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.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Amigo Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$21.99

IPMS/USA continues to welcomes the return of the Advanced Modeling/Amigo team for sending us this new-technology set; their lineup continues to grow! And thanks to Phil and John for obtaining the sets for the team…

Advanced Modeling/AMIGO (Hereafter referred to as AM for simplicity) is a Russian company specializing in modern Soviet and Russian aircraft accessories; their first items released a few years ago were weapons, and they have recently branched out into other items, in this case an upgrade to Zvezda’s Mig-29 9-13 kit exhaust, augmentor tubes, and afterburner nozzles.

Once again, AM’s accessory shows the extent 3-D printing has improved the appearance of our available aftermarket… included are 8 resin parts: Exhaust augmentor tubes with excellent cooling liner details, along with the turbine/flameholder, and the dual-layer Exhaust augmentor petals, a hallmark of the Mig 29. These fit together like they should, and are astoundingly detailed.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$59.95

Eduard has released the long awaited Tempest Mk.V series 2 in their Profipack boxing and what a treat that is. The box includes a total of 7 sprues (two clear), plus pre-painted photo-etch cockpit details, detail pre-cut masks and cartograph-printed decals for 6 different airframes. Not only that, but you will end up with some extra parts for your spares box, as there are a few parts for the Mk.V series 1 and you also have some optional parts for different airframes. A comment is that some of the sprues seems to have been molded with a slightly different color of plastic (one is a tad bluer than the other sprues). Regardless the color, all sprues have the same ‘feel’ when removing parts or sanding parts.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95

IPMS/USA again thanks Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with one more of many monthly releases, with extremely useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for the modeling crowd out here in the modeling world. And thanks to IPMS leadership for sending it to me to be reviewed.

Consisting of 7 separate well-cast white metal parts, this gear is the usual replacement for the kit gear. Hobbyboss provides excellent kits with great detail, but usually has some things simplified. In this case the landing gear has everything it needs attached to the main gear, and as to the nose you add kit shimmy dampers, doors, and taxi lights. The FOD/Mud Guard is supplied with the set as well.

This SAC set adds the usual structural strength to the weakest part of most models: The landing gear. Cast tough yet malleable white metal, it addresses any concern for splayed and failed landing gear for Hobbyboss’ SU-30MKK.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Fly Models
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$124.95

I’ve built a number of models from this fledgling company, and must state one basic observation: they provide some fascinating subjects. I probably don’t need to go into a lot of historical background regarding the revolutionary Arado Ar234, except to say that it was the world’s first jet bomber and a truly amazing aircraft in many ways. I became fascinated with it during my teens when I built the venerable Lindberg kit, enthralled by the design.

Leave it to Fly to come up with not one, but several different configurations of this pivotal aircraft in my favorite scale, with more to come. I checked up on the Fly internet site and was not at all surprised to see that the two earlier releases are now sold out. Get them while you can!

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$22.00

The new Airfix P-40B is an excellent example of the iconic fighter made famous by the Flying Tigers. The kit is nice but there are some things in the cockpit that need to be ‘fixed’. Aires has released this new cockpit set for the kit.

Inside the typical Aires blister pack are 21 pieces molded in light grey resin. My example was flawless despite damage to the blister package. The set also has a small fret of photoetch that includes the instrument panel and seatbelts. A film of acetate is also provided for the instruments.

This set will require some thinning of the sidewalls to get it to fit properly. But once you get past that, the set fits together simply and easily. The parts breakdown is very similar to the kit breakdown. The pour stubs are easy enough to remove.