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.

Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.95

The SAC website says they replicate plastic kit parts in white metal and correct inaccurate or missing details if needed. That is the case in this set for the 1/48 Airfix Tiger Moth kit. The main landing gear on the Moth has two forward facing struts connecting the main gear to the fuselage. Airfix does provide those in the kit. They are not part of this set. It also has two smaller struts facing rearward. Airfix didn’t include those in the kit but SAC has. A tail skid replacement rounds out this offering. I recommend this set for anyone wishing to build an accurate Tiger Moth.

Thank you to SAC for the offering the sample for review and to IPMS for sharing that sample with me.

Review Author
David Dodge
Published on
Company
Gallery Models
Scale
1/16
MSRP
$199.98

Opening the Box

Wow was it Christmas or what? This is a smaller armored vehicle in the big picture of things, but there is no doubt it is a big kit, and it is stuffed with sprues. The box is 22” by 13 ¾” by 5 5/8 “. Nope it is not going to fit in the mailbox. There is a single hull piece with 141 sprues (95 of which are the 190 Track blocks in a separate bag bundled in the hull along with the track components), So a rough sprue parts count drives this number up to over 1,105 individual parts. Also included are the Side skirts, clear parts and the copper tow cable and PE parts. Also included is an optional metal gun barrel.

So, if you thought because it’s bigger means less parts your build experience will be just like a well contented 1/35 kit. Nope not a snap-tite kit for sure. However, because the parts are larger, the detail is well executed and crisp with almost no flash whatsoever. The sprue gates and risers are larger so there will be more cleanup

Book Author(s)
Hrvoje Spajić
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$22.95

The book is another in the great Images of War series. This book covers the history and actions of the German SchnellbootWaffe units though out the second world war.

The book really is about the development of the use of the SchnellerBootwaffe on its various forms and the operations it carried out. Also, the British forces actions and defenses against the units.

The Chapters are

  1. Introduction
  2. Precedents and First Actions (1915 to 1940)
  3. The British Response (1941)
  4. The Mediterranean (1941-1945)
  5. British Pressure (1942)
  6. American Intervention (1943)
  7. Maritime Operations and Operation Neptune (1944)
  8. Final Battles on the Western Front (1945)

The images in the book are excellent and cover all levels of the action and history of the units.

The book is full of amazing photos, and they provide so much information. I learned so much from reading it.

Book Author(s)
Philippe Saintes
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$39.95

This book provides an overview of the victory markings painted on the fins and rudders of the planes of the German day fighter and night fighter aircraft between 1939 and 1945. It demonstrates how these were applied in reality through the profiles of nineteen pilots, including some of the most emblematic pilots of the Luftwaffe: Hans Troitzsch, Johannes Gentzen, Frank Liesendahl, Wilhelm Balthasar, Otto Bertram, Joachim Müncheberg, Karl-Heinz Koch, Kurt “Kuddel” Ubben, Felix-Maria Brandis, “Fiffi” Stahlschmidt, Franz-Josef Beerenbrock, Heinrich Setz, Walter “Gulle" Oesau, Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, Heinrich Bartels, "Fritz" Dinger, Martin Drewes, Egmont zur Lippe-Weissenfeld and Ludwig Meister.

Chapters include:

Book Author(s)
Ian Baxter
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$22.95

Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, was arguably the pivotal moment of the Second World War. Initially the onslaught was staggeringly successful with, as the superb contemporary images in this book show, Waffen-SS armored divisions leading the charge. But the Nazis had underestimated the Russians’ determination to defend their homeland and the logistical problems compounded by the extreme winter weather conditions.