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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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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
Jeffrey Brown
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$43.00

For this review, I built the Hasegawa Police version of the VW Beetle. This says Limited Edition on the box and, if that is true, I would pick one up ASAP. You get a really nice car kit here, and it includes three versions of the bug to build – a green and white German Polizei auto, a black and white Canadian bug, and the version I built: the white and blue Belgium Politie. The good news about that is if I am ever in Belgium and see a white bug with a blue stripe behind me, I won’t do anything stupid.

Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
Zvezda
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$48.00

The heavy tank Panzer VI was designed in 1942 by the Henschel Company in response to the heavy Russian tank (KV-1) encountered on the Russian front. It mounted a tank version of the Flak 36 88mm canon and had 100mm of frontal armor. The Tiger remained in production and front line use until the end of the war. It became know as the Tiger I after the Tiger II entered combat in late 1944.

Zvezda’s newest kit is the first production model of the Tiger, the Ausf (model) E, which was introduced at the Battle of Kursk and used in North Africa and the Italian campaign. The first thing I noticed is that the sprues are not clearly marked on the front with a letter; the letter is small and on the back of the sprues. I wrote the letters onto the front to help in construction. There are four sprues of yellow plastic, one clear sprue, and vinyl two-piece tracks. No photo etched or metal parts.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$18.98

This is one of Model Art Modeling Magazine’s special editions. The text is mainly in Japanese with some English subtitles throughout. One attraction of these magazines is the high quality of the photographs and the models that are used.

This issue starts off with sixty nine pages of models. These pages are chock-full of color photographs, line drawings, and tips and tricks to building the models. The models used are the Academy 1/48th F-4B Phantom II, Hasegawa 1/72nd F-4J Phantom II and F-8E Crusader, Academy 1/72 F-8E Crusader, Zoukei-Mura 1/32nd A-1H Skyraider, Tamiya 1/48th A-1H Skyraider, Hasegawa 1/48th A-4E Skyhawk, and A-4F Skyhawk, Airfix 1/72 A-4B Skyhawk, Fujimi 1/72nd A-4C Skyhawk, Kinectic 1/48th A-6A Intruder, Revell 1/48th A-6E Intruder, Hasegawa 1/48th A-7E Corsair II. and Hobby Boss 1/72 A-7B Corsair II.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$50.00

Detail sets for Edward Spitfires:

  • Brassin cockpit # 648100 - $40.00
  • PE landing flaps # 48765 - $25.00
  • Color PE interior # 49639 - $20.00
  • Surface Panels # 48766 - $20.00
  • Five-Spoke wheels with block tread tires # 648098 - $8.00
  • Exhaust Stacks Fishtail # 648099 - $8.00

Every time I use superlatives to comment on a build, another one comes along to prove there is a LOT of great plastic, resin, and brass out there. This was the case with Eduard’s Spitfire! We at IPMS USA are truly fortunate to have Jan Zdiarsky and the team at Eduard supporting us by providing these most excellent kits and details to review.

Right off the bat, I had the kit on the build table; the sheer number of resin and PE parts was daunting, and it’s back to basics here. The best way to eat an elephant is to…GET TO WORK!

Book Author(s)
Mark Proulx
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eagle Editions Ltd.
MSRP
$19.95

Eagle Editions’ series Wings of the Black Cross is now in its tenth edition. The latest edition is a softbound book with 36 high gloss pages. Inside the front cover is an addendum and errata sheet from the previous volumes. This is a professional approach, as new information is constantly being discovered by other researchers.

The highlight of all of these books is the photos, and this volume contains 62 black and white photos of the highest resolution. They are clearly printed and quite useable. Most of the photos have never before been seen. There are some that I’ve seen elsewhere but these reproductions are superior in clarity.