Upper Surface

B-52D/F Stratofortress

Image 1

FJ-2 Fury

Sprue E clear parts

USS Freedom LCS-1

Taillights Working!

1961 Jaguar E-Type, Final Installment!

Completed Model - Underside

R.A.F. TSR.2

Completed 8

M1A2 SEP Abrams TUSK II

Finished Model

Seafire FR Mk. 47 "The Last Royal Navy Propeller Fighter"

Wing root repair

Hurricane Mk. I Tropical

Ready for Decals and Weathering

T-28D Trojan

Dashboard

Kenworth W-900 Conventional

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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

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.

Box Art

Hawker Hunter Landing Gear
Review Author
Keenan Chittester
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.98

Unlike a lot of the white metal landing gear sets produced by Scale Aircraft Conversions, this is more than just a straight replacement for the landing gear provided in the Academy/Italeri Hawker Hunter kits. This set corrects a couple of errors in the kit; namely, the undersized main wheels and the length of the main gear legs. Among the 16 parts, you are also provided with a much more detailed nose wheel, and the detail on many of the other parts is superior to that of the plastic parts. The oleo scissors are also provided as one piece, rather than the two-piece affair provided in the kit. The one-piece unit should therefore be much easier to install, especially for someone like me who is all thumbs.

Box Art

Higgins PT Boat On Deck
Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Mike Kellner
Published on
Company
Squadron Products
MSRP
$18.95

The Higgins PT boat is lesser known than the Elco PT boat probably because a future president wasn't driving one that got cut in half by an enemy destroyer. There were only 209 Higgins PT boats built versus 326 Elco 80-foot PT boats, but it’s claimed by various sources that more Higgins 78-foot PT boats survive today.

This soft-cover book measures 8 1/4 by 11 inches, the same as others in this "On Deck" series, and is 80 pages in length, with a good mix of vintage photos and other shots of some surviving restored boats. It is also available in a hardcover version for an additional nine dollars, as stock number SS66008.