Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
June 4, 2018
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$35.99

The J-31(FC-31) is a twin engine “fifth generation” fighter currently under development by China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. First exhibited at the Zhuhai Airshow in November 2014, the aircraft is very similar in size to the F-35 Lightning II, and appears to be designed for a similar mission. The airframe has a number of features that that are look like those on the F-35 (such as the humped fuselage sides and forward swept intakes) and the overhead planform of the two aircraft is very similar (other than 2 engines for the J-31 and 1 for the F-35), while the side profile is similar to a shortened F-22. As the jet is still in the early stages of development, a lot of questions remain about its actual performance and capabilities, as well as to what the final version will look like.

Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
June 4, 2018
Company
LPS Hobby
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.57

I was drawn to this decal set for two reasons:

One, I thought that camouflaged Mustangs are not seen as much as the bare metal US aircraft.

Two: I had to do the Aussie Southern Cross marking being an Aussie!

LPS Hobby is a decal manufacturer from Brazil. The decal sheet, instruction sheet and cover page are contained within a generously sized zip-lock bag.

This small decal set contains marking for three British camouflaged P-51K Mustangs from Royal Canadian, South African and Royal Australian Air Forces:

  • KH608, Y2, “Edmonton Special”, PO John Mallandaine, 442 Sqn RCAF, Hunsdon, England. May 1945
  • KH673, GL-N, “Sweetpea”, 5 Sqn SAAF, Udine Italy, January 1945
  • KH676, CV-A, F/Lt 'Dusty' Lane, 3 Sqn RAAF, Cervia, Italy, April 1945

The recommended donor kit is the Tamiya 1/72 P-51D Mustang, however the newer Airfix, or any other manufacturers P-51D/K could also be used.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
June 4, 2018
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$17.95

MORE SAC FUN! Yes, the Revell P-51D-5 receives the SAC treatment because it’s a big kit, and Ross and his team came up with metal gear for this kit. Thanks to Phil for sending it and Fearless Leader John for approving my working the set.

Included in this set are two main gear, two Oleo strut braces, and a tail gear strut. All replace the Revell kit parts, and fit is just like the plastic except it’s stronger and can be re-adjusted as required.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
June 4, 2018
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.95

IPMS/USA thanks the Eduard team once again for sending us this simple, excellent set for the new Eduard FW-190 series. And thanks to Phil and John for running the team…

This seat harness is simplicity itself. There are four parts. That’s it, four. FOUR-lap belts, and over the shoulder harness. Installation? Carefully bend these durable steel belts into place. No paint flaking, no fiddling with parts that are too small for even surgical standard tweezers to hold. Just install and admire.

Far better than tape and paint, the STEEL series seat harnesses should become one of Eduard’s fastest sellers for upgrading kits that don’t have harnesses attached. Competitively priced too!

Thanks once again to Eduard and their groundbreaking technology leaps and for keeping AMS alive in those of us who have it!

Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
June 23, 2021
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/700

Thanks to Eduard for supplying the set.

Bottom Line: At first glance these steel, foldable flags look bright and colorful, but there are a few limitations. On a real model, they are good enough. Not to mention the unspoken scandal of oversized flags for all 1/700 WW2 warships kits, decals or paper. In that case, Eduard’s flags are at least good enough, sturdier and more flexible than other options.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
June 2, 2018
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95

We at IPMS continue to thank Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with what has turned into a monthly release schedule with extremely useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for the crowd out here in the modeling world.

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the relatively new 1/48 ICM Mig-25. As to the basic kit, it is well designed and accurate BUT also is not for beginners. A lot of locations are vague on where parts should line up. I have struggled with the afterburner/augmentor petals, and the overall assembly of the basic fuselage. The landing gear is no different, as the angles and installation are to be expected to cause grief. It gets done but prepare yourself mentally and lay off the adult beverages while trying to line everything up.

Review Author
Timothy Gidcumb
Published on
June 2, 2018
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$9.95

Recently I was given the opportunity by IPMS USA to review Eduard’s BRASSIN 75 Gallon Fuel Tanks for the new 1/48 Airfix P-51D kit. One of the first things to notice with this product is the excellent presentation of the packaging with the familiar clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card.

The set contains:

  • resin: 2 parts
  • decals: yes
  • photo-etched details: yes

Upon removal of the components from the package you will notice the great level of detail with the fuel tanks and the added photo-etch adds some great touches.

Book Author(s)
Mikael Forslund, Thierry Vallet
Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
June 2, 2018
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$68.00

Not exactly sure where my interest in Swedish aircraft comes from. Could be because my Dad is from Minnesota and his relatives go back to Scandinavia including Sweden. But more than likely it is that cool splinter camouflage on the Viggen. No matter the reason this book is an excellent publication to wet that interest.

This 200-page hardback book covers exactly what the title says it does, every jet fighter operated by the Swedish Air Force up to today.

These are:

  • Saab J 21R
  • J 28A, B, C – DH.100 Vampire
  • Saab J 29 Flygande Tunnan
  • Saab J 32B Lansen
  • J 33 DH.112 Venom
  • J 34 Hawker Hunter
  • Saab J 35 Draken
  • Saab 37 Viggen
  • Saab JAS 39 Gripen

There are two chapters for each type, the first covers the history of each plane including squadron use and first hand experience. The next chapter looks at the camouflage and markings each type wore.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$55.00

Courtesy of MiniArt Models website: The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (“Hummingbird”) is a single-seat open cockpit inter-meshing rotor helicopter produced by Anton Flettner of Germany. The Fl 282 was undoubtedly Anton Flettner’s most successful helicopter development. Prototype testing finished by July of 1940 when the helicopter entered service.

In 1942 German Navy began testing of FI 282. The FI 282 was found to have good handling in good and bad weather, with stable flight characteristics in all conditions, whilst also being quite maneuverable. Several tests involved rough conditions at sea including landing in harsh conditions which the Kolibri proved itself a capable and reliable machine.

In 1942 a total of twenty prototypes were in testing. Based on the prototypes’ success, plans to manufacture 1000 helicopters were approved; however, these were never built in such numbers due to the allied bombing of the Flettner and BMW factories.

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
May 30, 2018
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) manufactures white metal landing gear that is a direct replacement for the kits plastic landing gear. The metal landing gear offer greater strength over the kit parts as well as having most of the mold lines removed. At times the metal will be bent out of shape but that is easily corrected by bending it back to the correct shape.

This set includes six parts, the main gear struts, two retract arms, one tailwheel trailing link and strut. All the main gear and tailwheel items are exact copies of the kit parts with most of the mold lined cleaned up. The tailwheel kit part has excessive molding flash and that is cleaned up on the SAC version.