Fuselage

Mig-31 BM/BSM Foxhound (Limited edition)

6

'71 Boss 351 Mustang

Engine Right Side

P-39 Q/N Airacobra

Top view

ROCAF S-2A/E/G Tracker

What's in the box

JGSDF Type 10 Tank

Engine

A-25A-5-CS Shrike

Jagdpanther Right Profile

German Tank Destroyer Sd.Kfz. 173 "Jagdpanther Ausf. G1"

Canopy framing and associated clear parts

The Super Wing Series He-219 Uhu, First Impressions

Turret Detail

Panzer Kpfw. IV Ausf. D

P47 closeup

P-47D & F-86E "Gabreski"

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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

Ooma's Tuna Fishing Boat "Ryoufuku-maru #31"
Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
Company
Aoshima
Scale
1/64
MSRP
$59.95

Introduction

If you're looking to change things up a little from the armor or naval vessels or historical military aircraft kits you've been building, what about a tuna fishing boat for a change of pace? Aoshima of Japan is offering just such a kit with "Ryoufuku-maru #31". Tuna fishing is the main industry in the north of the island of Honshu, Japan and Aoshima offers this kit of the boat that makes it all possible. The boat depicted by this kit is representative of the typical tuna fishing boat this industry is built around.

My thanks go out to Dragon Models USA for providing this Aoshima kit for review and to IPMS USA for letting me review it.

Box Art

British Heavy Cruisers 1939 – 45
Book Author(s)
Angus Konstam, illustrations by Paul Wright
Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

This volume by Osprey/New Vanguard gives an overview of British 8 inch gunned cruisers (heavy cruisers by definition) in WW II. Four major sections deal with the design and development of the ships, the specifications of each class, the service history of each ship and a finally a description of the ships' armament and operation, the last part of which actually should have been a separate section as it is a general evaluation of the ships and their effectiveness.

The text is concise and efficiently written, containing a good deal of information in a small space. There are summary charts on the details of each class with one over arching table with comparative information such as dimensions, performance, armament, etc. There are b/w photos illustrating many of the ships but they are almost all of the entire ship from a distance or an angle, so they are not useful for detail.

Box Art

Lighting F Mk. 6 Combo
Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$42.99

Overview

The British Electric Lighting served 34 years from its first flight on August 30, 1954 to its retirement from service on April 30, 1988. One of the more spectacular fighters of the cold war era, the Lighting is remembered for its amazing take offs that pitched up to the vertical soon after lift off. This was not a feat common to aircraft of the period. The Mk 6 was the last of the Lighting models to serve the RAF. It had wings plumbed for over wing fuel tanks to extend range and was fitted with two 30mm cannons in the forward belly bulge. This version of the Lighting was a common sight to Russian Bear pilots who regularly poked near British airspace just to see if someone was paying attention. I’m sure it was a sad day indeed for the members of No. 11 Squadron when their Lightings were replaced on April 30, 1988 by F-4 Phantoms.

The Kit(s)

Parts Package

U.S. Special Forces Vehicle Comms Set
Review Author
Roger Carrano
Published on
Company
Pro Art Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$18.00

Pro Art Models has another new set of enhancements, and this time it’s a vehicle communications package for those of you who are into super-detailing the newer types of vehicles in the U.S. Special Forces genre. This set comes with 18 pieces of high quality light tan resin which is detailed to the max. I have yet to find any bubbles within the resin that are so often found in lesser quality resins. Also included in the kit is a photo etch fret containing parts which make up the shelves, cases, legs, and small switches for the radios and computers to fit on or into. The resin parts consists of the radios, power inverters, PC screens, keyboards, a hand- held GPS, antennas, and even the plug-in power modules. The detail is the best it can get and the photo etch antennas and shelves (including legs) add to the already fine detail. I have assembled some pieces to show what it could look like, and this will be placed into my vehicle when I reach that point in assembly.

Cover

Scale Aircraft Modelling, Vol. 34, Issue 6
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Modelling
MSRP
$7.00

SAM, or more precisely Scale Aircraft Modelling, is an excellent monthly publication focusing on modeling scale aircraft. No surprise there. And if you are a long-time fan of SAM, then it is also no surprise that I state that SAM is one of the best modeling magazines focused on aircraft that money can buy.

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 the August issue (Vol 34, Issue 06), a number of featured articles span subject matter from World War I to modern jets, both military and civil.

James Ashton’s article features the Special Hobby Ba.65 Two Seater. James uses oils to produce some excellent weathering techniques. The color images reveal that the technique James uses is very effective.