F-111E Upper Heyford Decal Sheet

Published: April 16, 2011
Company: Squadron Products

The first order of business: Extreme thanks to Squadron Mail order/MMD for providing IPMS/USA yet another review item. These folks are one of the oldest and most well-known plastic model kit distributors in the world, and we appreciate their providing us with review items!

This sheet highlights one of my favorite aircraft; the “Aardvark”, or F-111. Designed for use on the new Hobbyboss kits, it would be equally at home on the Academy versions.

The markings on this sheet are for three aircraft of a unit that I used to track while assigned to 17^th AF in Sembach, Germany; the 20^th FW from Upper Heyford in the UK. They used to fly down and “practice bomb” us on occasion… quite a “free” airshow, and guaranteed to soil your pants if you didn’t see them… more

French Dragoon (Napoleonic Wars)

Published: April 12, 2011
Company: MiniArt

This was a “mom saw it, and I bought it” modeling effort. Here in OKC (the home of Hobby Lobby Corporate) they have a discount outlet for the wedding crowd; and that is where they drop the occasional “model samples”; the store is called the “Basket Mart”…. Depends on when you show up if you get cool stuff. 98% of the time, nothing… but in this case I walked in and instant birthday gift for the horse-loving mother of mine, who just turned 21 this week. (HA!)

Ya’ll know I am an aviation/naval/sometimes armor guy. And in this case, I had an opportunity to do something a bit different. Waaaay different. Having visited Waterloo, I was aware of the time period this model represents; Warfare was changing again, and the use of cavalry was still being finessed. This kit represents a… more

PD-62-8 Pylon and APU-60-1 Launch Rail

Published: October 10, 2021
Company: Zactomodels

If you have not dealt with “Zactoman”, and you are in to 1/32 Soviet aircraft, visit his website. Your wallet will automatically open… In this case, Chris graciously provided review items.

When I built the Trumpeter SU-25 back about three months ago, I noted the outboard pylons were not included in the kit. Serious sadness, as I had never seen an SU-25 without these pylons. The holes for the pylon mounts were in the wing, but the pylons were not on the runners anywhere…. Who could figure out why? Cost cutting over 1/100 of a dime…

In steps Chris at Zactomodels. He’s about as crazy about cold war Soviet aircraft as I am… and he has provided a 1 or so-hour solution to the missing pylon. The PD-62-8 Pylon and APU-60-1 launch rail he provides, along with the detail parts to… more

G4M Betty Interior Self-Adhesive

Published: June 1, 2022
Company: Eduard

I can’t thank Eduard enough for their support of IPMS USA. We have ample opportunities to review their excellent products, and we reviewers certainly appreciate Eduard’s providing us with the finest photoetch on the planet! (An opinion of this reviewer, but I believe it’s true!)

This is a simple conversion to the Tamiya 1/48 Betty kit interior parts. When you hold the basic kit items up with the Eduard upgrade you notice the difference.

This set is intended to provide a better instrument panel and engine control cluster in the center console stand, and appropriate seat belts to better define the cockpit interior under Tamiya’s huge clear canopy. There are also several instrument panels for the side walls. As you can see the instrument panel is the star of this set.… more

Gotha IV

Published: February 11, 2011
Company: Wingnut Wings, Ltd

First comment: Thanks to Richard at Wingnut wings for sending IPMS USA a review copy of this magnificent kit. Did I say it was “Magnificent”? You better believe it!

Crammed into a sturdy double-corrugated lower, full-color wraparound upper box is undoubtedly one of the most complex, yet simple-to-build, WWI kits I have ever encountered. Box art is excellent, showing two aircraft flying through flak and dropping bombs… Given the reputation of this still-young company, you don’t have to worry. There has been a bit of engineering involved here (duh) to provide excellent fit and, as our British friends say, “Value for Money”.

