Window Detail

City House

Bombs & Sidewinder

USMC F-4B/N VMFA-531 "Gray Ghosts"

Fuselage Assembly with interior

Cessna T-41 Mescalero

Finished Top Right Front

English Electric Lightning F.2A

Torso/Arm Detail - Left Front

Lost in Space Robot B-9

Cockpit interior

Avia B.534 IV. serie

Completed Assembly

MILES M.8 "PEREGRINE"

Bomb Detail

Phantom P-51D Mustang

M1A2 Abrams side view

M1A2 Abrams U.S. Main Battle Tank

Sprue C

LAV-25 Piranha

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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.

Box Top

1985 Oldsmobile 442/FE3-X
Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

This is a review of the Revell ’85 Oldsmobile 442/FE3-X show car. I built it as a factory stock 442.

Engine

Zero to very little flash was on the engine components. Two items I disliked were the valve covers and oil pan molded to the block. Should have been separate pieces.

Interior

Extremely distinct engraving on the interior pan. Door panels are separate pieces as are the front seats. The rear seat is molded to the interior pan. Dashboard allows two different decals for the gauge cluster and there’s two steering wheels.

Body

The body offers several variations. If you want to build the FE3-X version, additional body panels are available as well as three different front clips. Fortunately the front & rear bumper assemblies also attach to the frame when installing – makes for easier glue points.

I painted the car with Tru-Color metallic cameo white covered with a 2 part urethane clear.

Box Top

German Sprengboot Tornado

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
MikroMir
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.99

As WWII started going towards its end and the Germans were backed into a corner, they came up with some interesting ideas to try and turn the tide of the war around. Like the Japanese Kamikaze group, the German Kriegsmarine came up with the Sprengboot Tornado. The thought was to take two of the large floats from a Ju-52 Floatplane and add 7-800kg of explosives and provide power with the V-1’s pulsejet engine. The theory was to get the boat up to speed of 53 mph having a pilot guide the ship and when close the pilot would take an attached boat or just bail out while the Tornado was remotely guided to hit the target. One of these was built and tested for sea trials but was destroyed as the allies overtook Europe. MikroMir has produced a kit of this very unusual subject in large 1/35 scale so let’s look in the box.

Package

FW-190 Engine and Fuselage Gun Bay for New Tool FW-190A-4
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$59.95

IPMS/USA thanks the Eduard team up front for sending us this absolutely stunning set for the new Eduard FW-190 series. I received this set when difficulty was experienced by another reviewer having some issues out of his control in getting the sets reviewed, so I volunteered and got “The lot”. Hooo boy…

Another note: right after I got the sets, I had work and a funeral interfere with MY life, so these took some time to get done; particularly since I was working out of a hotel (as I am now again on OTHER review items) so I’m a bit behind.

First off, Eduard has produced some of the best sets, bar none, for the FW-190. In this review I used both the engine sets and the upper gun deck sets; here are my observations.

First, the sets fit great. I had a few difficulties with figuring out what went where, but was able to overcome and get them installed. The upper MG’s in particular need care in installation, or you can really have them out of whack.

Package

Japanese 250 kg Bomb
Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$8.00

Brengun continues its line of aircraft accessories with this set of two 250kg Japanese bombs from World War II. The set consists of two resin bomb bodies and a small photo-etch fret with the fins and fuse propellers. As you would expect with Brengun the resin castings are outstanding and easily removed from the casting plugs at the aft end of the bomb. My set had a little flash one the sides of the bombs from the casting process, but it was very thin and easily removed and the bomb bodies were quickly cleaned up.

Package Front

Bird Houses
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Matho Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$15.70

Thank you to Matho Models for providing a neat diorama accessory for review, produced with innovative technology. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to review these birdhouses! Matho Models has a widening line of 1/35 scale details and bases. Their website has scale search options using larger and smaller scale product lines, but at this time, 1/35 dominates.