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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
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.00

Background

The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, is a modern beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. Designed with the same form-and-fit factors as the previous generation of semi-active guided Sparrow missiles, it is a fire-and-forget missile with active guidance.

Review Author
Jack Kennedy
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$42.00

This is a most unusual kit to review. It is of PSP – Pierced Steel Planking used during WW II to build runways quickly. It was also called Marsden Mat.

These runways were used mostly in the Pacific theatre of the war. They were assembled quickly by Seabees on the islands of the Pacific as the Allied forces got closer to Japan. They were usually painted olive or black and the steel showed thru as wear took its toll.

This kit consists of a 9.25 by 13 inch base molded in light grey plastic. Most of the base of PSP has some ground cover to show the accessories. The accessories are a lookout tower, sandbags, extra PSP, 55 gal. oil drums, and several petrol cans.

I first sprayed the whole base with a dark grey/black primer. I then drybrushed OD over the PSP and then lightly drybrushed steel to show the wear. I painted the ground surfaces several shades of sand. I used Vallejo acrylic paints on the painted surfaces.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.00

Master Models has released a set of 8 machined brass gun barrels for the current batch of 1/32 scale P-47 kits. One nice thing is that these barrels will fit either the Hasegawa release or the Trumpeter release.

The barrels are perfectly made and already have the ends drilled out. The attached pictures show a comparison to the Hasegawa barrels, although there is really not any comparison – there are no seam lines and they have no sprue points to sand down.

There is a 1:1 scale picture showing the proper alignment. To use this set in the Trumpeter kits, simply paint and glue the barrels in place. The Hasegawa kit will have to have the bulkhead drilled to accept the barrels, which you can then paint and glue. The drawing will then insure proper alignment.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$8.00

As a member of the IPMS/USA Review Corps, I have had the wonderful opportunity to review a few items now from the Polish company Master Model. The topic for this review is a new set designed to upgrade your 1/32 scale Tomcat. Unlike most of the sets that I have reviewed, there is no one recommended kit to use these new parts on, so I compared the items to what Revell, Tamiya, and Trumpeter kits offer in plastic. As I have these kits sitting in my stash, I decided to show how all three big-scale Tomcats can be improved with these new parts.

Book Author(s)
Robert Griffin
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$19.95

This book covers all the Chieftain versions from prototype to mark.11 – that means all the main battle tank versions of this significant AFV from the cold war. The only versions not covered are the special mission vehicles, like the bridge layer and recovery vehicle that are based on the Chieftain chassis.

The book was written by Robert Griffin, who has served in the Chieftain for several years and can provide first-person impressions on its performance and spice up the reading by adding details of crew living conditions in the vehicle.

The book’s breakdown covers: