Detail

Wooden Gate - Straight

4

15cm Field Howitzer/10.5cm Field Gun

3D Printed parts

Cactus Air Force Deluxe Set – F4F-4 Wildcat and P-400/P-39D Over Guadalcanal

Completed Cockpit

Fokker E.1 Early

Finished with Academy

Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II

Sprue 4

Chinese J-11B

Engine detail

F-35B Lightning II

Crane

Büssing NAG 4500 A-1 with Bilstein 3t Drehkran

Fueller

Battle of Britain – Ready for Battle Gift Set

Starboard low

SIAI-Marchetti SF.260/AM/M/W

Previous Next

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.

Product

Sea Harrier FRS.1/FA.2 Wheel Bay
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$29.00

Czech Manufacturer Aires Hobby Models has released an aftermarket set to replace the Sea Harrier FRS.1/FA.2 wheel bays. The Sea Harrier has two main wheel bays (nose and ventral) and this kit provides you parts for both. As an ‘extra’ you even get the interior part of the SHAR air intake -the area just behind the cockpit area- molded in resin.

All parts are molded in cream-colored resin. The parts are free of surface defects and/or part lines.

All parts are superbly molded, with a level of detail that plastic simply cannot replicate, including superbly detailed air compressed tanks, hydraulic fluid tanks and valves. You even get individual electrical wires molded into the resin. Detail painting will pay off.

Pouring stabs are of moderate size and removal of them might take a bit of effort. Likely plastic parts modification would be needed, mainly on the ventral bay.

Meng Dr.1

Fokker Dr1 Triplane
Review Author
Chris Gibson
Published on
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$88.00

It has been 102 years since the end of WW1 and we still have a fascination with the daring young men and their flying machines. It is amazing that 11 years after the Wright brothers first flew, we had airplanes dogfighting over the battle-scarred fields in Europe. Some of those aircraft were simple single wing models that resembled kites, others were single seat bi-planes and 2 seat cockpits with a pilot and gunner and others were huge 100 + foot wingspan bombers. Then there were the Triplanes, England’s Sopwith came out with the first triplane and the German Fokker soon followed with their Dr-1, of which Manfred von Richtofen, also known as the Red Baron, had made his mount until he was killed in action on 21 April 1918

Box Art

Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$45.00

History

Designed to replace such aircraft as the USAF F-16, A-10, the Navy’s F/A-18, and the Marine Corps ASV-8B STOL aircraft, Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter was accepted by the armed services and three versions have been produced so far. Those versions are the USAF F-35A, the Marine Corps F-35B VTOL aircraft, and the Navy’s F-35C carrier fighter. A number of foreign countries have ordered the type. The Marine F-35B provides vertical as well as horizontal thrust. The F-35 is capable of several missions, including air superiority, ground attack, and interception duties. The Marine Corps unit VMFA-121 Green Knights was the first unit to receive F-35’s in 2012, and they have since been issued to USAF and Navy units. Currently, F-35A’s are being used as fighter trainers at Luke AFB, Arizona, where I see them flying almost every day. They are most impressive to see and hear in the air.

DIO Drybrush Paint - AMMO-MiG

DIO Drybrush Paint - Light Blue by AMMO-MiG
Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$3.99

There is somewhat of a recent trend in home furnishing circles that gives renewed life to older furniture and kitchen cabinets. The painting technique of which I speak is dry brushing. The trend has even caught the eye of Bob Vila, once and former host of the PBS series 'This Old House'. Bob is no longer affiliated with the program after lambasting (allegedly) a homeowner for being a lazy twit, but that's a story for another time.

This dry brush technique involves dousing your paint brush into the paint of choice, removing almost all of it from the paint brush bristles and applying the minute amount of remaining paint onto the selected object. In the case of a home improvement project that might be cabinet doors or the odd tabletop but for our purposes this missive will focus solely on scale models.

Cover

Poles in the Battle of Britain: A Photographic Album of the Polish "Few"
Book Author(s)
Peter Sikora
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$42.95

From the Website

"Peter Sikora makes excellent use of his outstanding knowledge, expertise and passion for history of the Polish Air Force to tell an often-forgotten tale of the Polish Few who fought alongside the British during the Battle of Britain. The author manages to capture in a moving way the reality of life for Polish airmen through personal stories and unique photographs. His work is an important contribution to honouring the memory of those who fought for the freedom of Europe, Britain and their faraway motherland." - Polish Ambassador Arkady Rzegocki.