Sprues - 2

Sea Vixen FAW 2

Right quarter

'40 Ford Standard Coupe

Second WeGo, rear

Mechatro WeGo Aka and Kiiro (2 Kits)

Main deck from above

FT-17 French Light Tank

Gun locations

Spad XIII (early)

Finished model

SU-101 SPA

Finished Underside

P-39L/N US WWII Fighter

Decals

Ford GT

Interior

Wessex UH.5

Guns installed

MiG-15 Ceskoslovenske Patnactky

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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.

Front Cover

F-8 & RF-8 Crusader, Print-on-Demand, Volume 8
Book Author(s)
Bert Kinsey and Rock Roszak
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Detail & Scale, Inc.
MSRP
$19.99

Thank you to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for continuing to bring back a tremendous resource for the modeler, in a print-on-demand paperback format. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting story of the F-8/RF-8 Crusader’s history, details, versions and markings.

Decal Sheet

F-16CG F-16CM Falcon / Viper '31st Fighter Wing - Return with Honor', Avianio AB, Italy
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Bullseye Model Aviation
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$24.99

The F-16 has always been a favorite of mine. So when these decals came out I just had to get a set. The Aviano aircraft have been involved in all major campaigns since 2001. This sheet covers from 2002 to 2009.

Packaged in a large ziplock bag are seven double-sided high-quality sheets with full color printings. There are marking options for 14 aircraft. Each aircraft has both side profile views. All the markings are clearly seen. If there was a variation in the markings it is pointed out. Each sheet has two aircraft on each side of the sheet. Some of the aircraft have really colorful markings, including nose art and tail markings. The Wyvern and fin flash are quite colorful. If you like color on your Falcon this is a great sheet. There are mission markings and kill markings.

Product Picture

F.A.Q. 3 - Frequently Asked Questions of the Modern AFV Painting Techniques
Book Author(s)
Rubén González
Review Author
Jim Coatney
Published on
Company
AK Interactive
MSRP
$80.00

I’ve always been a big fan of the F.A.Q. books; while they are not cheap, they are packed with stunning pictures and high-quality modeling know-how. AK Interactive’s latest F.A.Q. release, version 3 by world-class modeler Ruben Gonzalez, focuses on modern armor. And just like its predecessors, it’s stunning.

The soft-cover book is contains 463 pages on glossy paper. Each page averages six high-quality images and their accompanying descriptions, which means there are around 2500 beautiful images in the book. But this book is more than just pretty pictures…it’s a how-to book and provides stet-by-step methodologies on how to use the modeling techniques used in the images. If you really want to take your modern armor models to the next level, the ways to do just that are in this book. Also included is a section on 3d-printed parts and how to use them.

The book is laid out in the following order:

Product Picture

Model Car World Military Finishes (Various)
Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
Model Car World
MSRP
$7.50

Back in the mid-90’s, the late Ed Kinney and I co-founded IPMS Fame Cities in the Akron/Canton area. While many ribald tales could be told of those days, the tenuous link to this review is that the owner of MCW Finishes, Mike Guest, is a member of Fame Cities. I reconnected with Mike after I read about the new line of military colors he’s producing in gloss lacquer. I asked mike to supply us with a group of sample colors and he more than obliged. I was recently building the little Brengun 1/144 Horten 229 night fighter, which called for an RLM 75/76 upper finish, so this gave me my first opportunity to try these paints.

I generally don’t write overly superlative reviews, but I have to tell you that these are absolutely fantastic paints. Mike and crew formulate their own colors using PPG base, and these are provided in ready-to-spray format.

Product Picture

Horten Ho-229 Night Fighter
Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$13.29

I’m a sucker for Luftwaffe ’46 concepts and 1/144 scale, so when Brengun supplied us with this little bat winged beauty my hand went up immediately.

The kit is petite, very nicely molded and with fine panel lines. Two color schemes are provided on the box, both for hypothetical units serving in 1946. The canopy is a little thick, but there isn’t much of a cockpit provided. I added paper seat belts and a stretched sprue control stick; you could go further if you chose to add some detail.

I thinned all of the landing gear doors and used my fine engraving saw to separate the control surface joints. Assembly is easily completed in a few hours; I spent more time painting and decaling than I did building. I removed the molded-in cannon from the wing leading edges and drilled out the area to accept some sprue – but in looking at my review photos I realize that I forgot to add them…..but I did add a pitot tube using guitar wire.