-23 and MiG-25 have been released by a variety of manufacturers. Regardless of manufacturer, one thing that all these kits can benefit from is the addition of really accurate armament.

In case you didn’t know Eduard is from the Czech Republic, a former member of the Eastern Block. They have access to the information and the real items.

This BigSin set consists of five separate types of air-to-air missiles. The, R-60/AA-8 Aphid, R-27ER/AA-10 Alamo-C, R-27ET/AA-10 Alamo-D, R-73/AA-11 Archer and the R-77/AA-12 Archer. This is the Russian equivalent of the Sparrows, Sidewinders and AMRAAM in the US inventory.

Box top

Big Sin F-4 Weapons Set
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$37.99

The F-4 Phantom II is perhaps the finest jet of its time. It could carry a variety of ordnance. In addition to heat seeking and infrared air-to-air missiles it could carry bombs, and lots of them. The Phantom is an iconic airplane with legendary performance and capabilities.

What would a Phantom be without the ability to shoot down other airplanes and bomb the enemy back to the stone age? Just another pretty, no wait we are talking about a Phantom here, just another ugly loud smoking airplane.

With that in mind and Academy’s release of the F-4B and F-4C it is essential that you include ordnance and lots of it. Enter the BigSin set. This set is EVERYTHING you would need to arm up your Phantom. The set contains five sets, one set of Sidewinders, one set of Sparrows and three sets of Mk.82 Bombs. You can literally fill every hard point on the belly of the Phantom.

Packaging

FW-190 Wheels Late
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.95

I love the Eduard FW-190 series of models. I’ve built seven of them so far. The stuff in the kit is nice but there are limitations to what can be done in plastic. That is where the Brassin range comes into play.

In this set are two wheels with predrilled holes, unfortunately they are just as loose as the kit offerings. I would have loved if they were molded with smaller holes with the angles set already. Oh well the detail is really nice. They are molded in light grey resin with flawless detail molded on. You also get a masking set for the wheels. Just another great idea from Brassin. You have to be careful as the wheels are sided. So be careful when you take them off the resin pour stubs to not get them mixed.

The beautiful detail and masking material makes this just a perfect little upgrade set. If you like FW-190s then these wheels are as good as it gets.

Highly recommended

Packaging

AGM-45 Shrike
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.49

The Wild Weasels flew specialized missions in Vietnam using first the F-100, F-105 and finally the F-4 to take out SAM targets. Their exploits are stuff of legend. One of the things that made them so effective was the Shrike anti-radiation missile. The missile was used all the way up to Desert Storm by F-4Gs.

Molded in light and dark grey resin, you are provided with four missiles. My examples were perfectly formed and no blemishes noticed. The best thing about these resin pieces is that there are no mold lines and they are perfectly round. Included in the set is a fret of photo etch for the exhaust nozzles. Decals round out the missiles. These are perfectly formed. The instructions are simple enough with the color call out and the decal placement easy enough to understand.

Construction is pretty straight forward. The detail on the missiles is impressive to say the least.

Package

Sea Harrier Landing Gear (Kin)
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Once again, thanks up front to Ross at SAC for sending us another of your expanding line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on.

This is (once again) a basic upgrade to the kit plastic. The kit landing gear consists of two halves for the forward gear, a one-part aft main gear, and two outriggers with actuators and doors integrated as one item.

As usual, SAC gear replaced these. The kit nose gear requires taking care of a seam, after the nose wheel and tire is inserted. The kit wheels should be inserted carefully into the tire, but the plastic could possibly break or deform permanently. The SAC solution is more elegant. Superglue the upper strut and lower fork together, let it cure, then spray with metal primer. Paint gloss white or gray, BEND the fork out, carefully install the wheel and tire, then carefully close over the wheel hub. It stays in place and is a lot stronger.