Finished model (short legs) with scale auto

Tales from the Apocalypse - The Biker

Completed 8

Nakajima Ki-84 Type 4 Hayate (Frank) Combo

Left Engine

DO 217N-1

Buttoned Up

M-47 Patton

Shuttle Tile Decal Test

NASA Space Shuttle "Discovery" w/747-100 SCA

Radiator and front end

Scammell Pioneer SV2S Heavy Breakdown Tractor

Completed cockpit

F-102A with Case X Wings

Bauleo Review Academy (2)

Bf-109G JG 27

Engine before armor plate and paint touchup

The Super Wing Series He 219 Uhu, Motors

Finished model

Chinese FC-1 Fierce Dragon/Pakistani JF-17 Thunder

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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.

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Kitset Packaging

F-5 Pitot tubes

Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
May 1, 2011
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$3.99

Thanks to David Lajer of Aires, and to IPMS/USA for giving me the opportunity to review this sweet little detail! I recommend it highly.

These pitot tubes are cast in pale tannish gray resin, with three tubes protected by casting sprue on three sides. This arrangement will provide the modeler with enough nose tubes for three planes, or in my case, enough for one plane and two mistakes. The shipping package is reseal-able, so you can keep the extra tubes secured.

There is little to say about these elegant little tubes, after all they are pretty small. But I micrometered them and they are well with scale tolerances. There is a little bit of variability in the length of the real thing anyway, so this is a minor consideration. More importantly, having this small detail greatly enhances a very prominent place on the model.

Publication covers

Windsock Datafile, Caproni CA.3 at War, Volumes One and Two
Book Author(s)
Gregory Alegi
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
May 1, 2011
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$17.95

Thanks to Ray Rimmel of Albatros Productions and to IPMS/USA for giving me the opportunity to review these two wonderful volumes!

These wonderful publications by Gregory Alegi address a little known aspect of early WW1 aviation, the development of early heavy bombers. The volumes are actually the 3rd and 4th Caproni volumes authored by Mr. Alegi, but recent access to privately held papers in the Caproni family collection allowed updated and improved description of this unique aircraft.

The Caproni Ca.3 had an impressive (for the time) 22.2 m wingspan, 11m length, an empty weight of 2300 kg, and could stay aloft for 4 hours. The bomber’s ceiling was 4500 m, but it would take 48 minutes to reach that altitude! The aircraft was a twin-boom design with two engines in-line with the tail booms and a third engine in pusher configurations was mounted directly behind the cockpit

Box Art

Bf-109 T-2 Fighter
Review Author
Tracy Palmer
Published on
April 30, 2011
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$35.00

Bottom line

A good kit which will require a knowledge of using and working with resin parts, doing conversions, and a higher level of air brush skills.

History

The Messerschmitt BF-109T was the projected carrier version of the Bf-109E model. About 70 planes of this version were built by Fiesler. Several modifications had to be made to adapt these single seat fighters for use on aircraft carriers:

Sample kitset contents

MiG-21 Pylons
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
April 29, 2011
Company
Zactomodels
MSRP
$20.00

While Trumpeter has come out with a lot of large scale Soviet kits, there are usually some things that could stand improvement with these. Their 1/32nd scale Mig-21 is a solid kit and I have seen it built up into a nice finished kit many times. That being said, one of the deficiencies of the kit is its weapons pylons. They have minimal detail and like a lot of injection molded pylons, no detail whatsoever on the bottom.

Zactomodels has two varieties of these to select from, early and late, and there are differences between the two. The modeler needs to research the particular aircraft to determine which one is needed. The pylons for the Mig are designated BD3-60-21, early or late.

Let's look at what's in the box. The set comes with 4 pylons- two inner and two outer that are perfectly cast. Also contained is a complete sprue of hardware for each pylon including complete sway braces options.

Decal packaging

US Navy WW2 Instrument Dial Decals
Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
April 28, 2011
Company
Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.70

I don’t know how many times I’ve scoured through page after page of my aircraft decal sheets looking one or more dial decals to use on a particular instrument panel. Now, Airscale has saved me a whole lot of looking. They have produced a multi-national series of instrument dial decals in 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24 scale. This set, for US Navy aircraft, has scores of different instrument dials printed in two sizes. According to the list on the instructions, there are over a dozen different instruments represented on this sheet. Unfortunately, they aren’t individually identified or separated on the decal sheet itself. On the other hand, for that information to be useful you’d have to either be a pilot, have a better than average knowledge of the instrument panel being modeled, or have a diagram of the specific panel available to you to know what instrument decal goes where.