Well it seems some folks are curious about this kit, so here is a little report. I am not done with it, but have gotten pretty familiar with it.

It is a real nice kit, well made, minimal blobs of gunk to remove, good detail in panel lines etc. The canopy parts are thin and very clear, I believe if I opt to make the canopy open I shouldn't have too much trouble trying to overlap them. The canopy frames are actually a matte, translucent surface, which is a nice touch I think.

I've had to glue together the sling for the bomb, it was broken. The largest part of it was still on the sprue. I located the broken end of it in the box, it is really thin and fragile. I don't know how it got broken off while still on the sprues but it could have been my fault.

Again it is a very nice kit and I recommend it but it is not perfect. The instruction illustrations (drawings) are very clear but the sequence of construction could be made clearer and there are a couple of minor omissions, of part numbers and paint color. These are not big deals though.

One flaw in the parts is the upper wing halves. Their edges where they meet the fuselage are not straight, but have a gentle 's' curve shape. The image here is an exaggerated sketch. Again not a huge problem but

a) something that has to be fixed
b) something I'd think the manufacturer should be able to get right. I mean how do they get any other edge straight and why not apply that know-how to these parts?

Again though this is a very nice kit, despite these minor flaws. At least a 9.5 on a scale of 10!

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

OK, this kit poses a bit of an unexpected moral/financial/practical dilemma. I guess because of where it was made, it did not come with a decal for the uh, let's just call it the 'party insignia' on the tail...I've heard in some countries it's illegal to print that thing and some manufacturers get around it by printing it in two halves. Italeri simply omitted it altogether and even the finishing/decal drawings in the instruction don't show it.

Well I can respect that as that symbol (I don't even like to type the word) certainly has very negative connotations to some people, in some places, and understandably so.

But it presented me with a dilemma...

I want the model to look correct. I know these Stukas and I guess almost every other WW2 Luftwaffe plane carried them on the tail, and I don't think my model will look right without it.

But I don't want to buy decals just to get some for the tail.

I also didn't want to spend much time, effort and creative energy to create some of the nasty little marks, besides, I'd have to make two that match, twice as hard as one.

I pondered on this for several days and finally decided to chance making them myself. I took two layers of masking tape, scaled the logos off an illustration to determine the size needed, and cut them out to get the same size. It's hard to keep the sides parallel and square when your are doing something this small...and masking tape is stretchy...Then I put the base green on the rudder, let it dry and then sprayed on white using the masks I made. After it dried I used a "super extra fine" black pen to fill in the black by hand. There was no way I could hand paint the black in the narrow white bands, or make new smaller masks for the black.

So here is the result.

Now if you's like to pay a compliment, that's fine, I appreciate it. But If someone else posted this and I wanted to pay a compliment, I might say "you did a good job, Joe" or "what an accurate replica Bill", but I don't think I would say "that looks good"., To me, it doesn't look good, it looks evil, and is a reminder that as much as some would prefer to deny it or ignore it, evil is real.

Now I truly do not mean to open the 'political correctness' can of worms here, of all places. I hope my comments here have not exceeded the iModeler bounds of taste or offended anyone.

I guess the next time I consider a WW2 German plane kit to build I should find out if this decal is included or not before deciding if I want to buy it.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Yes, Gregor, I also browsed iModeler at length to see what others do about this before deciding. I don't recall seeing any German WW2 models here that didn't have it. I didn't want to be the first, especially for this "group build" thing.

Thanks - I figured this might generate some thought provoking replies!

Ralph, speaking of non-aerodynamic, how did Italeri handle the panel lines and rivets? My Stuka feels like it's covered in 80 grit sandpaper 🙂

Gregor by the time I was done in my futile effort to get it to do what its not designed to do, covering the engine up was the only real option left. Well, the best option in my opinion. See I have this quirk, I like the planes I built to look complete, as if they could fly, not partially disassembled. Call me weird about that - at least I took pictures of the engine! But like you say, I "paid for all that engine detail" so I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, close it up and be able to take off one panel to see the motor, and put the panel back. No can do with this kit.

If anyone tries this kit I recommend:

1. make real sure you get those frame rails on the sides of the engine pushed in as close to it as you can, I got the left one a tiny bit farther from the motor than the right one. Since these connect the motor to the firewall and the cowl, that was the start of my problems.
2. when you put the cowls together, don't glue them to the motor at all, the instructions don't tell you that of course, but there needs to be some play to them so they can match up to the fuselage.

Rick, the exterior finish is great, very detailed, smo-o-o-oth plastic, recessed panel lines, mostly recessed rivets but some are raised, I suspect they are "anatomically correct"

Ralph, first, your work on this model looks great, I'm sure the finished model will reflect all your hard work. Second, I followed your moral dilemma with great interest and think you've made the right decision. I get a similar situation with some racing bikes and cars where the originals had major sponsorship from tobacco companies. The kit manufacturers are not allowed to include the tobacco companies' markings because the kits may be purchased by youngsters, so, sometimes I resort to after market suppliers. I have fairly strong feelings about smoking, and would certainly never encourage it, but... I like to make accurate models.