Top Right Rear

USS Thresher (SSN-593)

Clamping all around fuselage to assure a good fit

F/A-18F Super Hornet

Track Weathering

T-55 Mod. 1963 Interior Kit, Part 2

Left rear

Panzer IV Tank

Three Gladiators

Gloster Sea Gladiator Mk.II

Bottom

ERA-3B Skywarrior, Part 3

AK Color Guide on Side of Box

Sd. Kfz. 173 Ausf. G2 Jagdpanther

Tail gunner

SBD-5 Dauntless Limited Edition

Guns

J2M3 Raiden ‘Jack’ Part 2

Complete

U.S. Scooter Sidecar

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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.

Decal Set

Schlacht Bf-109Es
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Illiad Design has recently released an aftermarket decal set covering Schlacht Bf-109Es. The Schlacht units were ground-attack units. I believe their mission was what is now known as “close air support”.

This decal sheet covers a total of 6 aircrafts and you are provided with enough markings as to be able to model all of them and covering all main fronts during 1941/42: Russia, North Africa and the English Channel. Well done Illiad Design!

The airframes cover a transitional period on the standard camouflages during 1941/42. This means some of them are 71/02 over 65 while others are 74/75 over 76. Yellow noses and fuselage bands and rudders add a spot of color to the camouflages. To top it one of the camouflages is in a North Africa scheme of 79 over 76, with a replacement wing in 71/02 over 65. Amazing choices!

Package

USAF Crew Chief "Cold Weather"
Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Videoaviation
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$15.00

Considered by many to be the backbone of the United States Air Force (USAF), crew chiefs oversee the care and combat readiness of the service’s fleet of aircraft. Without the dedication and skill of the crew chiefs and other maintenance specialists, nothing would fly – let alone fight. Regardless of location, season, or time of day, Air Force crew chiefs keep their aircraft combat ready.

This excellent figure from VideoAviation depicts a current-day USAF Crew Chief in Cold Weather Dress. Crisply cast in cream-colored resin, the review sample required little clean up or filling. Detail and features for the uniform are accurate to current-issue USAF clothing and were validated by online photos and comparison to actual “live” samples. Accompanied by a folding aluminum ladder, consolidated tool kit (CTK), and a speed handle, this crew dog is ready to compliment any 1/32 model of a modern USAF aircraft.

Package

Bf 109F/G/E Landing Gear
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.95

IPMS/USA 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 for review.

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the 1/48 2016 Eduard release series ME-109F and G models. As such, it covers the majority of ‘109s’ available in the current Eduard catalog.

I bought several of these SAC sets when they came out, because I found the kit gear did not like handling on the shelf. The tail wheel assembly was the major culprit, and this set fixes the issue by being robust and able to “give” without snapping. It has the added benefit of being able to be carefully bent back into position if tagged by the cat, dog, angry wife, or husband, etc.

Box art

SP-2H Neptune "New Patrol Scheme" Limited Edition
Review Author
James Binder
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$45.99

Construction

Opening the box you’ll notice that this is the original 1970s’ mold Neptune, and the molds are starting to show their age. Many of the parts had some bit of flash to them. Thankfully though they were very easy to clean up. The second thing you’ll notice is that the directions have many photos of Neptune’s, but they are of the Japanese version of the aircraft. The build though is the same no matter what version you are doing so no need to worry that the photos don’t match the exact aircraft.

Box Front

Bundeswehr Tank Crew
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.99

MiniArt is a Ukrainian company specializing in 1/35 figures and some vehicle kits. The figures tend to be packaged in groups with unique poses or unusual subjects. Over the years, they have become one of the leaders in injection molded figures, and more recently, they have started issuing sets of modern military figures.

This kit is one of their newer releases and features figures to be posed with modern German AFVs. The kit includes five figures in various poses, and includes a female crew member representing many modern armies that have women serving in combat roles. The four male figures are posed in a standing position that is meant to be posed in the turret hatch of the vehicle. The female figure is posed sitting.