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.

Book Author(s)
Robert Jackson
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$28.95

The Bf-109 is an iconic fighter of the Third Reich. Developed in 1935 the single engine monoplane fighter struck fear into the enemies of the Reich until the end of the war. Continuously developed throughout the war the fighter even survived the fall of Germany in the air forces of Spain, Czechoslovakia and ironically the fledgling Israel.

This softbound book contains 80 pages of high quality paper and 100 color illustrations and pictures. The book includes a variety of black and white historical images, as well as, a number of contemporary color photos not just of the Bf-109 but also its opponents. There are eight pages of color profiles that are quite nice and run the entire production from the first 109 to the last Spanish and Czech ones.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Reskit
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.00

Res Kit offers a wide variety of resin parts and bits for a large number of aircraft in 1/48th, 1/72nd, and 1/32nd scale. This review looks at the set of wheels for a P-51 in 1/48th scale. The product is not specific to any particular P-51 kit and therefore, can be used on any 1/48th P-51 that is in your “stash”.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Sprue Brothers
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$27.99

The F-15, no other aircraft in history has been as successful in air-to-air engagement, as the Eagle. Prior to Desert Storm, the Eagle was used successfully by the Israelis but had been unproven in use by the US Air Force.

The F-15C is a beautiful aircraft and during Desert Storm it proved itself so successful scoring 32 aerial victories of the 41 victories achieved by the US forces.

Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
Company
Meng Model
MSRP
$17.00

Here is another caricature tank from Meng Models. These models are obviously targeted at kids, but many of us “serious” modelers are finding them to be fantastic “breaks” from our usual in-depth subjects. I am seeing them on the contest tables as well.

The kit comes in a strong end opening box with a colorful painting of a British Matilda. All the sprues, instruction manual and tiny decal sheet are located within a single plastic bag.

Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$6.45

The Aircraft

Harriers are famous for being able to take off and land vertically. Of course, taking off vertically with a full combat load isn’t practical, unless your mission is to drop a teacup of napalm just off the airfield border. Nevertheless, the Harrier has been successful, and it’s because of the ability to adjust the exhaust to vector it through the nozzles to allow downward as well as normal push for vertical and normal flight.

The Kit

The entire kit is two sets of nozzles, one forward, one rear, left and right sides.

I used the Dragon AV-8B kit for this review, and the nozzles fit in the Dragon fuselage with no modification.