Topside painting

F-4J Phantom - Base Kit Construction, Part 1

Painted

Blohm & Voss BV-40 Glider Fighter

Decal prepped

Shachak

12

Le.Gi.Einheits-Pkw Kfz.1 / 2 / 4

Overhead midships

IJNMS Yamato, Part 4, Final Assembly

Track detail

Soviet T-26 Light Infantry Tank Model 1931

Oil Pump Added

Blue Max Pfalz

Finished Left Side

A-4KU (AF-1) Skyhawk 'Brazilian Navy VF-1 15th Anniversary'

Paint and Weathering 1

Monty's Office Caravan

Underbelly, right sie

Avia B.534 Weekend Edition

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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.

Cover of book

Cross & Cockade International Autumn 2017 Volume 48/3
Book Author(s)
Mick Davis managing editor
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Cross & Cockade International
MSRP
$36.00

The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Autumn 2017, features a photograph of a Sopwith Camel, C8372, of 50 Squadron. The outside rear cover features five color profiles by David Méchin of Georges Madon’s aerial mounts. If you check out the website link above, you can get additional sample pics of the current issue.

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front.

Kurganets-25 IFV (Rt Side)

Kurganets-25 IFV (Object 695)
Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Panda Hobby
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$46.99

Russia seems to be having a surge of military development these days, suggesting some expansionist policies which go far beyond the scope of a model review. What this offers for the modeler, however, is a wide range of interesting equipment never seen before. The Kurganets-25 IFV is a good example of this. Heralding back to the BMP-2 and -3 of the previous generation, this new machine seems to be the epitome of both defensive and offensive capabilities, literally festooned with sensors and targeting electronics. The spaced armor enhances survivability on the battlefield, while its armament makes it a worthy opponent for most challenges it might encounter.

Packaging

Metal Landing Gear for Academy 1/72 F-15E

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.95

We at IPMS continue to thank Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with what has turned into a monthly release schedule with extremely useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for the modeling crowd out here in the modeling world. What started out as an “I don’t know if they will sell” idea a few years ago has flourished into a busy worldwide trade for modelers seeking just a bit more out of their model accessories…

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the relatively new 1/72 F-15E from Academy. This kit is a jewel; there are two areas needing true replacements for a contest level model, that being the “featherless” open afterburner nozzles, which are supplied simplified, and the rather thick one-piece canopy over the extremely well-detailed cockpit. Those issues are for others to address… SAC provided us three metal parts to replace the kit-supplied plastic gear.

Box art

U.S. M113A1 ACAV
Review Author
Andrew Birkbeck
Published on
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$79.99

Background

As a young man in the late 1960’s living in Canada, each weekday night I used to watch “The CBS Evening News” with Walter Cronkite. This was my window on the world, so to speak. And it seemed that almost every night the first thing that I saw through this window involved “the war in Vietnam”. Mr. Cronkite would tell me how many US troops had been killed or wounded, and then I would see a video clip from a correspondent in Saigon, or in some rice paddy somewhere in the countryside. Vietnam, I thought, was a place I didn’t EVER want to visit. Often in the background of the television videos, there were TWO objects regularly seemed to appear at some point during the newscast. One was a helicopter, often many, and the other was an M113 APC. These apparently, were the chariots that the Americans rode into battle, be it on the ground, or in the air.

Box art

USAF B-47 "306th BW(M)"
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$27.00

History

The B-47 was the first swept-wing jet bomber in the US Air Force’s inventory, serving the USAF from 1951 to 1969. The US Navy flew some EB-47Es until 1977. Development began in 1943, and the design changed several times until Boeing came up with a 6-jet aircraft with the engines in pods under the wings. Because of the size of the engine pods, the main landing gear was set up as a “bicycle”, with 2 main gear under the fuselage, and smaller outriggers under the engine pods. With this setup, the B-47 could not rotate the nose on takeoff. The main gear was set so the aircraft sat at optimum takeoff angle at all times. The B-47 was subsonic, but extremely fast for a 1950s, setting a number of time and distance records, with speeds around 600 miles per hour.