Side shot of fuselage showing decal detail

CM.170 Magister

Cockpit 3

MiG-21PFM - Vietnam

Cockpit tub

F-14A Tomcat “Iranian Air Force” Limited Edition

Completed cockpit

P-47D Thunderbolt "Special Italian Campaign"

Canopy detail

Hurricane Mk I.

Right Rear

B-52D/F Stratofortress

Top

IJN Submarine I-20

Finished Side View

F-4B Phantom

Puma Right Rear

Sd.Kfz.234/2 'PUMA'

Gun Bays

North American P-51D/K Mustang "Pacific Theater"

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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.

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FJ Fury: Part 1 - Prototypes through FJ-3 Variants
Book Author(s)
Bert Kinzey
Review Author
Chris Renninger
Published on
Company
Detail & Scale, Inc.
MSRP
$19.99

This book has 3 chapters going over many aspects of this aircraft.

  • Development History
  • Fury Variants
    • FJ-1
    • XFJ-2 prototypes
    • FJ-2
    • FJ-3
  • FJ-1/FJ-2 Details
    • Cockpit Details
    • Canopy
    • Fuselage
    • Wing Details
    • Landing gear
    • Tail detail
    • Engine Details

The book starts with the Development history of the aircraft all the way to production, along with there Variants.

This book has a lot of detail on majority of the aircraft and what I loved the most is the detailed cockpit and how all the oil lines are ran along with the hydraulics, this is a must if you are building one of these models.

I can recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the FJ Fury and its an excellent reference for anyone building this aircraft. I look forward to Part 2 of this book to come out.

Cover

Fighters of the Dying Sun: The Most Advanced Japanese Fighters of the Second World War
Book Author(s)
Justo Miranda
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
Company
Fonthill Media
MSRP
$45.00

From the publisher:

Justo Miranda is the author of books and monographs on aviation since the 1980s. A widely known historian, Miranda specializes in aviation of the 1930s and is the author of two volumes on aircraft used during the Spanish Civil War. The exciting discovery of a microfilm on secret German weapons in the early 1990s drove him to publish Secret Wonder Weapons of the Third Reich, later published by Schiffer in 1996. Since then, Miranda has published Reichdreams and monographs on little known airplane projects.

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Grumman F-14 Tomcat in US Navy Service
Book Author(s)
Salvador Mafe Huertas
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$28.95

Kagero Publishers continues to expand its Monograph series with a book dedicated to the F-14 in US Navy Service (one of the only two users of the airframe)

The book is divided in the following sections

  • Genesis of a thoroughbred
  • Production and variants
  • VF-154 “Black Knights”
  • Pilot and RIO
  • VF-32 “Swordsmen”, its last deployment with the Tomcat
  • F-14 Main Systems
  • Weapons
  • Tomcat in Combat
  • F-14 Tomcat Retired, Baby!
  • F-14 Tomcat in 2002

Each section can be read as a stand-alone mini-monograph on the topic at hand. Each section is well researched, has plenty of information on it and, if relevant quotes from pilots are included.

Cover

Solution Book 13 (How To Use Shaders To Create Weathering Effects & Other Techniques)
Book Author(s)
José Luis López
Review Author
Phil Pignataro
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$19.99

Mig Jimenez, over the past several years, has created a thriving business

based on model paints and eventually, his product line expanded into all aspects of plastic modeling. Significantly, AMMO has produced a plethora of weathering products. These have become so pervasive that words like pre-shading, post-shading, washes, filters, pigments, modulation, and pin-washes are now part of our every-day modeling vocabulary. Trying to navigate all these products and techniques can be daunting. Luckily, Solution Book 13 goes a long way to help you understand and use AMMO’s weathering system.

Cover

The Sino-Soviet Border War of 1969: The Border Conflict That Almost Sparked a Nuclear War, Vol. 1 (Asia at War Series, No. 21)
Book Author(s)
Dmitry Ryabuskin & Harold Orenstein
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Helion & Company continues their series on Asia at War with the first of two volumes on the Sino-Soviet Border Skirmishes of 1969. The author is Russian and it was translated into English. From time-to-time there are some cumbersome sentences and the perspective of the author comes through as you read on. The book is full of contemporary photographs, so they are in black and white. There are several pages of color profiles of vehicles and uniforms as well as several maps of where the incident occurred. Please note, that there are several grizzly, close up photographs of dead Soviet border guards. If you are not accustomed to seeing dead bodies, close up, be warned.