Finished Aft Section

Chinese J-11B

Finished Hurricane model

Hurricane Mk. I Tropical

Both kits

USS New Jersey & USS Essex

Finished rig

Freightliner With Trailer

Stage13

Russian Heavy Tank KV-2

Rear

G917T (1939 production), German Army Truck

Forward hull sandwich detail

Battlestar Galactica Pegasus

Finished aircraft, right-rear

Aichi B7A2 Attack Bomber Ryusei Kai (Grace)

Engine closeup

TF-104 Starfighter

Left-rear view, crane extended

Kenworth W-900 Wrecker

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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.

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Product Picture

British WWII Uniforms
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$11.00

The AMMO website listing for this set of AMMO paints includes this description; “The AMMO range of acrylic paints for figures has been designed to make your painting sessions a more enjoyable experience thanks to the speed and simplicity of use. This set includes 4 colours for painting the infantry uniforms widely used by British troops during WWII. The colours have been selected through rigorous research of period uniforms, allowing you to accurately paint the base tones of uniforms, add highlights, and enhance details.”

The four colors included in this set are AMMO F-504 Yellow Green, F-545 British Brown, F-546 Ochre Brown, and F-547 Pale Earth.

Scroll down until you see the Quick Tips Logo and click on it. An image of that logo accompanies this review. A pdf will open and can be downloaded. This pdf provides detailed “Tips”, in English and Spanish, to employ a combination of airbrushing and hand-painting to achieve the desired result.

Box Art

Cessna O-2A Skymaster
Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.00

Aircraft and History

The O-2A Skymaster, known as “Oscar Deuce” is a small twin engine aircraft used primarily as a Forward air controller (FAC) and psychological operations (PSYOPS). The USAF starting using the O-2 in 1967 in the Vietnam War as a replacement for the O-1 Bird Dog. With just a few years service, the O-2 was intended to be replaced by the OV-10 Bronco but the O-2 remained in service, primarily for night operations.

The USAF requested Cessna to make a military version of its 337 Super Skymaster with “hardpoints” under the wings, additional windows for observers and new cabin arrangement. A unique feature of the Skymaster is the engine arrangement. Unlike traditional twin-engine aircraft with engines on each wing, the Skymaster has one in the nose and another on the rear fuselage. This arrangement allows centerline thrust so if one engine loses power, aircraft control (in yaw) is minimal if any at all which is a significant safety advantage.

Package

O-2A Skymaster Landing Gear (ICM)
Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) manufactures white metal landing gear that is a direct replacement for a kit’s plastic landing gear. The metal landing gear offer greater strength over the kit parts as well as having most of the mold lines removed. At times the metal will be bent out of shape but that is easily corrected by bending it back to the correct shape.

This set includes four parts; main gear, nose gear, oleo strut for nose gear, and nose gear bay. SAC gear does require some clean-up for the rare cases there are still seam lines. You many also sand and prime the struts to remove some of the rough texture that appears in some areas. Installing the new gear requires CA glue or non-traditional modeling adhesives. SAC recommends that the gear is for experienced modelers that are used to working with metal gear.

Marking Options

O-2 Skymaster FAC & BS Bomber Oscar Deuces Decals
Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$15.00

AOA Decals is a relatively new aviation decal with an impressive variety in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144 scale. Their product line primary focus is Vietnam era aircraft. Although a relatively young company, their quality and attention to detail rivals all other decal companies on the market. The decal set comes with one large decal sheet and a six-page, full color instructions.

This decal set for the Cessna O-2 Skymaster, also known as the “Oscar Deuce” is designed for the 1/48 scale ICM kit. There are fifteen different subjects that can be made and three different paint schemes (Gray, Black and Southeast Asia) to choose from in this set. Three of the paint schemes are for the O-2B which AOA provides a brief history, as well a statement that an O-2B is not released. AOA is ahead of the game for when ICM or another model manufacturer releases a B model Skymaster.

Product Picture

B-26 C-50 Korean War "Glass Nose"
Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$87.00

In what appears to be a never ending stream, ICM Holdings offers the modeling public another variant of the B-26 Invader, Medium Bomber. This latest novelty is the 1/48th scale B-26 C-50 with markings for three separate U.S. aircraft employed during the Korean War.

This plethora of variations of the 1/48th scale B-26 that ICM Holdings is releasing is most welcome as it gives all the opportunity to build the Invader of our choice. I for one hope they continue and a 1/48th scale B-26 K Counter Invader is in our future.

Marking options included with this release are: