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.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
LPS Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$15.00

LPS Hobby is a Brazilian company that has released three new 1:72 scale P-51D decal sets. One of the latest, set #LPM 72-12, provides decals to finish three different Mustangs from the 357FG that received field-applied camouflage while based in the UK during 1944. Because of this, there is evidence the paints that were used were sourced from British stocks, making these aircraft appear more unique than other USAAF aircraft that were delivered in standard Olive Green over Neutral Gray. That instructions include that information with recommended RAF colors (or ‘colours’ as the case may be).

The set includes a rather small decal sheet that includes all of the unique markings for each aircraft and enough national insignias and stencil data for one aircraft. Therefore, it will be necessary to use national insignia and data markings from kit decals sheets to finish more than one 357FG aircraft from this set.

Review Author
Joe Porche
Published on
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$47.00

Upon opening the kit I found the plastic to be delicately molded in an easy to paint light grey styrene with fair detail for a model its scale and size. The parts count is rather high because many of the details are molded as fine separate niceties. Very small (less than an 1/8th inch) parts such as the masks, life rafts, antenna, and supports are molded in this fine plastic and make use of magnifying devices necessary.

Parts count:

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Freedom Model Kits
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$73.00

Thank you to Freedom Model Kits for providing a review copy of an excellent new release of a very unusual aircraft. Thank you to the many Reviewer Corps people who make the IPMS review system work. It is a continuing honor and privilege to be part of the team.

This first release from a new company is a welcome addition to UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) subjects in the scale model world. Freedom Model Kits (FMK) maintains an excellent Facebook presence (see the vendor link above), hosting much good information including corrections, and they set a very high standard with their first offering. I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit for review. The part fit is excellent, construction is very straightforward, and a very nice model may be produced directly out of the box. The model compares well to public domain published literature and internet sources.

Review Author
Matthew Cottrell
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of white metal replacement landing gear for Trumpeter’s 1/72 RA-5C, the Vietnam-era nuclear bomber turned reconnaissance aircraft. SAC’s conversion set includes four parts: the nose gear strut, a separate nose gear torque link, and the two main landing gear struts.