Starboard Bow

IJNMS Yamato, Part 4, Final Assembly

8

Moskvitch 401-420A Soviet Passenger Car

Midships

USS Indianapolis

Sprues

F-15C MSIP II

Parts Tree C

WWII British Army 30cwt 4x2 G.S. Truck

Suspension

Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.B Tiger II

120

McLaren MP4/2C ’86 Portuguese GP

Left rear high

F-35A Lightning II

Left side

Standard B "Liberty" with WW1 US Dr

Kit parts

Tales from the Apocalypse - The Heroine / She

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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.

Box Art

Spitfire Mk IXc (late) and Detail Sets
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!

Cover

Wings of the Black Cross Volume 10
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.

Parts Package

Cockpit Details Set – Levers, Handles, Switches
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.50

Airscale has been producing some excellent aftermarket items, such as aircraft instrument decals. Until now, you had to punch them out and add them to the kit instrument panel. What if you wanted to build your own instrument panel? Well, until now you had out-of-production Waldron bezels, and that was pretty much it. Airscale now offers you some options…lots of options.

On a single brass photo etch fret is a plethora of levers, handles, and switches. There are actually 72 photo etch pieces. Some of these details will require you to fold them over. Many of the items are for WWII aircraft, but they can be easily adapted to later aircraft.

The instructions are on a two-sided full-color piece of card stock. One side contains the parts breakdown of the fret. The parts are in rows with letters assigned for the individual parts. The key at the bottom of the page will aid the modeler to get the right part and what it was originally designed for.

Parts Package

Cockpit Detail Set – Instruments
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.50

Airscale provides some excellent aircraft instrument dials, but until now you had to cut them out and add them to kit instrument panels. Well, now you can build your own instrument panels with the aid of their new bezels.

There are 46 distinct shapes, but that doesn’t mean there are only 46 pieces on the single brass fret. There are multiple bezels, allowing you to do anything you need to do when scratchbuilding an instrument panel. Don’t think that it stops there. While marketed for the instrument panel, they can be used for numerous other things. The sky is the limit.

There are US, German, RAF, and WWI instruments represented on the fret. The parts are arranged in 9 rows with each style of bezel labeled with a letter on the instructions. The instructions are printed in full color on card stock to protect the fret. The instructions indicate what each bezel is designed to represent. Some are multi-layered, so do your research.

Parts Package

Bf-109F-4 Self Adhesive Detail Set
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.50

It is no secret that I love the Zvezda Bf-109Fs. They are remarkably well-engineered kits and the most accurate Fs on the market. There are only two pieces of aftermarket that I use for them, Vector’s correction set and the Eduard Zoom set.

This Eduard Zoom set includes a single fret of self-adhesive pre-painted photo etch. The components are all for the cockpit area. The amount of detail that Eduard puts into the instrument panels and placards is amazing, far superior to anything I can do with a paint brush. A clear acetate piece is included that has the gunsight reflectors on it.

The instructions are straightforward and easy to understand.