WWII Dornier Do215B5 German Night Fighter

Overall, this is not a bad model but it does have some short comings. On the positive side, it is good plastic with nice clear parts. The canopy is easily masked for painting. Cockpit detail is better than most models. The overall surface detail of the model is good and is engineered for easy painting (turning props can be added after final paint). I feel the ICM really tries to capture the exact dimensions of everything but this does lead to some problems on the landing gear. Very flimsy supports of which several broke on the sprue. The instructions are ok except for putting in the seats in the cockpit and the complex landing gear. Of the 8 parts of the landing gear, I gave up in frustration and only used 3. I also gave up on the exhaust covers as they seemed more trouble that they were worth after the landing gear problem. The seat placement became guess work based on the instructions. The decals provide plenty of stenciling but are very delicate. The instructions say to soak 20 seconds but that is too long. They will fall apart. Just dip them in water for 5 seconds and go from there. Decals are provided for 3 versions with completely different paint schemes. The wing spar helps the wings to be easily aligned. A separate piece is provided for the bomb bay but there is no detail inside. My final product turned out OK but not great. I think that was more due to my ability rather than the model itself. It was nice to have such a variety of paint schemes to chose from instead of the same scheme with just different squadron identifiers.