A wonderful idea- bashing a BUSA kit into something that looks a bit more like the real thing. I did it, and am eager to repair it and get it back into the air- dumb thumbs!!

First thing to do- read up on the Eindecker, so you have some idea what it really looked like, and what some of the details are. There's a signal book out on it, I believe. On the web, there's a full size recreation at the San Diego Air Museum http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/ that was superbly documented in a DVD put out by Achim Engels. I wasn't able to find a link to that DVD, but would encourage you to look for it on the web.

Modifying the fuselage, or changing the tail feathers are great ideas, but there are some simpler things that can be done that would give it a more authentic look. Change the landing gear to look more like the real one. The larger BUSA Eindecker has suggestions in their manual about how to do that; it just requires carefully bending some wire and doiing some good wrapping and soldering.

Add the wires. Get turnbuckles and a small pulley from Proctor, and, having figured out what the cabanes (?) look like, make something that looks reasonable. You could even omit the turnbuckles- just put on some small pieces of brass tubing to simulate them where you attach them to the wings. The guy who built my plane had installed brass tubes through the wings at the four (on each side) locations that the wires would attach to the wings. That made it easy to make hard points for attachment; if you are starting from scratch, you could simply put wood blocks under the covering at the right places, and use wood screws for the attachments.

Think about putting aluminum tape on the cowl and front of the fuselage to simulate the Eindecker's brushed aluminum. SR Batteries has a good descriptoin of how to do it and sells some of the supplies you'd need.

Good luck, have fun, and don't worry about getting it "right". Jus do it, and then fly it!!