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.
The J-11B (NATO code name Flanker B+) is a Chinese version of the Sukhoi Su-27SK. The first 100 J-11A aircraft were built under license from Sukhoi. After those were completed, the license was suspended. Soon thereafter, the Chinese announced they had developed a multi-role version known as the J-11B.
As quoted from the introduction in the book "Self-propelled tank destroyers constituted an essential component of the Third Reich’s armored arm. Vehicles, which were especially useful in defensive warfare, in which the German army found itself after losing strategic initiative on the Eastern Front in the summer 1943 and following the Allied landing in Italy and France, with time began to effectively compete in armored sub-units with classic tanks. One of the largest vehicles of that type was Jagdpanther Sd.Kfz. 173, based on the chassis of the famous Panther tank".
The Stuka - one of the most notorious aircraft for World War II. Hasegawa gives us a kit of the R-2 version used in Libya during the North African campaign in mid-1941. The R version was an extended range B model that increased the planes range from 600km (372 miles) to 1530km (950miles) with the added fuel tanks on the wings.
There are 118 of light gray plastic and seven clear plastic parts on six sprues in this “Limited Edition” kit. We get a large decal sheet with markings for two aircraft used in North Africa. The instruction sheet is logically laid out on four sheets with two addition sheets being the black and white color / decal schemes. An interesting note is that on the box top and instruction sheet, the swastika is shown as a diamond on the tail, I guess they don’t want to offend anyone. I did have a few scratches on the clear parts, since they were not in a protective bag.
Items Reviewed
These upgrades ramp-up the level of detail for the Kittyhawk Jaguar 1. Quickboost is a subdivision of Aires, so it’s the same manufacturer with the idea of simple, lower cost additions to upgrade things not requiring a major aftermarket effort… such as antennas.
Concord Publishing, out of Hong Kong, is back again with another Armor At War series entitled Panzer Divisions In Battle 1936-45 by popular author Tom Cockle. Anyone familiar with the armor modeling literature and research will recognize this authoritative combination, and this latest release won’t disappoint.
Looking across my personal bookshelf of maybe 200 titles, I can spot several of Mr. Cockle’s books and I’ve familiar with many of his articles in some of the better armor magazines such as ‘Military Modeler’, ‘Military in Scale’, ‘Military Modelcraft International’, ‘FineScale Modeler’ and ‘AFV Modeller’. If you’ve been building armor models for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with his work as well.
