Matchbox M16 (3)

Painting the parts before assembly has the advantage of being able to get at details that will later get hidden.  The downside however is that the paintwork can easily get damaged by assembly; whether the overspill of glue (which is almost impossible to avoid, try as I might), handling (which 'polishes' the paint in places), or trimming parts (which I didn't need to do much as this is a lovely kit to assemble).

Here you can see here the glue along the seams of the bonnet, and how some of the paintwork has become 'shiny'.

So the only answer is to mask off the details (wheels, cab, tracks etc), and give it another light spray of FoW US Armour to refresh the basecoat.  The stowage (from SHQ) got a quick 'undercoat' at the same time.

Stowage added and details refreshed.

Stowage properly undercoated, 'spotter' added (one of the many spares from the Hasegawa Jeep and 37mm gun set) and decals in place.

Considering the age of this set of decals (which must be a good couple of decades old), they were in good condition.  In hindsight I perhaps should have trimmed the top of the stars for the side, to make them look like they're under the lowered side flaps.  Getting the front star on was a bit of a trial, as the raised details make the decal 'tent' up.  Constant dabbing with a damp brush, combined with pushing it into the crease with a sharp hobby knife eventually got it right.  The result is it looks a little distressed, but that actually helps it look right (in my opinion anyway!).