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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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
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
AK Interactive
MSRP
$8.95

AK Interactive has a selected set of pigments (sold individually) known as the “AK Pigment Colors. There are 9 colors and they are the most used pigment shades for weathering models.

You still can get some other specific shade for that special project you have in your workbench, but most of the time, those 9 colors would suffice. (You can see the full list at https://ak-interactive.com/product-category/paints/ak-weathering-paints/).

This series of colors are bottled in larger (35 ml) flip-top bottles with the expectation of being used as “regular” weathering supplies.

One of them is the “dark steel” pigment, which will find its way into many vehicles, armor, ships and aircraft workbench. It is very finely grinded and it can be applied with an old paintbrush.

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Minicraft Model Kits
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$69.99

The wonderful folks at Minicraft Models deserve tremendous thanks for providing this review kit. I appreciate their work to bring new and unusual subjects to the scale modeling community. The IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps also deserves thanks for giving me the kit to review. I am only one member of a large staff in the Reviewer Corps, and I appreciate all the tireless team and individual work that goes into getting the material out to be reviewed and the finished write-ups published.

The Martin PBM-5A Mariner was a gull wing, twin-engine flying boat operated primarily by the U. S. Navy during WWII. The Mariner operated alongside its better known sister flying boat, the PBY Catalina. The PBM-5A was a tricycle amphibian, with prominent nose, dorsal and tail gun turrets, fixed wing floats, and twin tails. The Mariner had bomb bays nestled in the engine nacelles on the high wing and a distinctive dorsal radome just aft of the cockpit.

Review Author
Andrew Fuller
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/96
MSRP
$17.99

The U.S.Moon Ship is Round 2 Models first release, after having been originally released by Lindberg Models in 1958. It was subsequently re-released a couple more times in the decades that followed and was based on space flight concepts of the era.

The kit is pretty simple and straight forward consisting of only 41 pieces, including 1 transparent red sprue and 2 sprues molded in white in addition to the main components of the space craft. There is an easy to follow instruction sheet, and 1 sheet of decals.

The build was simple and quick, and other than some minor issues with getting the large star decals to conform to the shape of the hull, it was an enjoyable endeavor having been completed in two evenings at the "bench".

I would most certainly recommend this kit to a novice builder or anyone wanting a quik build that produces satisfying results. The kit would make a great parent/child project or "group build" project.

Book Author(s)
Denes Bernad and Gyorgy Punka
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$50.00

Mushroom Model Publication has released the second volume of the Hungarian Fighter Color series. You can find a review of volume 1 at http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/hungarian-fighter-colours-1930-1945-vol…

The second volume continues the saga of authors Denes Bernad and Gyorgy Punka for what might become the definite reference books on the Hungarian Fighter Force during World War II.

This volume covers the Re.2000, Bf-109G, Fw-190F in extensive detail (each one of their chapters is over 40 pages long). Plus it has other shorter, but still well detailed chapters on the Me-110, Me-210, He-112, captured examples of PZL.11c, Avia B.534 IV and an indigenous design, the WM-23, which did not see combat but had exceptional performance for their time.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$15.00

The Nov/Dec 2013 issue of Windsock Worldwide (now branded ‘WINDSOCK World War Centenary’) is the last issue of Volume 29 and it’s pages continue the publication’s tradition of delivering some of the most interesting, accurate and unique information about WWI aviation to be found anywhere.

As an example, this issue initiates a new mini-series titled 100 Great Warplanes, that promises to profile some of the lesser known and/or poorly chronicled WWI types. The first to be featured in an eleven-page article in this issue is the 1916 German two-seat Rumpler C.III. Eleven pages are devoted to this reconnaissance aircraft with a historical description, 27 period photographs (many previously unpublished), full 1/48 scale plans of all versions and an exclusive color profile of the prototype C.III by Ronny Bar.