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)
Martin Derry
Review Author
Clarence Wentzel
Published on
Company
Crecy Publishing, Ltd.
MSRP
$19.95

I have always been interested in aircraft colors and markings. My library is full of books from Karl Ries, Monogram, Ducimus, Harleford and many others. I had expected this book to be a similar tome devoted to three view drawings, color call-outs and marking drawings. The authors would provide the data and then choose a photo to illustrate their information.

This book is different. It is a collection of very interesting photos, most from the Newark Air Museum. The Photos illustrate a great variety of color and markings of the four covered aircraft, during the target timeframe. Aircraft that are covered include the Hunter, the Canberra (part 1), the Valetta and the Vampire T.11. All of the photos appear to have been taken in the UK and the aircraft are primarily RAF aircraft.

Review Author
Jack Wade
Published on
Company
Air Modeller
MSRP
$17.00

This publication is edited in the UK and is dedicated to airplane models, as the title implies. It is 65 pages and printed in full color. There are 65 pages in an issue, this one in particular having 6 pages devoted to product reviews and the remaining 59 dedicated to the 7 outstanding models featured in the issue. It is printed on high quality heavy weight paper with a glossy finish. The cover is on heavier bond paper and should hold up well with repeated viewing.

This issue features the following builds:

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
MSRP
$12.00

Most model builders think of useful small hobby tools when they hear someone say TRITOOL. However, this TRITOOL item is a fundamental building material for use in scratch building, customizing or finishing models. It is a unique self-adhesive sheet of thin pre-finished foil (film) that is intended to replicate red finishes on aircraft or other models (other primary colors are available, such as white, black, yellow, orange, blue, etc.). The package contains one 90mm x 200mm sheet of material that has a red semi-gloss finish. It appears to be the correct color for reproducing a Japanese Hinomaru.

Review Author
Chad Richmond
Published on
Company
Wingnut Wings, Ltd
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$19.00

For those of us who love nothing better than trying to figure out where all of those flying wires go to and how to attach them, New Zealand’s Wingnut Wings has been a blessing and the best thing that has happened to our hobby in many years. 1/32ndscale is a fantastic scale for WWI aircraft, yet they don’t take up a lot of display room. The quality of the Wingnut Wings’ releases is still hard to digest, especially at their very reasonable price and free shipping, to boot. To complement their fantastic kits, they have now started releasing some equally stunning decals, all of which are printed in Italy by Cartograf. The registry is without fault; they are thin, and Wingnut Wings even recommends that a hair dryer be used to get their decals to conform to the model’s surface, instead of setting solutions. Amazingly, it works. Why, I don’t know, but there’s no cleanup afterwards.

Review Author
Chad Richmond
Published on
Company
Wingnut Wings, Ltd
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.50

Editor's note: Sheet no.s 30001 and 30002 - $12.50 each; 30005 - $7.50

For those of us who love nothing better than trying to figure out where all of those flying wires go to and how to attach them, New Zealand’s Wingnut Wings has been a blessing and the best thing that has happened to our hobby in many years. 1/32ndscale is a fantastic scale for WWI aircraft, yet they don’t take up a lot of display room.