Stock Nose

A-26C Invader

Rear Quarter

1961 Jaguar E-Type, Final Installment!

Clear Fuselage sprues 3

Do335 A-0 Pfeil - First Look and Cockpit Build, Part 1

Gun cavity

Messerschmitt Me-410B-2/U4

Body detail

Armored ¼ Ton 4x4 Truck with Bazookas

Cannon bay

Hs-129B-2 Winter Camouflage Limited Edition

Back

F-2A "Detail Up"

Top surface detail and 1-piece molded wing.

Mosquito B Mk.IV - Planning, Prep, and Anticipation

completed 3

AGM-154A/C Block I "JSOW"

Gun With Crew 1

75mm Pack Howitzer M1A1 & Gun Crew

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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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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.

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Cover

The Japanese Destroyer Suzutsuki. TopDrawings No. 128
Book Author(s)
Mariusz Motyka
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Kagero Publishing, from Poland, in TopDrawings No. 128, details the appearance of the apex of WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy destroyers, the Akizuki class Suzutsuki (Calm Moon) in 1945. The TopDrawings series is designed for modelers to have an accurate reference for detailed appearances of individual ships and aircraft. TopDrawings consist of glossy color covers with matte black & white (B&W) line drawings of the ship, particular features, and equipment, especially armament. But the main attraction is the separate, large foldout of B&W scale drawings – 1/200 in this book. Suzutsuki looks huge (over two feet long) in the foldout, supplying plenty of tiny details I have not seen before. This book is the benchtop companion to the SuperDrawings in 3D book on Suzutsuki, also by Mariusz.

Cover

Danger Forward. The Forgotten Wars of General Paul F. Gorman
Book Author(s)
Mike Guardia
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
Company
Magnum Books
MSRP
$24.95

Danger Forward is the title, but you will read how the book could have been titled Danger 360. The stuff of which good movies should be made. This hard-to-put-down book reads fast and easy with a you-were-there feel that covers key US military efforts from WW2 to the mid 1980s, when General Gorman retired. He is still alive at 94 years in Virginia. The author, Mike Guardia, came out with the first book on Hal Moore, and the resulting movie with Mel Gibson, which catapulted him to the Top 100 authors in the US, and he continues his excellence and making history palpable and more exciting then when the reader lived through it and remembers with the adventures of Paul Gorman.

Cover

155mm Gun M1 “Long Tom” and 8-inch Howitzer in WWII and Korea
Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
Schiffer Publishing
MSRP
$24.99

About the Author

David Doyle is a familiar name and a prolific author of military history books. His published works have appeared in periodicals aimed at the hobby of historic military vehicle restoration. By 1999, this included regular features in leading hobby publications, appearing regularly in US, British and Polish magazines. Since 2003, over 200 of his books have been published.

Box art

Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf. A Early/Mid
Review Author
Patrick Brown
Published on
Company
Das Werk Scale Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.95

Bottom Line Up Front

Let’s face it, interior kits with their massive part-count aren’t everyone’s thing. A model retailer once told me that armor kits without an interior outsell those with one by almost 10 to 1. Cue Das Werk to the rescue with reboxing of Takom’s Panther kits with no interior sprues, a reasonably sized box, manageable part count, and correspondingly manageable price tag. This kit builds into a sharp model of a Panther Ausf A with no issues and engineering that is a joy to behold.

History

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther was born out of a project started in 1938 to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. It was used on both eastern and western fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.

Vital Statistics and Scores

Detail: 4 out of 5

Book Cover

Warpaint 133 C-47 Skytrain/Dakota in Worldwide Military Service

Book Author(s)
Adrian M. Balch
Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
Company
Guideline Publications
MSRP
$34.00

Perhaps the most famous and most long-lived transport aeroplane in history, the DC-3 and its military versions including the C-47 Dakota are still in service around the World some 85 years after it’s first flight. There cannot have been many air forces around the world that have not operated the type and at one point or another still use them today.

It is only fitting that the almost as famous and long-lived Warpaint series of books from Guideline Publications has now seen fit to include the type – the only mystery here is why it has taken so long!

Author Adrian Balch has been a fixture of the British aviation scene for well over half a century himself and has amassed an unrivalled collection of aviation photos, some of which grace this volume.