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
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
Obscureco Aircraft
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$20.00

If you are looking to spruce up your 1/72 scale Fujimi F7U-3/3M Gutless, I mean Cutlass of course, look no further than Obscureco Aircraft and their release this year of a detail set for this plane. The set includes a cockpit, two different ejection seats, a replacement nose gear well, under canopy shelf, and canopy interior bulkhead. While I would recommend some experience with resin before using this set, everything fits well, and it is not too great of a challenge to add to your plane.

Review Author
Phil Pignataro
Published on
Company
Fine Molds
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$32.95

Way back in the 1960’s, McDonnell Aircraft had a winner with their F-4B Phantom II and it enjoyed a long production run in several versions. The plastic model manufacturers kept pace releasing and re-releasing many of these versions. Fine Molds is the latest modeling company to offer a line of F-4’s including several JASDF machines as well as the F-4E, F-4D, and F-4J. The F-4C is one of their latest releases and it is a winner.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$3.50

This set provides replacement gun fairings and barrels for the new Airfix MiG-17F kit. The set consists of three gun fairings and three barrels to replace the kit guns. The fairings are on-for-one replacements for the kit fairings, but the barrels are a huge improvement over the kit barrels as the business end of each barrel is hollowed out rather than solid, so they really look like gun barrels.

Installation of the fairings is exactly the same as for the kit parts, other than having to be attached with superglue. As MiG-17 kits are notorious tail sitters, I had packed as much weight as I could in the cavity between the intake walls and in front of the cockpit tub, but I had also ended up putting some under the cockpit. Unfortunately, some of this weight partially blocked the hole where the larger fairing was to be installed, so I have to carve off some of the attachment plug in order to get it to fit.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$11.95

This set provides white metal replacements for Airfix’s new MiG-17F kit. The set consists of five parts, a new nose strut with integral wheel, two main gear struts and two retraction/extension actuators and are one-for-one replacements for the kit parts.

The parts are well cast with just a minor casting seam to be cleaned up. I then polished each part with a wire wheel in my Dremel to smooth out the cast texture and get the parts ready for painting.

As the landing gear on the aircraft I am modeling was unpainted, I sprayed the struts with Testors aluminum and then painted the tire Tamiya NATO black. I highlighted the retracting sections of the retraction/extension actuators with Testor’s chrome silver.

As the parts are cast copies of the kit parts, they fit exactly as the kit parts would, except that they have to be installed with superglue instead of model cement.

This set is a nice replacement for the Airfix kit parts. Recommended.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Cozmic Scale Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$7.60

Cozmic Scale Models is a UK- based, passionate maker of high-quality resin model kits, diorama accessory items and other assorted paraphernalia for all things Sci-Fi. Many of their items are designed specifically with either Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek in mind.

A number of these accessory items are 3-D printed which seems to be the case with this 1/32nd scale compressed gas bottle and trolley. The gas trolley and handle are in an off-white resin and both items exhibit excellent detail. These two parts can be assembled with only minimal clean-up of the resin bits. Do exercise some caution when removing the handle from the casting sprue, as it is delicate. The handle is pose-able as the mounting holes are cast into the base of the gas bottle. Nice touch!