Messerschmitt Bf 108

Eduard Weekend Edition, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by David Couche

The Bf 108 Taifun

The Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun was a German single-engine sport and touring aircraft, developed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in the 1930s. The Bf 108 was of all-metal construction.

Originally designated the M 37, the aircraft was designed as a four-seat sports/recreation aircraft for competition in the 4th Challenge International de Tourisme (1934). The M 37 prototype flew first in spring 1934, powered by a 250 PS (247 hp, 184 kW) Hirth HM 8U 8.0 litre displacement, air-cooled inverted-V8 engine, which drove a three-blade propeller.

Although it was outperformed by several other aircraft in the competition, the M 37's overall performance marked it as a popular choice for record flights. Particular among these traits was its low fuel consumption rate, good handling, and superb take-off and landing characteristics.

The Bf 108A first flew in 1934, followed by the Bf 108B in 1935. The Bf 108B used the substantially larger, 12.67 litre displacement Argus As 10 air-cooled inverted V8 engine. The nickname Taifun (German for "typhoon") was given to her own aircraft by Elly Beinhorn, a well-known German pilot, and was generally adopted.

Soon after the first production aircraft began to roll off the assembly line in Augsburg, several Bf 108s had set endurance records.

The Bf 108 was adopted into Luftwaffe service during World War II, where it was primarily used as a personnel transport and liaison aircraft. The aircraft involved in the Mechelen Incident was a Bf 108.

Production of the Bf 108 was transferred to occupied France during World War II and production continued after the war as the Nord 1000 Pingouin.

Eduard first released the Bf 108 kit in 2002, which I have started construction on. At the time it was the best and most accurate Taifun produced. Since then it has been released in a number of different boxing’s including several Profipacks and Weekend Editions.

This recent boxing basically sees the same moulds used with Eduard’s more recent style of plastic (grey rather than the early tan) kit in the box but with 2 new schemes.

The sturdy Eduard box is contains all the plastic you will need to make a really nicely detailed model of this Bf 108 Taifun. The contents include, 3 grey injected moulded sprues with some 87 parts on them. Upon careful examination of the instructions I find that 11 of these parts are not to be used in this version, so the spares box will have more welcome additions.

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Thumbnail panels:

There is one clear sprue containing 2 very clear parts, nicely printed decals for 2 different schemes and the usual comprehensive instruction booklet. All sprues are cleanly moulded with no flash evident and sprue gates to the parts appear to have been created to minimise their effect on the parts.

Sprue A

This sprue contains 23 grey injected plastic parts with 4 parts not used. The main parts here are the fuselage halves, cockpit tub seats, propeller, engine front and instrument panel. Detail is a mix of recessed panels and hatch details with some restrained riveting along wing root edges.

Sprue B

Sprue B has the upper and lower wing sections with beautifully restrained but delicate surface detail. Tail planes, rudders and undercarriage parts make up the remainder of the 15 parts on this sprue. There ae 2 rudders supplied but only one version is used on this model.

Sprue C

A sprue with 49 parts on it of which 5 are not used. Sprue C has the 25 parts to construct a detail engine and rear wall. It also has a number of parts to detail the cockpit as well as the wheel parts and prop spinner. Again, all the detail is sharp and delicate.

Sprue D

This is the clear sprue and has only 2 parts on it. These are a large crystal clear canopy, which is very prominent on this aircraft, and an underwing light.

Instructions and Decals

The instructions for the kit are the usual Eduard, high quality detailed instructions, with copious colour call outs throughout, using the Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color range as well as Mission Models paints. The decals appear to be in perfect register giving the options for 2 different aircraft. I have included a scan of the 2 aircraft profiles.

They are:

• Bf 108B, D-IHDD, Manx Air Races, Isle of Man, May 1937 – all dark blue

• Bf 108B, Manchurian Aviation Company, Chanchung Airfield, Manchuria, 1945

This  is a very nice, well detailed kit. The Eduard Bf 108 kit ticks all the right boxes for a short build time, but detailed model. One point of note is that, I’ve already started building the original release Eduard Bf 108 with the tan plastic. I am adding a good deal of aftermarket resin and have noticed that the original tan plastic is harder and more brittle than the newer Eduard grey plastic. A good choice of schemes covering a range of a race scheme and a Manchurain one.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2020 by David Couche
Page Created 27 January, 2020
Last updated 27 January, 2020

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