Casemate Publishers, distributors for Kagero Publications, has added another title to their ongoing series of Super Drawings in 3D. This time they turn their attention to the classic British Battleship, HMS Rodney. If you are familiar with these titles, a ship is rendered in full color, 3D illustrations. Each of these super drawing books provide a short overview of the ship in question specifications and a summary of its operational history before plunging into the illustrations. Kagero also provides a black and white fold out plan of the HMS Rodney.
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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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.
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I have a love for the unusual Naval airplanes – ones without the glitz and glamour of things like the F-14 Tomcat or F-18 Hornet. When Special Hobby graciously gave a kit of the AF-2s Guardian to IPMS/USA for review, I jumped on it (begged for it)
The Af-2S Guardian was the first purpose-built anti-submarine warfare plane for carrier use to enter the US Navy active duty in 1950. There were actually two planes used for this job- one to carry the large (at the time) radar and detecting equipment and a second plane to carry weapons to destroy the sub. This particular kit is the “Sub Killer” and would carry the weapons. The Guardian was the largest single-engine piston-powered carrier aircraft to see service. Around 200 were built.
Let’s look at the kit- Special Hobby is a limited run kit consisting of seven gray and one clear sprue, a single colorized photoetched sheet and lots of resin parts with a nice decal sheet representing two aircraft:
This fine book is yet another in Osprey’s Air Campaign series. It concerns itself with the massive bombing efforts over Germany in late 1943 through 1944. The author provides an excellent overview it’s chronology, including the daylight bombing raids over Berlin, Hanover, Peenemünde, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Stettin, Leipzig, Augsburg and numerous other targets.
Of particular interest is the outline the leadership and organization of both allied offensive and the German defensive forces—both in terms of the array of aircraft, bases and the defensive guns and equipment utilized by both axis and allies.
Rescue Wings is a Japanese anime cartoon known for its realistic portrayal of the Japan Air Self Defense Force’s (JASDF) Air Rescue Wing, in particular the Komatsu Rescue Squadron. The basic plot involves a helicopter pilot’s (2nd Lieutenant Uchida Kazuhiro) assignment to the JASDF Komatsu Air Base. This initial series ran for 12 episodes (an additional episode added to the DVD release) and was followed by two manga series and a live-action film. They were created with the full cooperation of the Air Rescue Wing.
U-125A
This fixed wing aircraft is based on the British Aerospace’s twin-engine Bae 125-800 private jet. These aircraft are modified for the search-and-rescue with large observation windows, a marker flare ejection system, a droppable liferaft, and an emergency equipment dropping system.
Hauler-Brengun is well known as a supplier of high-quality aftermarket detail parts for aircraft, as well as other subjects. Many of these aftermarket items are resin, P.E., or a combination of the two mediums. In this “inbox” review, we will look at the quality of the parts, decals, and P.E. parts as well as the packaging and kit instructions.
Marketed under the “Brengun” label, this review looks at the Brengun BRL32037 AGM-114 Hellfire Missile. There are 8 Hellfires in this product including PE parts and decals for those eight missiles. The missiles are packaged in a small zip-lock baggie, as is the single sheet of P.E. parts. The kit instructions, printed on a small sheet of paper, and the decals are boxed underneath the missile parts. The sturdy cardboard box is about 3 inches by 3 inches and about ¾ inch deep.