Back before his Bf 109 became a household word in Great Britain, Professor Willy Messerschmitt designed a trim four-place civilian touring aircraft — an aerial sedan as it were — called the Bf-108 Taifun. When World War II began, the Luftwaffe conscripted the Taifun as a liaison aircraft. Eduard has released a new 1/32 scale Weekend Edition Taifun, continuing a family tree dating back to an unreleased 2018 kit from a company called Striped Fighter.
Like most Weekend Editions, there are two decal options: an early-war three-color splinter scheme and a standard two-green splinter from the Russian Front. No photoetched-metal (PE) parts are provided, although, unusually for a simplified Weekend kit, a replacement resin propeller is included.
Mimicking the real aircraft, the simple interior includes well-molded leather seats for front and back, all easily visible through the crystal-clear canopy. You also get optional parts to model the canopy open. Lacking PE parts, I had to rely on the included seat-belt decals. At this scale, they simply looked fake, so I omitted them. A decal decorates the instrument panel, and the interior parts fit well inside the fuselage halves.
Also included as interior detail is a very nicely molded Argus inverted V8 engine, most of which is hidden behind closed cowling. Fully assembled with the exhausts, it fits inside the cowling, though it’s tight in there. I mounted the Argus on the firewall and inserted the assembly from the back to ensure proper fit and alignment. Upon consideration, it might be easier to install while assembling the fuselage halves.
The flight surfaces were easy to assemble, leaving off the tiny mass balance “footballs” on the ailerons until after paint and decals. The wing fit perfectly at the wing roots and forward lip, needing only a touch of filler at the rear joint. I added the stabilizers on each fuselage half before assembly so I could ensure they were indeed horizontal. I left the supporting struts off to avoid annoying masking issues. The cowling front fit without issue, but I had to widen the prop shaft hole to accept the resin propeller. I drilled both the oil cooler and carburetor intakes for added realism.
The simple landing gear assembles quickly, although the wheel halves are a very tight fit. The kit supplies two tread types without mentioning which scheme either belongs to; I used the less aggressive looking circumferential tread for my early war version. I drilled axle holes in the tailwheel because none were present.
The flexible canopy can be made to fit well. The part’s rear corresponds to a panel line instead of the rear windows, which makes for less work.
I painted my Taifun with Tamiya paints - RLM gray (XF-22) for the interior, and medium gray (XF-20), NATO green (XF-67), NATO brown (XF-66), and light blue (XF-23) for the exterior. The decals have a hazy backing but blended well on a gloss surface, settling over details without any softening solution.
After just under 20 hours of stress-free building and painting, the Taifun was finished. Good detail, excellent fit, and a pleasant build experience means I recommend this kit to any builder with a few kits under their belt.