Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$6.50

Another excellent turned metal (brass) pitot assembly from Master Model. IPMS USA sincerely appreciates the support of Master Model, who continue to provide first-class products to improve already great models…. THANK YOU!

This one is as simple as it gets; a pitot tube combined with the Pitot Boom which fits on the nose of the Italeri 1/72 B-58 Hustler. Looking at the kit item and Master Model’s replacement, it is easy to see why you should buy this one. First, the kit item is really way too short; Master Model fixes that. Use superglue or epoxy to install, the fit is perfect and doesn’t need anything else. There is an excellent instruction sheet as well, other aftermarket companies should follow this lead.

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Wingnut Wings, Ltd
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$99.00

Background

First entering service in October of 1917 with French forces, the Salmson 2-A2 was enthusiastically received by its crews as a rugged and dependable improvement over earlier designs. It soon entered service with the United States Air Service in June of 1918. In its brief service with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), a reported 705 examples of the 2-A2 were delivered, although they saw limited combat duties, and went on to serve with the occupational forces in Germany following World War I. The 2-A2 continued to serve with French forces until 1921, and saw further limited service with Russian, Czechoslovakian, Belgian, and Japanese forces. The Japanese version was built under license as the Japanese Type Otsu 1 Reconnaissance Aircraft through 1933.

Review Author
Matthew Cottrell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$32.95

Introduction

The Sikorsky Sea King helicopter was developed in the late 1950s for the US Navy’s growing anti-submarine warfare role. Becoming operational in 1961, the Sea King would serve with the US Navy until 2006, and continues in service with other operators to this day. Over its lifetime, the Sea King would spawn multiple variants and revisions. This included versions to meet USAF and USCG roles, such as the well known HH-3E Jolly Green Giant combat search-and-rescue helicopters. Additionally, licensed-built versions of the Sea King were made by Mitsubishi, Agusta, and Westland. The British-built Westland Sea King variants differ in quite a few points from the Sikorsky-built Sea Kings, and are the basis for Cyber-Hobby’s 1/72 Sea King kits.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$18.39

This is one of Model Art Modeling Magazine special editions. The text is mainly in Japanese with some English subtitles throughout. One feature of these magazines is the high quality of the photographs and the models.

Model Art has done it again. Back in April 2013 they released "Air War Over Vietnam U.S. Navy Aircraft Part 1". This is the third followup and they have made some changes to the layout from the excellent first issue.

The magazine is laid out in several sections. The sections consist of mostly Japanese writing, but there is some English captions and wonderful color photographs.

The first couple pages consist of new releases that will soon hit the market and a New Kit Selection article. It features three of Airfix's new tool kits, the 1/48 Gloster Javelin FAW.9/9R, 1/72 Gloster J-8A /Gladiator Mk. II and 1/72 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1.

Review Author
Perry Downen
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$11.95

First off I’d like to thank Scale Aircraft Conversions for making this detail set available for review and thank IMPS/USA for allowing me to do the review.

Most of us are familiar with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. But, for the one or two who are wondering what an Fw190 is, the following synopsis is provided. During World War II the Fw 190 was a German single-seat fighter aircraft powered by a single radial engine. It and its sister aircraft, the Bf109, made up the majority of the Luftwaffe’s fighter aircraft. The Fw190 is arguably the best fighter Germany had in its inventory. It was used in a variety of rolls including day fighter, night fighter, fighter-bomber, and ground-attack aircraft. It was very popular with the Luftwaffe pilots. And so it is with today’s modelers. At any show you will see a number of Fw190s on the table vying for recognition. One way to make your model look as crisp and sharp as possible is through the use of after-market parts.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Roden
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$53.00

Our thanks up front to Squadron mail order for providing this kit to IPMS so we can review it! A note about Squadron’s customer service; had one small issue with a part sprue, and we received the parts ASAP. Thanks Squadron for your attention and drive to ensure you maintain your customer base! And thanks to IPMS leadership for sending this one my way

The Turbo-Porter is an interesting aircraft; it is designed for a specialized purpose, operating from unprepared airfields, with short takeoff and landing capabilities. In this kit, markings are provided for French Air Force operations; one overall white with a cheatline, and one in overall dark gray. I used Tamiya IJN Saesebo arsenal gray for my build as it seems close.

Review Author
William Carrell
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.00

The Hasegawa F-4 Series Phantom II models have been a standard for the modeling community for a number of years. They have offered virtually every variant ever produced and flown in all services around the world. This specific release is Celebrating the dawn of carrier landings. On January 18, 1911, the first successful aircraft landing on a ship occurred when pilot Eugene Ely landed his plane onto the USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4). In 1986, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4) celebrated the 75th anniversary of this historic occasion by adding special "Vandy 75" insignia to select F-4S Phantom IIs.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$70.00

Sincere appreciation goes to Kittyhawk for providing IPMS USA another of their kits for review… although the company is relatively new, the kits so far have been great efforts and I look forward to what is next...

This kit is a re-release of Kittyhawk’s F-1 kit released a couple of years ago. I remember reading of “fit issues” noted by a reviewer (from another site).... I experienced no major fit issues on this build. The kit did require a bit of filler to be used, where the forward fuselage mated with the aft section, and the intakes. That is pretty well a given on most jets, so I consider them non-issues.

Review Author
Roger Rasor
Published on
Company
Aires Hobby Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.50

Since Tamiya now has three 1/72 Corsair releases on the market, Aires has added a highly detailed set of F4U-1 Corsair dropped flaps to their line of aftermarket parts. This set enables modelers to build a 1/72 Corsair with flaps dropped without the need to carefully remove and modify the non-dropped flaps molded into the Tamiya kits’ wings.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$39.95

This TreadHead was recently persuaded to volunteer to review a Sci-Fi project and an Airplane! Not just any airplane mind you, but a 1/72 airplane… way outside my comfort zone! However, in every cloud there is always a silver lining, and that statement could not be truer than with this Meng F-102A.