PE

WWII British Army 30cwt 4x2 G.S. Truck

Finished model

Yak-28PP Brewer

Left side

British Mk.VI Crusader Mk.III - Cruiser Tank

Cockpit Closeup

Super Bug - F/A-18E Hornet

Finished model

US Coast Guard HH-65C Dolphin Helicopter

Engine bay

Ford Escort Zakspeed Gr.2

13

Sea Hurrican Mk. Ib

Assembled 1

U.S. Tent Stove

Box Art

WWII Wehrmacht Infantry Set

Underside

F/A-18E Super Hornet

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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.

Cover

How To Paint WWII RAF Early Aircraft
Book Author(s)
Ammo by Mig
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$12.00

In recent months I had the opportunity to review some products from Ammo by Mig and I have been impressed with the quality and ease of use of them. To the point that I started purchasing some other items from the line… but at times it is not clear what the product is for, or rather, how to use it.

Enter “Solution Book” series. Each book of this series describes what the products are for, how to use them and it has a series of pictures (in a “how to” style) showing step-by-step how to use the each products like the streakingbrusher, or the pigments, the oilbrushers, or the filters.

Product

Albatross L-39Z0

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Aires Models from Czech Republic specializes on aftermarket details; for the most part releasing “drop-in” resin replacement parts.

This set is intended to replace the wheels of the 1/48 Trumpeter L39Z0. The parts are molded in grey resin, free of bubbles or imperfections and with great surface detail, down to the manufacturer of the tires molded with enough raised detail that will take dry-brushing fantastically!

The attachment points of the wheels to the casting blocks are miniscule and removal and clean up should be an easy task. The resin wheels are of the “non-weighted” variety.

In addition to the resin parts, they include painting masks which are super-handy to have and use. The masks are pre-cut so it is as simple as peeling, placing and you are ready to airbrush.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Aires Models and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Box Art

USS Pittsburgh CA-72
Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
Company
Atlantis Model Company
Scale
1/490
MSRP
$21.99

The Kit

Atlantis continues to re-release some of the kits a lot of us grew up with. This example is the 1954 Revell U.S.S. Pittsburgh. The kit was re-released many times over the years as the Pittsburgh, the Helena and with new parts updating it with Terrier missies as the Boston and Canberra. This release is in its WW II guise. You get decals for every ship in its class (Baltimore heavy cruisers), but you run short of bow numbers for some, like the one I did, the U.S.S. Toledo. The model is a member of Revell’s “Flat Bottom Navy” and has no hull detail and a flat bottom. Better for scooting across the floor by young budding captains I suppose.

Cover

Kit Build #6 - Vought F4U Corsair
Book Author(s)
Karoly Bera, Marcin Ciepierski and Richard Kovalcik
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

The Kit Build series from Kagero focuses on model builds of a specific type of aircraft and gives several examples. In this case, the focus is the F4U Corsair. There are three builds covered and they are:

  1. Tamiya 1/72nd scale by Richard Kovalčik, Birdcage Corsair
  2. Tamiya 1/72nd scale by Marcin Ciepierski, Early Corsair
  3. Tamiya 1/48th scale F4U-4 by Karoly Bera

The books are written with the English language version in the left column and the right column in Polish. The book includes 64 pages and each build is about 20 pages. Also included at the end are four color profiles of the Corsair and a book sized poster of the Corsair for framing.

Box Art

Opel Blitz Radio Truck
Review Author
Chris Martin
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$44.99

Summary

This appears to be a re-issue of an older kit. While the level of detail is okay, the details themselves are a bit soft. The parts layout and build sequence is simple and straight forward. Anyone with a kit or two experience should not have any troubles with the few issues I encountered.

Background

The Opel Blitz was the "working mule" of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It was deployed on all fronts in multiple variations. Thanks to the sturdy frame, robust rigid axles with leaf springs and twin back wheels the Opel Blitz could carry a payload of over 3 tons. While the most popular version was a rear-wheel-drive 4x2, a 4x4 version was operated in both Russia and North Africa. A model with the rear wheels replaced with tracks also saw action in the Russian and European theaters.

This kit depicts the 4x2 mobile command post with radio communications for battlefield management of ground troops.