I started with the full color instructions; they were essential in making sure everything is constructed in proper order. Included is an abbreviated… more

F-22 Nozzles

Published: May 24, 2022
Company: Aires Hobby Models

A huge “thanks!” to our friends at Aires; they continue to provide IPMS USA with plenty of review opportunities for upgrades to our favorite aircraft…!

This is a simple conversion to the Hasegawa kit parts. Included are augmenter burner cans, turbine faces with integral mounting pegs to fit the Hasegawa kit, flameholders in photoetch, and the nozzles themselves. Instructions are clear and clean on the standard blue folded sheet, showing exactly what is needed to install the parts. The nozzles, a major feature of the F-22, are intended to be shown in this case in the “open” position.

This allows one to look directly down the exhaust and view the excellent detail provided by this set.

As you can see in the composite kit provided parts photo the kit turbines are… more

IJN "Tone", Heavy Cruiser with "Jake" Seaplanes

Published: January 24, 2011
Company: Tamiya

Thanks once again to Stevens International for providing IPMS with yet another review kit. Without your support (and our purchasing the items) companies like Tamiya could not continue to provide us with new, interesting kits to build!

The Tamiya “Tone” arrived in a very long box. It was the same size box as a battleship kit would be; think 1980’s “Bismark”. I dove in and was not disappointed with a lack of “things to assemble and paint”. Tamiya makes excellent presentation of their art; lower hull, molded in red, in a separate card holder, separated from the rest of the parts. Gray sprue-trees full of little bits; anchor chains, decals, stand, metal shafts for the props, and a sheet of photoetch with details for the upper masts, props for the aircraft (Jakes), and… more

Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot A

Published: January 5, 2011
Company: Trumpeter

First comment

Thanks to Stevens once again for providing yet another superlative Trumpeter kit for IPMS to review. The best we can do for appreciation is to buy kits they offer; and this one is worth every dime! I’ll go on record as saying this was the best Trumpeter kit I’ve built.

On the porch

“Hey, that’s a big box”. It’s also a heavy box. Postman is rolling around on the lawn in pain kind of heavy. I go out and do a clean-and-jerk lift…. And it’s off to the workbench!

First impression

Open the top-opening box and revel in the plastic manufacturer’s art at its finest. The fuselage halves are separately packed and fit almost in a “click together “manner. Bags and bags full of parts await the next level; airframe, landing gear, and… more

Metal Landing Gear for E-2C Hawkeye

Published: December 19, 2010
Company: Scale Aircraft Conversions

I have heard some ask “Why pay for landing gear that’s already in a kit?” The simple reason to use SAC gear comes down to basic physics: Metal gear makes for a robust structure that doesn’t fail under the weight of a model. Resin models are where metal gear is required (but sometimes not provided); on large plastic models, this requirement is particularly noticeable on aircraft with offset main gear such as the Hawkeye, weight distribution is outside of the gear centerline, and the wheel/tire assemblies tend to splay out over time, or outright break off.

In 1/48 scale, the Hawkeye, with its aft-of-Center-of-Gravity rotodome, long tail moment arm, and four fins on the stabilizer, you have a perfect situation for a tail-sitter. Add rearward folding wings (which is how the Kinetic… more

Me 163S "Habich" Two-seat Trainer Glider

Published: October 9, 2021
Company: Pavla Models

First, thanks to Pavla for first producing and then providing this kit to IPMS/USA for review; your excellent products continue to amaze me!

This is an extremely simple kit; yet it has complexity in the fact that it is a limited production item and therefore has ejection pin towers for cleanup. Fortunately these are all on the inside of the kit parts… it also has extremely small photoetch; be forewarned if you are an old guy like me. The overall presentation is excellent; I had little or no issues with getting things in place. The instructions are basic diagrams, showing where everything is supposed to go. I caused a minor problem in that the rear cockpit needed to be installed a bit higher than I installed it, as there are no locating pins or rails. The kit contains a runner… more