Hi tc1cat, well if you want to see it that way ... About the screws I trimmed down. The ones from the under run protection can be installed without trimming. But that means you have to paint the little parts separately. Easier to grind a bit of the screws. The other one, where I had some trouble with the transfer case, well, shouldn't have moved the support of the oil tank one opening over so its fastener came in te way.
Allowing paint thickness? Considering the size of the parts and the fact that it is a human doing the painting, would be asking a bit much I think.
The openings in the frame ... yeah, actually to be true to scale, they need even more of those. Might not be like that with US trucks, but EU trucks all have lots of holes in their frames. Have a look at the
Mercedes-Benz UK website.
And the screws that need shortening ... there are probably more screws in the frame than in your run of the mill kit. Why add another €100 to an already pricey kit if all it takes is 15 minutes to shorten them.
We can keep arguing about this till the cows come home.
Cheers!
Stephan