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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
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$11.50

Master Model has produced a nice ammunition set to go along with their beautiful ZU-23-2 barrels. This set consists of 20 empty casings, 10 OFZ (HEI) rounds and 10 BZT (API-T) rounds. The items are made from turned brass and ultra-tiny. The only issue I have with these great items is that they can only be used as a diorama accessory. Without the disintegrating links that hold the rounds together, they can only be used as individual pieces unless the builder is a REALLY good scratch builder.

Review Author
Matthew Cottrell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$29.95

Introduction

The Sikorsky Sea King helicopter was developed in the late 1950s for the US Navy’s growing anti-submarine warfare role. Becoming operational in 1961, the Sea King would serve with the US Navy until 2006, and continues in service with other operators to this day. Over its lifetime, the Sea King would spawn multiple variants and revisions. This included versions to meet USAF and USCG roles, such as the well-known HH-3E Jolly Green Giant combat search-and-rescue helicopters. Additionally, licensed-built versions of the Sea King were made by Mitsubishi, Agusta, and Westland. The British-built Westland Sea King variants differ in quite a few points from the Sikorsky-built Sea Kings, and are the basis for Cyber-Hobby’s 1/72 Sea King kits.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$15.50

Hot on the heels of their 1/48 scale release, Master Models has released a 1/32 scale version of the GAU-8 Avenger gun tip for the Trumpeter A-10. Also included is a corrected pitot tube.

The set is straightforward with a sheet of photoetch for the front and back of the gun barrel, a turned brass center post, seven turned gun barrels, a brass main gun housing and a turned pitot tube. I included several shots of the main gun housing with its holes as it is a work of art. Finely made and with the holes made perfectly.

Assembly is done by adding the back plate and gluing the brass center post into its hole. The only tricky part is next when the front cap is added- you must make sure the holes align for the barrels. I did this by adding the end cover and holding it up to light and making sure things were straight. Let that dry and then slide the barrels through and secure them. The pitot tube is a direct replacement.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.00

A recent addition to Iliad Design’s line of 1:72 scale decal sets is one covering a variety of US Navy and Marine Corps Lockheed T-Birds. Markings are provided for five aircraft. This set actually includes scaled down versions of the four subjects found on Iliad’s 1:48 scale Naval T-Birds set with a fifth one added.

In his review of Iliad’s 1:48 scale set, Charles Landrum commented that Iliad earned his respect for releasing decal sets for subjects off the beaten path…in that case, for Navy and Marine T-Birds when only one kit exists in that scale to build a T-33. By releasing a 1:72 scale version of that set, Iliad provides modelers with decals that offer these unique markings for a number of kit options…the older Heller and Hasegawa ones or the more recent Sword and Platz releases.

The set provides markings for:

Book Author(s)
Raffaele D’Amato & Andrea Salimbeti
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.95

Osprey's Elite series covers many historical subjects. This is book 201 and covers the Carthaginians between the 6th and 2nd century BC. The author states several facts in the beginning in that this book is a study of the Carthaginians armament and military culture and much studying is left to do as the culture and records were destroyed by the Romans. Also, he notes that the book will attempt to represent how Carthaginian Warriors might have looked based on the current state of knowledge. From a modelers perspective, this will be most useful.

The book is broken down into the following sections: