Cockpit from behind

F-35C "Lightning II"

Finished model

US Coast Guard HH-65C Dolphin Helicopter

Kit contents

Tupolev G-5 Mod. XIII Torpedo Boat

Photo 9

Fokker Eindecker III Late – Part 1

Upper carriage

8 Inch Howitzer M1 WWII

Sprue 2

Jonny Quest: The Dragonfly

Part runners

ICM O-2A (Late Production)

Nacelle in place

Arado 234b

Additional Jeep Sprues 2

British Airborne Troops Riding in ¼ Ton Truck & Trailer

Chassis

1966 Chevelle Station Wagon

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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

Encore USS Olympia Review - Part 1
Review Author
Gary Telecsan
Published on
Company
Encore by Squadron
Scale
1/232
MSRP
$89.99

Kit Review Part I

This is a reboxing of the old Revell kit, which I built many years ago, only with quite a number of goodies included to bring it up to modern standards. There are such a number of goodies that, in order to get the word out as quickly as possible, this just had to be a two-part review.

The Premium Edition comes with wooden base, laser-cut self-adhesive deck veneers, turned metal gun barrels, and photo-etched, white metal, and resin parts. The Standard Edition lacks the wooden base, gun barrels and deck veneers. It is well worth the price to get the Premium Edition.

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Apollo 10 CSM + LM + LES
Review Author
Tom Pope
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$44.95

Introduction

Apollo 10 was launched on May 18, 1969, and was the dress rehearsal for putting man on the moon. The flight took the command/service module (CSM [CSM-106]) “Charlie Brown” and the Lunar Module (LM [LM-4]) “Snoopy” to the moon, where the LM separated, descended and maneuvered to within 9 miles of the lunar surface. The mission of Apollo 10 was to demonstrate the performance of the LM and CSM in the lunar gravitational field and evaluate docked and undocked lunar navigation. “Charlie Brown” and crew returned safely to Earth 8 days later, on May 26th. Like many of us, I was glued to my black & white television, in awe of the whole Apollo program.

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Tu-95MS "Bear-H"
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/200
MSRP
$30.99

First, thanks to Dragon Models USA and particularly Alain for providing IPMS/USA this review sample! Your support as a major model distributor is greatly appreciated.

Dragon’s TU-95MS is a re-release of the original Dragon TU-95 kit from the late 1989/90 time period; decals are upgraded, but otherwise it’s the same kit. Fit is good with the exception of the nacelle assemblies; you will have to spend a bit of time getting the aft portion lined up with the front. Markings are included for two recent (circa 2010 or so) Bear airframes.

Box Art

A-26 Invading Esquire Girls Part II
Review Author
Robert DeMaio
Published on
Company
Bombshell Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.00

Keep them coming, Bombshell Decals! The decals Bombshell produces is what the current industry needs, nose art of pinup girls and nicely done! They inspired our service men under wartime conditions and appear to carry on some sort of inspiration for modelers to recreate these aircraft in miniature. There is absolute minimum flash in these decals. No trimming is necessary but a reminder that they should be placed on a smooth finish, preferably glossy. All the numbers and letter designations big and small do not have flash background extended around the complete decal. The flash is a center band enough to maintain character spacing and alignment distance. There are no signs of color overlap, which makes the decals crisp and clear. This is very obvious just looking at the nose art ladies. You can actually see blended skin tones and hair highlights.

Box Art

Spitfire Mk. IX Landing Gear
Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$14.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has released a set of white metal replacement landing gear parts for Pacific Coast Models’ 1/32 Spitfire Mk. IX kit. This set is a direct replacement for the kit’s parts with some minor improvements to details. The main gear legs are exact copies of the kit parts with the same mounting lug cast in place. However, Dr. Billy Crisler collaborated with SAC to provide a corrected tail wheel and separate tail wheel strut to improve the detail in that area.