For a 6-week speed build, starting in the 5th week may be a bit late, but here goes!
For a 1/48 kit it's pretty tiny and even if the real plane would've had a spartan cockpit, I figured the cockpit could do with some extra detail. It only comes with an instrument panel, flight control stick and rudder pedals. To this I added a throttle, levers for the flaps, landing skid and for unhooking the tow cable. I also added a simplistic oxygen regulator plus some wiring behind the instruments and a canopy lock/jettison latch. The colour these extra items add is most welcome! The handgrip of the flight control stick was shortened and angled to make space for the extra instruments and to more represent the sticks seen in other Messerschmitt designs. I might try and jam an oxygen gauge in there somewhere, but I already closed it up last night.
The 30 mm cannon barrel was replaced with a medical syringe and I cut off the jet pipe and replaced it with a piece of telescopic radio aerial.
Seat belts were made from Tamiya masking tape and a vintage set of ExtraTech photo etch buckles that I've had for decades. "© 1989 Made in Moravia Czechoslovakia" (!)
Next thing to do will be a lot of wood pattern decals. Spiros, John, thanks for the confidence, I'll try my best! 🙂
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.