Kit Fit 8/10
When I first looked at the instructions and saw (to me anyway) how the kit was to be to build I kinda dreaded doing it. Some of the seams looked as though they could need gallons of filler and more sanding than I could take. However, with careful part preparation and test fitting it went together very well indeed. Only a few seams needed to be really sanded (around the engines mostly) so what was looking to be a pretty fraught task was actually nice and straightforward
Ease of Construction 7/10
There were a few odd places where I was scratching my head(particularly around where and how the seats were supposed to go) but otherwise there were no real show stoppers
Kit Detail 8/10
I’m not rivet counter,but it ended up looking like a JU88(always a good thing) detail was very good across the board and I’m sure a better modeller than I could really make it look amazing. I was a little disappointed in the detail around the bomb bay and felt that perhaps the panel lines should have been deeper or even being able to have it open would have been better. After the intricate detail of the cockpit it was a sad omission imho
Decal Quality 7/10
Generally pretty good, all in register etc. One or two decals let the side down though such as the cross and registration letter being all one piece. To avoid silvering it might have been better to have them separate. The labelling of the decaling was also (to me anyway) A little confusing but lots of referring to the instructions helped a lot, though IMHO the amount of page flicking was a little excessive.
Instructions 6/10
Generally pretty clear, but there were some areas in which it wasn’t at all clear where stuff should go(I’m looking at the seat mountings in particular). However I’m knocking points off for the confusing paint call out schemes(A,B,C etc) and also the lack of a colour paint guide made painting it a nuisance and decaling in some places pure guess work due to the dotted lines where the decal was supposed to go being obscured by shading. I’d have willingly spent another quid on the kit for Airfix style colour guides
Value for Money 9/10
I paid £26 for the kit and I have to say I got my money's worth from it. The amount of content and potential for better modellers than I make this kit a bargain. When 1:48 kits are often more money and give less detail and experience I feel this kit is very good value.
Mishaps and accidents.
I only really had one major mishap and that was down to me losing a clear part to the carpet monster and revel being unable to supply a replacement(kit was out of production apparently..) so I had to have my first go at scratch building the clear part from an spare Me-109 canopy. I don’t think it turned out too bad and was certainly better than leaving a blank hole in the fuselage.
Lessons learned
Clean up and test fit everything
Tamiya’s RLM 70 and 71 color matches are’nt great
Post shading is fun
Don’t be scared of large scale builds, they really make you learn loads.
Summary
For a first ever group build I did enjoy myself a great deal. Not only was the kit and subject matter really interesting the best thing was the encouragement I got from ISM members on my thread. It really spurred me on to do better and gave me a huge morale boost in some of the trickier parts.
Build thread is here http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=207&t=4677
Anyway, that’s enough of me rambling on. Here are the reveal pics of my weathered and ‘in the thick of the battle of Britain’ 1:32 JU88. Enjoy
(sorry I didn't catch it while you were building 
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