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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.

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Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$70.00

Thanks go to Bronco models and Dragon Models USA for providing IPMS USA this magnificent kit! We appreciate your generosity!

Bronco’s Flak 88 kit incorporates elements of the actual “new” model (the cannon and lower frame) with additional parts from Dragon’s original Flak 88 kit in the form of the wheeled carriage assemblies that facilitate movement of the weapon between firing locations. This is a complex but relatively simple build; it only requires perseverance to complete, due mostly to the detail and care incorporated in the engineering of the kit.

Review Author
Michael Scott
Published on
Company
Xuron Corporation
MSRP
$22.95

Xuron Corporation makes a number of hand tools useful for modelers. One, the Professional Sprue Cutter, is the subject of this review.

Often, sprue cutters (diagonal cutting pliers) are hard on plastic parts, especially small ones, when removing them from their sprues. The compression forces they impart can damage small parts, especially when cutting the first of two or more sprue connections.

These Professional Sprue Cutters are designed to shear, rather than compress (or pinch) the plastic, reducing the compression force. Xuron calls this a Micro-Shear®. To quote Xuron, “Shear cutting reduces cutting effort (as compared to traditional compression cutting) and extends blade life because the sharp edges are not meeting edge-to-edge. Shear cutting also produces clean, flat cuts.”

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$19.95

The Aircraft

The Spitfire is the British fighter from World War II. Sure, there were Hurricanes, Tempests, Typhoons, Mustangs, Mosquitoes, and Meteors, but there were more Spitfires than any of them. More to the point, there have been injection molded kits in 1/144 of the Spirfire I and 5, but this is the first Mark IX. Kami de Korokoro has a resin Mark IX.

The Kit

You get two of every part, but there are two types of wing – one full-span, one with clipped wing. There are six marking options, three for clipped, three for full wings. These are shown on the back of the box and with 4-view drawings in the instructions.

Review Author
Timothy Funnell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$7.95

Another finely detailed aftermarket upgrade from Eduard on their Brassin product line, these 1/72 wheels are made of resin and are more detailed than the kit parts. They come packaged with an instruction sheet and wheel masks for easy painting. The wheels fit perfectly onto the landing gear of the new Eduard kit. All you need to so is detach the excess resin and, with a little cleanup, you’re all set. I would have liked to use these on the new kit but that would defeat an out-of-box review. The only thing I would have liked to see was tires supporting a load. But what the heck, these are pretty darn good as they are.

I would like to thank Eduard and Steve Collins of IPMS/USA for the chance to review this product, and thanks to you for reading this article.

Review Author
Timothy Funnell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.95

One of Eduard’s Brassin line of upgrades is nose guns for their new BF-110E. This upgrade set is all resin with 12 highly detailed resin pieces and a small PE fret with 4 pieces. Also, it comes with a comprehensive instruction sheet with advertisement for other Eduard BF-110 products.

In a very neat plastic package, you will receive 4 Mg15’s, 4 ammo boxes, a lower nose, a gun tub, 4 PE covers for ammo boxes and 2 neat variations -- one a camera, and the other the top side nose, were the camera is mounted. If you use the resin upgrade guns, you will use the kit’s upper half (E-17) nose part. Alternately, if you decide to build the E-3 recon version, you need to use the kit’s lower nose half (A-6) to finish the fuselage.