Left side

Bf-109E-1 Weekend Edition

One piece body

U.S. Cougar 6x6 MRAP Vehicle

Decals

Churchill Mk III "Fitted for Wading" Operation Jubilee, Dieppe, France 1942

Left rear

Pz.Kpfw.III (F) Ausf.M w/Schurzen Smart Kit

Right side

M60A2 Patton

8

Sidewinder Show Rod by Tom Daniel

Left rear

IL-2M & Panther D - Two-in-One Kit

Interior

Paddy Wagon with Figures

External Stores

F-14A “Danger Zone”

Sprue 2

M-47 Patton

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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.

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Box Art

Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero Model 21
Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$28.00

History

There is so much out there on the Zero that I will not take up too much time with the history of it. The A6M2 Model 11 went into operation in 1940. After a short production run it was modified in November, 1940, to have folding wings (Model 21).

The Kit

This kit is made up of 2 sprues of grey injected plastic and 1 clear. The parts are flash free and have very fine detail and I did not notice any sink marks. The decal sheet gives you markings for 3 different aircraft of the 2nd strike unit and was flawless.

Box Art

Il-2 Sturmovik Single Seat Ski Version
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$43.00

Academy has re-boxed the rendering of the Il-2 originally released by Accurate Miniatures in 1997. The box shows a “Mold by Accurate Miniatures” on the cover, so no doubts about it and that is a good thing. The Accurate Miniatures Il-2 model is a nice one that is now available again in the market.

This boxing has decals printed by Cartograf, including seatbelts and instrument panel details. A bonus you get in this boxing is that all the standard parts for the landing gear with wheels are included, in addition to the landing gear with skis. So, you can build either version (wheels or skis) with the parts in the box.

Parts Packaging

F2A Buffalo Landing Gear
Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$17.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions comes to the rescue again with another of their white metal landing gear upgrades. One of their latest upgrades is for the Czech Model F2A-3, Special Hobby F2A-2, and the Model 239 & 339 Buffalo kits.

The replacement parts included are the main landing gear (MLG), retraction struts for the MLG, uplock roller brackets (not in the kit), barrier guards for MLG, and three different tail wheel assemblies. There is one tail wheel assembly for the F2A-2 and -3 and the Model 239 & 339.

I will say that the MLG that SAC provided is a step above the kits’. Yes, there is a small seam that you will have to clean up, but it would be not even be close to the work that is involved in the two kit pieces that make up the kit MLG.

The fit of the MLG also seems a lot nicer than the kit part in gear well.

I would recommend this to anyone that has these kits as an upgrade to the kit parts.

Cover

Scale Aircraft Modelling, Vol. 34, Issue 9
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Modelling
MSRP
$7.00

Scale Aircraft Modelling is an excellent monthly publication focusing on modeling scale aircraft. The name of the publication gives that bit of information away rather easily.

Averaging just under 100 pages, SAM is filled with “build” articles featuring some of the newer kits on the market as well as projects based on old favorites. In this issue (Vol 34, Issue 09) a number of featured articles cover a range of subjects, both jet and prop.

Neil Pinchbeck, also featured in the last issue, provides an excellent article presenting the Valom Scale Aircraft Saunders Roe A.29 Cloud. The Cloud is a seaplane used by some British airlines in the early ‘30s. Neil’s article provides an excellent guide for those who wish to construct this kit of a rather nostalgic aircraft.