Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$129.99

IPMS/USA says “thanks kindly” to Glenn and the Kittyhawk team for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with yet one more of their “nobody else did it” releases

So, on to the next Kitty Hawk “new” kit…

This kit is one of Kitty Hawk’s better releases. The plastic is strong yet easy to work with, and receptive to standard cements. The parts have a clean appearance on the runners, and when assembled were accurate in dimensions and fit. External tanks that are round and require a minimum of seam cleanup made me happy.

Book Author(s)
Richard Marmo
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Scale Publications
MSRP
$3.99

This is my first time reviewing a PDF book. The author, Richard Marmo, is a long time IPMS member. His IPMS/USA number is #2 so that means he has been modeling for years. So he may know a thing or two about modeling and being an author.

Richard has taken this 52-year old kit and enhanced it with some Cobra Company (now Lonestar Models) upgrades and placed it into a neat vignette. He describes how to build the model and the entire vignette, including a cover for it. As a former Cobra pilot, I couldn’t wait to see what he had to say.

Utilizing the 1967 release of the Revell Bell AH-1G, Richard puts a unique camoflage scheme on the model, but first he tells you how to build it. There are plenty of pictures of how to build it included. There are 47 photos interspersed throughout the 49 page ‘book’. Because it is in PDF format you can enhance and blow up the photos to see them on your computer and print them out should you want or need to.

Book Author(s)
Dénes Bernád
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$65.00

The Bulgarian Air Force might have been modest in size compared with other Air Forces during World War 2, but certainly saw its share of combat. While located near the Eastern Front, it was not involved in combat against Russia, but against the Western Allies, when in late 1944 with the Soviet Army amassing on its borders, Bulgaria switched sides and fought its former allies, the Germans.

During the early part of World War 2, Bulgaria had a “symbolic war” against the Western Allies. After the 1943 Ploesti raid that changed rapidly. Germany provided Bulgaria with more modern airplanes plus allowed the purchase of more obsolete types from other occupied countries. This book is the second of the series and covers, in extensive detail the following airframes

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$15.00

Two Bobs has released a decal sheet covering the Heritage Schemes for the 50th Anniversary of the T-38 in USAF service. You get a total of 5 camouflage schemes, covering an overall grey, a South-East Asia scheme, an Aggressor/Air superiority scheme, a two-grey with a blue fin, and an overall white scheme.

The instruction sheet (printed in full color) it is truly huge at 11”x17” and it includes color callouts in FS standard, plus Testors, Humbrol, Mr. Color, Xtracrylics, and Mr.Paint making finding the right paint color a breeze.

The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf and it looks thin, glossy and it is in perfect register. Likely the color density will be excellent too.

From an inspection to the decal sheet, I think it is possible to actually finish all the airframes in the sheet. I think the hardest thing will be to choose which camouflage to finish it on. But why choose? You can make them all. Kudos to Two Bobs for allowing that!

Book Author(s)
Haagen Klaus and Bert Kinzey Art: Rock Roszak
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
Company
Detail & Scale, Inc.
MSRP
$12.99

Thank you to Haagen Klaus, Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for continuing to bring back a tremendous resource for the modeler and aviation historian, in a digital format. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting method of researching history, details, and versions of the Super Hornet.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Platz
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$18.22

Courtesy of Platz (Japan): The world's first supersonic fighter was the American F-8 Crusader. Development proceeded according to the requirements of the US Navy, and the first flight was successful completed in 1955. Operation started in 1957.

The F-8 Crusader adopted a high wing swept wing design. The wing had a special mechanism that raised the front by 7 degrees. This slight operation succeeded in keeping the distance between takeoffs and landings short. The F-8 demonstrated excellent performance as an on-board fighter operated on an aircraft carrier. The aircraft was equipped with a 18,000 pound thrust engine with an afterburner and was adopted and operated by the US Navy, the Marine Corps, the Philippines, and France.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Twobobs Aviation Graphics
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$22.00

Two Bobs has released a decal sheet covering the 2018 deployment of the 391st to the Middle East to support Operation Inherent Resolve. During the deployment, 18 airplanes got individual mission markings and nose art.

The instruction sheet (printed in full color) it is truly huge at 11”x17” and it includes color callouts in FS standard, plus Testors, Humbrol, Mr. Color, Xtracrylics, and Mr.Paint making finding the right paint color a breeze.

As a “bonus” typical loadout is included, this will help you create an accurate model during their deployment in the Middle East.

A point to make is that they provide two different set of stencils, one for the Revellogram and another for the Great Wall Hobbies. Kudos to Two Bobs for doing that!

The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf and it looks thin, glossy and it is in perfect register. Likely the color density will be excellent too.

Highly recommended.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Masterpiece Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$199.00

IPMS/USA welcomes the proprietors of Masterpiece models back, and serious appreciation for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with yet one more of their newest releases, in a scale never before attempted: 1/35th! A perfect diorama subject, we certainly will see some of these in a D-Day or Market Garden setting. And my personal thanks to IPMS leadership for sending it to me to be reviewed.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.00

History

The Yakovlev Yak-1 series design work began in the late thirties, with the first flight taking place in 1939. Production started in the same year, and by 1941, these planes were beginning to be issued to Soviet Air Force fighter squadrons. The type went through a considerable amount of development, resulting in the Yak-7, Yak-9 and later the Yak-3. At first designated I-26, the Yak-1 was later redesignated Yak-1 in honor of its designer, and during its service life was upgraded in several ways, including replacing the faired-in canopy with a version allowing the pilot to see directly behind him. Some units modified their aircraft, using what was known as the Shinkarenkov Modification, which was later incorporated into all Yak production aircraft. The Yak-1 was the first of a series of fighters that became the mainstay of the Soviet Air Force for the duration of World War II.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$79.99

Kitty Hawk continues their release of the MiG-25 line with the MiG-25 PU Foxbat-C version. This version was a 2 seat conversion trainer for the MiG-25 P interceptors. It has a new nose section with 2 separate cockpits and has no combat capability.

Looking in the box, you get lots of sprues. There are sixteen gray sprues with well done parts with nice engraved panel lines. There is also two decals sheets representing the four markings included. There are resin parts supplied for the landing gear, cockpits and two superb pilot figures. Lastly, there is one sheet of photoetch. The markings allow the building of:

  • Ukraine Air Force 001
  • Russian Air Force Red “32”
  • Russian Air Force Red “34”
  • Indian Air Force

IPMS/USA did a great review of the Kitty Hawk MiG-25RB/RBT so I will concentrate this review on the differences.