The Lady

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Finished Jeep, right

US Army Jeep

Finished right side

P-39 D/F/K Airacobra

Front

1979 Pontiac Trans Am

Painted

Aero L-29 Delfin

5

The Lighthouse

Finished 3

Dornier D0-335 B-6 Pfeil Night Fighter

Finished

Cave Bear

Completed nose detail

Arado Ar 234B-2/S3

Steering Wheel & Dash

Tim Flock’s 1956 Chrysler 300B

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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 Cover

P-51D Mustang "Foreigners"
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
Company
Platz
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$15.60

History

The P-51 Mustang is evaluated as one of the best fighters in World War II, not only the United States Army Air Corps, but also the highest peak of the piston-engined fighter that was adopted in various countries around the world and stayed active for a long time after the war. The P-51D, powered by the Merlin engine, is considered by many to be the definitive version of the Mustang. With its aerodynamic and sophisticated design, the P-51D Mustang has become a masterpiece fighter with a well-balanced variety of performance required for a fighter aircraft, such as excellent high-speed performance, long range, stable altitude performance, sufficient athleticism and fighting ability.

Box Art

Jackal 1 High Mobility Weapon Platform
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
MRC
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$106.99

The Jackal 1 is a new kit from the prolific model company, Hobby Boss in 1/35 scale. It is a unique vehicle from the United Kingdom and deployed to Afghanistan. For those of you unfamiliar with the vehicle, here’s a short description from Hobby Boss, “The British Army has added a category of vehicle to the armored vehicle fleet called the tactical support vehicle (TSV). 400 TSVs were ordered in October 2008 as part of the $700m protected patrol vehicles package. The new TSVs will be used to accompany patrols, and to transport supplies such as ammunition and water.

Box Art

RS-132 Ammunition Boxes
Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$25.00

The RS-132

The RS-132 is an unguided Russian rocket which officially entered service in 1938. It was not known for its accuracy and in one test had no hits in 134 firings. During WWII, its performance was poor since it was usually fired from great distances. It required a direct hit to disable light and medium German armor. Near misses caused no damage at all. It was mostly effective when fired in salvos against large groups of ground troops.

The Kit

The box contains four identical gray sprues containing a total of 104 parts which build up to create four ammunition boxes each holding four shells.

The parts are crisply details and flash free. A double-sided instruction guide is provided. The seven assembly steps are very well illustrated. The color callouts correspond to three colors (olive green, flat black and steel) for which the Tamiya and Revell codes are provided.

Product Picture

Yokosuka Ohka MXY7-K1 Kai
Review Author
Jason Holt
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$18.00

History

With Allied Forces getting closer and closer to the homeland of Japan during World War II the Japanese military turned to various methods of self-sacrifice to combat the Allied forces. The MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) was one of those weapons.

Essentially this weapon was a human guided cruise missile in which it would be carried aloft by a mothership, typically a G4M Betty Bomber, and then released within sight of the enemy naval fleet. The rocket powered craft would hurdle towards its target with a 2,600lb warhead and a pilot behind the stick with the hopes of hitting a target.

Being late in the war Japan was losing its skilled pilots rapidly, and with this particular one use aircraft, Japan would need to be able to train new unskilled recruits in the art of flying very quickly. It was hoped to give the inexperienced pilots some basic knowledge of the craft in which they were going to fly in, so they created the MXY7-K1 2 seat trainer.

New Issue Cobra

AH-1G Cobra Helicopter (Early)
Review Author
Dana Mathes
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$107.95

Summary

ICM has produced an excellent model kit for the fearsome Vietnam-era AH-1G Cobra helicopter (early version). With new molds, this kit is engineered and molded to contemporary standards. ICM has provided the modeler with many options for ordnance, service bay access, as well as open canopies. Markings have been provided for 4 schemes. The kit has eliminated most of the constructability problems of the old Revell/Monogram kit, but it still has a couple of spots that require special attention. The instrument panel details provided are inadequate for a kit of this quality.