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This is my first build thread and also my first military vehicle kit for decades: so I’ll be fumbling may way along! This is the kit….. I have had a lot of fun so far with it, trying out different ideas to see how they worked out - and finding ways to patch up mistakes when it didn’t go as planned! Some things went well, others did not. I’m not sure I can take the end result seriously as a stand-alone model (see for yourselves later!), but it will probably be okay if lost somewhere in a diorama. I built the kit up into a number of sub-assemblies for painting. The only change I made was to the tank filling necks, replacing them with longer ones fashioned from plastic rod which was swaged over with the blade of a heated screwdriver to create the filling caps. The mudguards benefited from thinning down along the edges. Airfix give a number of options in their kit for the cab and the body. I selected an early version with an open, canvas cab finished in a camouflage pattern of Humbrol 30 matt dark green over a base of 86 light olive (which I take to be Airfix’s selection for dark green No 4 over khaki green No 3). You can also build a version with an enclosed cab that was in production from 1943. I found this guide essential reading: http://www.mafva.net/other pages/Starmer camo.htm Options for early and later versions are included in the kit: The sub-assemblies were undercoated in khaki green G3, based on Mike Starmer’s recipe in post 17 of (but using brown Humbrol 160 as I do not have H10), which was then made darker and sprayed over the parts to provide a dark undercoat to work from. Once the enamel paint had dried, it was given a couple of brush coats of Klear diluted 50% with water and tinted with some burnt umber acrylic to provide a glaze/wash, see http://barracudacals.blogspot.com/. However, I don’t think I made the colour strong enough so the wash effect was not really apparent, so I followed up with AK Interactive enamel wash AK075 for NATO vehicles and this worked nicely, despite it being my very first time of using it. I found it best to use as a pin-wash (rather than slapping it on all over) and then tidy up smudges with a brush moistened with thinners. The kit has a decent level of detail under the bonnet and the option is offered to have one bonnet half propped open so you can view it. There is also a separate hatch in the floor of the rear body to access the rear axle, so you could easily model the vehicle undergoing maintenance if you wished. I fitted the various engine parts into place and painted them up before they were lost from sight forever once the closed bonnet and side panels were glued into place. I found it necessary to trim back the top corners of the fire wall to get the rear of the bonnet to sit down fully: The bonnet side panels could also be omitted should you want to model your truck in a desert environment….. It was a test of dexterity to get the radiator front, bonnet top and sides lined up and without any problem gaps. I glued the bottom of the radiator piece to the chassis and then, before the glue had set, fitted the bonnet top into place. Once all this was firm, I popped in the side panels so they abutted the bonnet and glued them into position. It left a small gap between the sides and the wheel arches, but not enough to concern me. If you follow the instructions - which have you glue the sides to the wheel arches before the bonnet - the gap would have been far more noticeable being between the sides and bonnet top. Next came the cargo body. I elected to go for the covered version, but parts are also offered for you to leave it open. This was even more challenging to assemble, but everything worked out fine. Some filling and sanding was needed to lose the join lines. The front of the cargo body is also the rear of the cab, and it was not obvious to me from the instructions how it was to be positioned. However, all became clear once I tried assembling the cargo body onto the chassis. In fact, everything just clipped into place, which was ideal for the painting and weathering steps. I ground a relief into the ends to the rolled-up tarp. The dimples were painted dark earth before the part was glued into place: Some pre-shading was done by brush before the canvas parts were placed in position for airbrushing (sorry for the wobbly photo): The cab was masked using moistened kitchen roll. Some diluted PVA glue was applied over the outside to stiffen the covering. Some water was dripped on and allowed to soften the paper when the time came to remove it once painting was done: That's it for now - I don't want to bore the pants off you. I'll post how painting progressed shortly. Cheers, Pat

Kit: 1/72 Revell Junkers Ju-88A4 (5K+IL) 3./KG3 Shatalowka (Russia), Autumn 1942. Decals: Authentic Extras: Eduard Photo Etch Colors: Gunze/Mr.Hobby, Tamiya Cockpit in construction. Dive brakes from the Eduard set. The kit parts are overscale. Brake lines from stretched sprue. Thanks for your interest.