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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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Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.69

Round 2 reissued the vintage Owens Deluxe Cruiser kit. When building you need to bear in mind that this kit and molds are over 50 years old, and it shows. The flash is so bad on some sprues that it’s difficult to locate the actual part(s). Nothing fits together tightly without some serious massaging to the parts to be joined.

The instruction sheet is a very basic affair that had me thinking quite a few times as to part placement.

The Owens Deluxe Cruiser is the first boat I’ve built since way, way back when I built the Robert E. Lee paddle wheeler when I was a kid, so this is totally out of my realm. Now I have to build a trailer and then a vehicle to haul to and from the water.

Patience is the key to the build. Test fit, refit and sand as needed and you can have a nice looking kit but expect it to take extra work due to the age of the kits molds.

Thank you to Round2 for reissuing this kit and thank you to IPMS for allowing me to review the kit.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$67.99

Dragon has recently released five new kits, none of which have been available in plastic before, at least not in the released versions. Instead, modelers would have had to scratch build them or buy expensive resin conversion sets.

This review covers one of the kits; the 15cm s.IG.33/2 (Sf) auf Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer. This Czechoslovakian 38(t)-based vehicle looks unusual, sporting the large-caliber, 150mm field howitzer used on a variety of other (mostly larger) German AFV’s. Just imagine the recoil from that gun when fired from the diminutive Hetzer!

Intended as a replacement for the Grille, only 30 were built, from December 1944. Operational history is scarce, but based on the few images available it was apparently used in combat on the Eastern front.

This is an unusual armored vehicle and promises to build into an unusual subject for German WWII armor fans.

Book Author(s)
A.Stephan Hamilton
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$75.00

The book goes into details of the formation, deployment and combat actions of the Panzergrenadier Division “Brandenburg” on the eastern front on the last few months of World War Two. The hardback book comes with a companion book of all the campaign maps with corresponding references to the book pages and chapters.

This is the first book to take a deep look at the famous Panzergrenadier-Division 'Brandenburg' from its formation and its five-month campaign in the Eastern Front at the end of the Second World War.

'Brandenburg' was created in December 1944 from several burnt-out commando regiments and the remnants of a few conventional units supplied by the Ersatzheer.

The unit fought in some of the most dramatic and relatively unknown late war battles in Poland, Silesia, Saxony, and Czechoslovakia. The book has been created by using many never before published accounts by soldiers who were with the unit in the final months of the war.

Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Lifelike Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.00

History

The 244th Sentai was formed in 1942 from the 144th Sentai with their primary mission being homeland defense. The squadron received the Ki-61 in 1943 and gained fame as an elite bomber interceptor unit. Detachments of this unit also served on Okinawa but the majority stayed in Japan for defense. A very good web site dedicated to this squadron can be found here http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~s244f/ and you will need to translate it as it is in Japanese.

Lifelike decals have issued or re-issued decals for the Ki-61s of the 244th Sentai as parts 1,2 & 3. Initially produced for the Hasegawa kit, they could also be used on the Otaki kit. Now that Tamiya has released their kit you now have one more, and a really nice one, Ki-61 kit to choose from.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Fly Models
MSRP
$55.00

Like many limited-run model companies, Fly Models’ first kits were fairly small. I had the distinct pleasure of building one of their Ba-349 Natters when they first came out, and was impressed by the level of effort expended on this design by this fledgling company. It’s still one of the prides of my collection.