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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
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Furball Aero-Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.99

Furball (Geoff Martin) has been producing some awesome decals and with this latest release, he addresses a venerable kit, Revell's EA-6A Electric Intruder. As a quick background, before the four seat EA-6B came into service to jam all those enemy radars, the Marines ordered 27 of the EA-6A Electric Intruders. They look like Intruders with Prowler tails! Revell's kit has been out a while but still can be built into a beauty and Furball has given us 11 superb schemes to dress the kit up.

As with most Furball sets, you get five large color pages- a cover sheet, side profile sheets of all 11 jets, a sheet of wing marking locations and one sheet showing the stencils provided. All sheets have color call outs with the needed FS numbers. There is one large decal sheet with markings and stencils and one small sheet with wing walks and color for the arrestor hook. The decals have perfect register and are printed by Cartograf.

Review Author
Tim Hortman
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

Here is another great addition to the growing Quickboost line of detailed exhaust parts. Here we see a set for the 1/48 Hasegawa N1K1-J “George” WWII Japanese Naval Fighter

The exhaust set comes in the typical Quickboost plastic sleeve packaging, and contains a single resin part attached to a ‘base plug’ which is easily removed.

The Quickboost set is a direct replacement part for those with the kit, so there is no major surgery needed to use these parts. With some very minor clean-up, they are able to be painted and glued into place. Since these are resin parts, you will have to use your favorite brand of super-glue.

Review Author
Walt Fink
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$25.99

Revell has re-issued their Shelby GT500 as a convertible with a new body shell, roll bar, a convertible top which can be modeled up or down with an included boot, and also features two options for the engine. The mill can be built stock, or with a set of dual quads and a high-rise manifold. The hood has a scribed, outlined section to cut out in order to accommodate the custom engine option if that’s the builder’s choice. A set of stock wheels and a set of custom ones are included as well.

The interior is a one-piece tub, with separate seats and instrument panel/dashboard. Decals are provided for the instrument cluster, plus the wood panels on the doors and the dash.

Construction on the chassis was pretty straightforward with only a couple of minor fit issues with the exhaust pipes. I noted the molded-on lettering on the frame said the kit was originally issued in 1988 - I don’t know how many of the original fastback kit parts are common with this new issue.

Review Author
Keith Pruitt
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$16.95

History

I’ll have to admit a personal fascination with the story of the USS Indianapolis. I read a magazine article about the tragedy during my high school years, which was probably close to the 30th anniversary. In July of 1945, the Indianapolis, a Portland-class heavy cruiser, was tasked with the top secret mission of delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. On the next leg of her journey, the ship was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The ship sank within minutes, leaving almost 900 of her surviving crew stranded in the Pacific Ocean at the mercy of the elements, dehydration, and marauding sharks. After three days in the water, they were finally rescued, but only 317 of the men survived the ordeal.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$21.95

All jokes aside, the Handley Page V/1500 was proof that in some situations size does matter. At the time when military aviation was still somewhat in its adolescence, the controversial idea of dropping a significant bomb load on an enemy target 500 miles away (and flying over a substantial body of water in the process) meant finding an appropriately large and powerful aerial vehicle to carry out the mission. The Germans had used huge zeppelins to bomb London, but some in Britain believed it a better strategy to use an aeroplane to return the favor. Thus was born a scheme to build a ‘Super’ bomber…actually a ‘Super’ Handley Page bomber, capable of carrying up to 30 250-lb. bombs.