Decals

1955 Chevy Stake Truck

Completed 1

Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star

Brassin cockpit

Bf-109E-3 and Detail Sets

Top view

USS Olympia

Completed Kit Front

5IDF Shot'Kal Dalet with Battering Ram

Main landing gear construction

ROCAF S-2A/E/G Tracker

Side view

OS2U Kingfisher Build

Finished 9

Avia BK.534 Czechoslovak Biplane Fighter

Seats and seatbelts

U.S. Cougar 6x6 MRAP Vehicle

Command module inside launch shield

Saturn V Apollo 11

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Welcome to the IPMS/USA Reviews site!

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Box Art

Grumman C.C.F. Goblin Mk. 1
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Special Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$26.50

History

The Grumman FF-1 biplane two-seat fighter was the first complete airplane design from the Grumman Corporation, located in Bethpage, New York. Prior to this, LeRoy Grumman had separated from the Loening Company, and had manufactured amphibious floats for the Vought O2U and O3U observation biplanes, using landing gear designs he had developed for various Loening types.

Box Art

Bad Medicine Dragster
Review Author
Randy Robinson
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$22.99

History

The Bad Medicine Model was created in 1970, designed by the infamous designer Tom Daniel. With over 85 designs to his credit, this one doesn't disappoint. It's based off of an old delivery truck c-cab with a skeleton at the wheel.

The Kit

Upon opening the box, one will find a one-piece body molded in purple, a leather-look fitted seat/casket for the driver, two soft wheels for the front and the two rear wheels molded, in two pieces each, from black plastic. The parts found on the sprues were molded in white, purple, and chrome-plated. A nice touch is that the rear wheels are flat on the running surface and the rubber on the sides appears to have the pull marks that a true drag car's tires would look at high speeds. Parts were individually packaged to prevent damage in transport.

Box Art

Soviet KV-1S Heavy Tank
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$54.95

I want to begin this review with a disclaimer. I am not an armor guy. I am an airplane guy. But I just wanted to try out – at least once – building an armor kit.

This kit has about 440 plastic parts, about half of which are individual links for the tracks. It also has a small photo-etch fret and a turned metal barrel for the cannon. The surface detail is superb and there was no flash whatsoever in my example.

Assembly of the hull and rolling wheels is simple. I had all the body and wheels assembled in about 4 hours. Fit is good, with little need for filler in the body. The turret is molded in two halves, which leaves a large seam that needs treatment with filler. It is not difficult, just a bit surprising, given that the rest of the engineering of the kit is really good.

Box Art

Nakajima B5N Kate Double Kit
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$44.99

History

The Nakajima B5N torpedo and attack bomber was developed during the late thirties to replace the 1936 Yokosuka B4N biplane carrier-based torpedo bomber. Roughly comparable to, but also decidedly superior to, the U.S. Navy’s Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bomber, the B5N was code named Kate by the Allies when the name-codes came into use during 1942. Beating out the Mitsubishi B5M, which had an elliptical wing and a fixed landing gear, the B5N featured manually folding wings and a retractable landing gear. Strongly influenced by the Northrop A-17A attack bomber then in service with the U.S. Army, the B5N was produced in two basic models, differing mainly in powerplant. The B5N1 was equipped with an 840 hp. Nakajima Hikari 2 radial engine, while the later version, designated B5N2, had the upgraded 1000 hp. Nakajima Sakae twin-row radial engine, which was housed in a more streamlined cowling.

Parts Package

F-4 Phantom II (Short Nose) Pitot Tube, Ram Air Inlet, Angle of Attack Probe
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$4.50

I am not a Phantom Phreak. Just because I have built about 4 dozen F-4s, in every scale from 1/32 to 1/700, have stopped in a drugstore parking lot and got out of the car to see one of the last Phantoms land for a Luke air show, and have driven a 150 mile round trip to see the last of Springfield IL’s Rhinos take off, does NOT make me a Phreak. A Phan, yeah, but not a Phreak, OK?

I jumped at the chance to review Master’s F-4 Short Nose set because some of my older built kits need some repair. The pitot and ram air inlet on the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer are thin, fragile, and easily damaged. Also, the ESCI Phantom, while a fine kit, does not include the angle of attack probe on the side of the nose. As a hint, the Revell/Monogram 1/72 F-4 does have one.

The set is for the B, C, D, J, K, M, N and S short-nosed F-4s. These are the ones without the pitot on the nose, but instead it’s on the tail.

The Set