Doing a bit more work in the cockpit of the Emil. Here is the starboard fuselage side. The sidewall details are molded into the inside of the fuselage.
There is a photo-etched plate that replaces the rectangular panel along the top edge so that has been sanded down. Looking at reference pictures, I started building up some detail. Due to the placement of the instrument panel, I doubt that this added stuff will be seen. I may even elect to have the canopy in the closed position to preserve the elegant lines of the aircraft so I decided to not to expend too much on added details.
On the port side, I just added some plastic sprue rods to add to the included photoetched stuff.
The cockpit parts were painted in black.
And then RLM 02 Grey. When dry, I'll come back and do some detail painting and weathering on the cockpit.
The outer instrument panel PE pieces are shot with a flat coat to deaden the shine and even out that texture.
From what I've read, this kit was designed to have the engine and gun compartment open for display and that mounting the engine and gun cowlings in the closed position may result in some fit problems if one isn't careful. Since I am intending to show everything closed, I'm spending some extra time looking at the engine components, paying extra attention to the kit instructions (certain parts of the engine assembly must be left off) and pre-fitting as much as possible to avoid any headaches.
I've noticed that there are some subtle removals called out for the closed cowling option. Easy to miss if you aren't paying close attention.
This one will be done after the two engine halves are glued together.
One minor concern are the engine exhausts. One the positive side, the exhaust ports are molded with hollow openings. But each stack is molded as an individual piece. The cowling open option will have you insert the exhaust stacks AFTER the engine trapped between the two fuselage halves. This is good because you can added the painted exhaust stacks after painting of the fuselage.
But since the cowling closed option requires leaving out some engine components including the engine mounting braces, the instructions show the installation of the exhaust stacks before the engine is placed between the fuselage halves, probably to aid in alignment. I'll have to look at this to see if there an alternative or maybe I just to need to accept that some delicate masking will need to be done around the exhausts.