Simon, it's got a coating on it, not sure what it is!
A bit more done today, put the mg shield & hatches on, the shield took a bit of trimming, might need a bit of adjustment yet. The intake grills were a bit large, needing a bit of trimming, but the etch headlight mount went on easily!
Started work on the commanders cupola. the etch set has the fixings for the armoured glass, which are fixed to the kit part & thin clear plastic fixed in between for the armoured glass, not sure if you can see that in the photos.