Painted Left View

Farmer's Cart

Mechanics at work enjoying the shade

WWII US Army Aircraft Mechanics

Painted with Shading

Soviet T-35 Heavy Tank - 1938/1939

Midships detail 2

U-Boat Type IIB 1943

Cockpit

Mirage F-1 CT/CR "Special Edition" with Tru-Color Paints

Clamps

IJMNS Yamato, Part 2

Image 2

Fiat C.42 Falco

Painted

Avia B.534 Quattro Combo

Fuselage assembly

Bf-109G-6 (Early)

Complete Rear Underside 2

CF-188A '20 Years of Service RCAF'

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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.

Product picture

Growler Anthology - Part II
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
September 5, 2016
Company
Furball Aero-Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.99

The EA-16G has taken over from the EA-6 and as such it has all the colorful markings that the Prowlers had.

One of the things I love about Furball’s decal sheet is the amount of choices you are given on each sheet. This sheet is no different. There are SIXTEEN Growlers included in this release. Not only do you get 15 US Navy Growlers you also get the markings for an Australian one. Some of these Growlers are quite colorful, so the problem may be which one do you choose. Besides the 16 aircraft you also get enough stencils for TWO aircraft.

Product picture

Ground Crew
Review Author
Clarence Wentzel
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
PJ Production
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.73

The PJ Production company from Belgium makes some very nice resin aircraft kits as well as resin aftermarket accessories for aircraft, plus lots of pilot and ground crew figures. This set provides an interesting set of five modern Ground Crew members. This set can be used to upgrade modern aircraft dioramas. These parts are nicely molded in resin, and require very little clean-up.

The instructions show the crew with gray uniforms. In looking through some French aircraft references, I found crew members with intermediate blue colored uniforms. I used this color to provide a better appearance. I am not a figure painter, and these crew members are really small, but I found that different flesh colors on the hands and faces, followed by a light coat of dark gray tint, brought out the details of the faces and the uniforms.

Product picture

Bombcat Weapons Set
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
September 5, 2016
Company
Furball Aero-Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.99

The Tomcat has to be one of the most famous aircraft of the Navy. Thanks to movies like ‘Top Gun’ and ‘The Final Countdown’ the shape of the large fighter is ingrained in history. What isn’t as well known is that the cat changed its spots late in its service. No longer the pure fleet fighter, but relegated to the role of fighter bomber. It actually excelled in this role as the F-14D Bombcat. The aircraft was capable of carrying every form of bomb and missile that the Navy had at its disposal. That is where this sheet comes into its own.

Package

KAB-500S 500kg Satellite Guided Bomb
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
September 4, 2016
Company
Advanced Modeling
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.75

Underwing armament such as bombs are always nice to add to your model. With the plethora of new Russian aircraft models, the abilities to bomb them up has never been better. The GPS guided bombs are quite well known in the West but the Russian equivalents are not as well known. Advanced Modeling has stepped up to plate with their impressive 3D CAD developed products.

The packaging is a self-sealing bag that contains the parts for two KAB-500S Satellite Bombs . There is a small decal sheet for the bombs. Also included are two end caps in photo etch.

The instructions are beautifully printed and attached to card stock packaging. They are written in Russian and English. The drawings are simply beautiful and extremely accurate. The one sheet shows where the decals go.

All the resin parts are in light grey resin with no blemishes or bubbles anywhere. The bomb bodies are separate from the warheads. The instructions show where to cut off the resin pour stubs.

Package Art

Combat Scooters I - USN/USMC A-4E/A-4F Skyhawks in the Vietnam War
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
September 4, 2016
Company
AOA Decals
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$22.50

Trumpeter’s 1/32 A-4E/F Skyhawk has been out since 2012 and while some aftermarket companies have addressed the cockpit and intakes, there have been almost no decals issued to a very familiar kit with lots of marking potential. Enter AOA Decals and Part 1 of their multi-part coverage of the Scooter in USN/USMC markings. The decals are printed by Cartograf. Included in the package are two large full color sheets covering the colorful markings and one gigantic sheet covering the black and white markings. Printing is superb as Cartograf is a leading manufacturer of decals. The instructions are full color and have side profiles in color for all 10 schemes as well as detailed information on each scheme. A full set of stencil instructions are also included.

The marking choices are: