Messerschmitt Bf 108 D-IHDD build

Let's start with the cockpit, since it's so visible under the large canopy. A good base from Eduard, but a few visible details are missing : on the front firewall, ahead of the pilot's rudder pedals, two cylinders with tubing, and less visible, another tube in front of the passenger. The central 'stick' between the control columns is the landing gear retraction lever, and it should have a little indicator window next to it. 

I made the instruments panel by gluing the decal behind the thinned out and drilled plastic part. The result is ok to my eye. It is very visible under the canopy, especially since it comes against (and not under) the hood. For the side panel, I thinned out the rudder control wheels, added some control wires and tried to replicate the control windows above it.
I also thinned out the top of the side panels themselves so they will fit closer to the fuselage walls. 

Because of the way the cockpit tub fits into the fuselage, I decided to glue only the bottom of the sidewalls and rear firewall. This will allow me to press them against the fuselage when assembled.
I decided to have quite bright seats in this civilian aircraft. I hesitated a long time and eventually opted to use the decals for the seatbelts, but I wanted to give them a sense of relative rigidity, so I coated them with matt varnish before applying them to the seats. 

Onto the engine, which Eduard decided to spend a lot of energy on, despite being enclosed... Some of that detail could have gone elsewhere (rudder and elevator controls, wheel wells,...) but it led me to decide to open the engine side panel to show it off.
Now, I realized this much too late (especially given the effort in detailing), but the instructions are wrong, showing the engine block inverted : the mounts should be closer to the side of the engine block in the back, not the front ! As a result, the engine is too far back and does not look right through the front opening (so even with the engine cover left closed). I believe the part was designed right and can just be turned around to be correct.
This picture is from the Fantasy of Flight Bf 108. A great series of restoration videos are on the net, it's a fantastic resource for details ! 

So, unaware of Eduard's error in the instructions, I dove into it and the parts are very fine, especially those fragile pushrods (thinned out a bit here). 

A fair bit of detailing on the left side which will be open : ignition wires and their protection plates, distributioin ramp, tubing over the front crankcase, detail on the back,... 

A very visible (from the front opening) silver rod comes across the engine between the 2nd and 3rd cylinder banks.  

The cross rod is clearly visible in this interesting front shot, as well as other details from the front (like the long drain pipe left of the exhausts and the visiting traps for the landing gear at the wing root).
The image is from another great ressource on YouTube : a pre-war film detailing the steps of the construction of the Bf 108. 

Another prominent detail is the 'plate' that comes under the cylinders (made with thick alu foil left in its metalic finish). A second tube comes over the exhaust collector, and detail was added to the back wall.
Clearly here (but I still had not realized) the engine is too far back : the red Argus logo should be ahead of the engine mount, not behind. I can't believe I did not see it even when placing the stickers on the engine block... 

The right side of the engine is left pretty much OOB, since not much will be visible. 

The engine compartment was cut out and all visible surfaces thinned out a lot. This must be done on the front hood even if the engine is not left open, since the front opening is so visible on the Bf 108.
I later changed the tone of the inside paint to a more neutral grey. 

A big, visible omission from Eduard here : the large grooves for the rudder controls. Very odd, from a specialist in fine details... A circular visit trap is missing under the stabiliser, and the odd shape around the stabiliser opening should in fact protrude out, since it was attached to the stabilisers, covering their motion when trimmed up or down. I left it as is, thinking the heavy panel line would do the trick visually (but in retrospect, I could have added a layer of sticky aluminium foil to thicken the part).
The exhaust pipe is thinned out a bit in the engine cover. 

Because of the cutout in the engine hood, I could slip the whole cockpit tub + engine assembly into the assembled fuselage halves. This allowed me to glue them together as precisely as I could (they match well) and test fit the sub-assemblies.
Eduard missed the oil and fuel tank covers (although the decal indicating them are provided) and a smaller electrical one underneath. The trap I drew under the luggage compartment is an error : I based it on the FoF renovation airplane, but that was a later modification. 

Everybody harps on about the old Matchbox 'trenches', but nobody remarks on Eduard's gross rendition of the Bf 108's fuselage, whose segments were neatly assembled to minimize drag. The airplane was designed as a racer, and a lot of care went into its aerodynamics. So out comes the filler in those panel grooves...
The fit of the main parts is very good if sections are glued one at a time. So I glued the end of the wings first and waited to glue central parts until after the fuselage was fitted. As usual, the wing's inside must be thinned out to reduce the thickness of the trailing edge. 

With the central part of the wings still loose, I matched them to the wing roots on the fuselage. That works well. 

The result is a gap between the top and bottom of the wing halves where they meet the fuselage, but that is easily filled. I use (very thin) molding flash for these kinds of gaps. I find it easier to work with similar plastics rather than putty (either too soft or too hard).
At this point I still had not realized the problem with the engine placement, even if it looks glaring now that I know. 

Some attention is needed with the wing to bottom fuselage gap, as well as the overall shape of the area. But it's manageable.
Very simplified wheel wells on this kit : again, a bit of a disappointment from the detail specialist...
The wheel well itself should not be a perfect circle, but I only modified the front (the back was too involved for not much difference). Also, a small support comes under the leg in the well. More fine detail to come later, probably. 

The proper shape of the wheel wells.  

Looking at the motor problem again, I decided on a solution : detaching the motor from its mounts delicately without taking anything else apart, then moving it forward as much at it will go. But before gluing it back in place, I had to glue the 2nd half of the bottom cowling. It will need further puttying and filing obviously but it should be ok. 

I found the front cowling awkward to match, but that may have been my modifications. What I do find unfortunate is to have 3 parts to make the top engine cover, which should be one piece... Also, the top air cutout should not be open when seen from the top (just a small vertical slit when seen from the rear).
The cockpit is now nearly complete, with the instruments panel and seatbelts in place. Another detail that is annoying : the hood over the instruments panel should be the continuation of the engine cowling, not a separate part beneath as Eduard did it. I should also be the same color as the exterior, but I may leave it interior grey.
A lot of details need to go into the canopy's interior before gluing it, so that's for later. 

An interesting period drawing of the inner mechanics of the fuselage. The coaming over the instrument panel is the prolongation of the forward fuselage and the canopy comes on top of it. The motor is clearly forward and the mechanism for the rudder trimming is nicely illustrated. Nothing much else in the rear fuselage apparently ! 

A few other things to look out for :
- the tail is too thick. I glued the fuselage too early to do much about it, and I did not thin out the rudder enough before gluing it either. I filed down the top to make it look thinner.
- I wish Eduard had made separate control surfaces, at least for the elevators, but no luck... I prepared the rudder so it can be glued askew, but I may glue it straight yet.
- the instructions are wrong again with respect to the supports for the stabilisers : the thicker part should be on the stab side !
- the wheel covers need to be thinned out. I cut out the top part (a separate part in reality) and will remake it in Evergreen sheet, and I thinned out the outside of the bottom part. Again, the shape is simplified and they should be curved a bit, but I will not bother, I think. 

Some of the visible details that need to go into the canopy are illustrated here :
- first, the curtains that go over the top, very visible even when pulled back.
- the rope that runs along the middle framing, which allows the pilot to open the door latch behind.
- the door latches themselves, and the locking handle above the instruments panel.
- hardly visible : a handle on the side of the front canopy allows for a emergency release of the doors.
- not visible here but very visible on the outside of the airplane : a rubber bumper sticks out to stop the open door from damaging the fuselage.
Notice also the front air cutout on the hood : it does not have the kit's triangular cutout. 

So, onto the canopy, and those interesting curtains...
My first idea : folding a single ply of tissue paper into tiny folds, gluing one edge with white glue, then running the 3 lines through a hole in the paper. But the paper proved too fragile to pierce cleanly... 

So after a bit more experimenting, I opted to glue only two strips of folded paper onto a tiny strip of Evergreen styrene. It works, but the result is still not wide enough (it should look like there are two sets of curtains, one on each side (pilot, passenger). So I may get back to it yet.
I drilled tiny holes for the 'hanging wires' on the sides, and glued them only in the middle. They were mounted before the 'curtains', to simplify the operation.
The middle canopy latch mechanism and side emergency canopy releases are made with old remnants of photo-etch.
I'm not sure I will bother with the rear opening handles, since they are barely visible. But the cable running from the front to them is needed. 

The resulst from the outside. Compared to the real picture above, the curtains are not visible enough. Maybe I will add a second set (strip + paper), or maybe just extra paper on each side.
Ideally, the paper should habe been tan/cream, but I will settle for white.
 

A preview of the result over the cockpit. When the canopy framing is painted (chrome silver!), the curtains will be even less visible, so more is needed... 

Final version, with extra tissue paper added on each side to match the period pictures.
The side ropes to open the doors have also been added (plastic sewing thread) and the quick-release system for the doors was extended to the bottom of the frame. That's all I will do in the canopy ! 

Final gluing and sanding for the nose. The whole top of the cowl should look like it's one piece, so a lot of work is needed there. 

Same for the bottom, except that the front of the cowl is a separate piece from the bottom.
The thinning of the front cowl opening is visible here, but the engine should come to its edge. It's clear that the engine is not just reversed, but actually quite underscaled.
If I were to redo the model with the side-panel open, I would look for a replacement engine. 

Getting back to this build after too much time... Adding details needed on the landing gear : the small rod that allows the lower wheel cover to move up/down with the suspension (visible on the right LG), and the break cable.
With an Evergreen sheet, I made a first set of upper LG covers, but they were too short. Back to work ! 

The landing gear in its final state. It certainly looks less bare than eduard's parts. 

The re-made top gear covers, now about the right size (and thinness).
Now I wish I had a good solution for the canvas inside the wheel pits. I tried sticky aluminium foil, but it was a mess... 

Painting is mostly finished, finally... First the overall blue and the the tail's red band, and now the canopy's bright silver. The canopy's structure was chromed, so it can't be too bright ! 

Not too bad, after a bit of blue touch up around the glasshouse. The interior is very visible, so all efforts there pay off.
I wish my curtains were a bit less white... 

A simple solution for the tail-wheel, which is too long as provided by eduard : a thicker hole, with the slight (proper) angle. Some 108s had the rubber cover, so I decided to leave it. 

As for the stabilisers support rods, not olny are they inverted in the instructions, they do not match the holes in the stabs. I placed them where they seem to go on the real 108, but I'll have to do something with the holes... 

Back to this kit after decaling, and on to the finishing bits : here, the underwing weight balances and the landing light. It was not very useful for eduard to mold the light in one piece of clear plastic, since it's then difficult to represent the interior. I ended up filing down the front, digging out the reflector shape, painting it silver and gluing a new lens in front. The lens is cut out from soft vinyl which ended up a bit bulging. 

The oil filter (?) is glued after its top hose was cut down to fit it accurately. Its front and back were hollowed and detailed a bit.
The 'hinge' of the open hood (made from sticky alu foil) is visible here too, as well as the small rod to prop it open.
By the way, does anybody have a spare propellor cap (B type) ? I seem to have misplaced mine ! It would save me a bit of time rather than re-making one ! 

Detail of the exhaust and internal add-ons. A quite visible drain to the right of the exhaust was added at the last minute, and another to its right (through a hole in the lower hood) is still missing in this picture. 

Two more sets of details here : the hand holds behind the canopy (provided by eduard in their PE fret, but which I made from a set of PE buckles), and the rubber bumpers to stop the canopy doors when open (visible between the BWF logo and the Taifun inscription). This is another place where eduard over-simpified the fuselage in my opinion As for the oil fill cap, I wish I had engraved it like the fuel cap, as the decal just doesn't work as well.
The wing walks are the kit's decals and worked well enough for me.