An absolute must, when you get into scale modeling and are striving for accuracy. Start looking for books on the subject on which you are modeling.

For example if you are working on the F-14 Tomcat and it's variants, here are a few books on the subject. GRUMMAN F-14 TOMCAT, LEADING US NAVY FLEET FIGHTER by D.Jenkins, Aerofax (Midland Publishing Ltd.), ISBN 1-85780-063-X: A fine book about the Tomcat from its beginning until today including F-14Ds and the LANTIRN capable Tomcats. TOMCAT ALLEY by D.Brown, Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 0-7643-0477-1: A photographic roll call of the F-14 Tomcat. TOMCAT! THE GRUMMAN F-14 STORY by P.Gillcrist, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-88740-664-5: A book with well written text and stories covering the whole life of the Tomcat plus fine and sometimes rare photos. F-14 TOMCAT SQUADRONS OF THE US NAVY by L.Peacock, Motorbooks International , ISBN 0-7110-1577-5: A fine book with a lot about the Tomcats history and action, squadron histories of all F-14 squadrons (except for VF-191 and VF-194) and quite a number of rare photos. FIGHTER COUNTRY - THE F-14 TOMCATS OF NAS OCEANA by D. Parsons &D. Nelson, Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-442-5 GRUMMAN F-14 TOMCAT SHIPBORNE FIGHTER by J.Lake, Warplane Classics/World Airpower, UK ISBN 1 874023 41 7, US ISBN 1-880588-13-7 JANES - HOW TO FLY THE F-14 TOMCAT by D. Rockwell, Harper Collins Publishers, ISBN 0-00-472254-X MODERN FIGHTING AIRCRAFT: F-14, Vol. 8 by M.Spick, Arco Publishing Inc., ISBN 0-668-06406-4: A fine book with lots of prototype photos and technical information. THE CUTTING EDGE by C.J.Heatley III, Airlife Publishing Ltd., ISBN 1-85310-245-8: A superb book with superb photos of Navy aircraft, well written text of different Navy pilots about their job. TOMCATS FOREVER by D.Brown and R.Dorr, Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-85045-967-2: A must for all Tomcat fanatics, just fine photos with only a bit of text. F-14 TOMCAT by T.Holmes, Osprey Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-517-05697-6: A fine collection of colourful photographs of (rare) Tomcats. SUPERBASE 2 - MIRAMAR by George Hall, Osprey Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-85045-845-5: A great reference on Miramar before the change-over. Terrific pics of Tomcats in the book as well as other aircraft.

An encyclopedia of aircraft no matter how old the reference is, is a valuable tool when it comes to looking up pictures and finding out more about different aircraft. It may even give you ideas on what to build next.

No matter what your skill level, it is always handy to keep modeling tips and skills references around. These books cover the range from building the aircraft to using an airbrush to other techniques such as lighting an aircraft model kit. These types of books are essential to keep techniques fresh and in your mind at all times. Plus it's also a quick "get it off the shelf and look at it" type of reference. These can range from books such as the Applied Modeling Encyclopedia to magazines such as Fine Scale Modeler. Fine Scale Modeller (for those of us in the North Americas) is a very good model-building magazine. You can usually find it in most model-shops or you can subscribe to Finescale Modeller as most shops will run out of the magazine pretty quickly.

    

There are also walk-around book references. A prime example of this is the Verlinden Lock-On series booklets as well as the DACO Uncovering series books. Both of them have pictures of every conceivable location on the aircraft and then some. Danny Coremans is the author and compiler of the "Uncovering the..." books and they are extremely detailed. I have, currently, the F/A-18 book and hope to obtain both the F-16 and F-14 books as well, as the F-15 when the F-14 & F-16 books come out.

The internet is a great resource for pictures so it is always a good idea to have a broadband connection. Remember pictures are worth a thousand words. There are also on-line resources at places like Aircraft Resource Center, however you can also get a lot of facts just by searching on the internet. Bulletin Boards are also a great way to access information. Join a few model-builder bulletin boards such as ARC, Fighter Modeling, Modeling Madness or Hyperscale and you'll never look back again. I spend most of my time on bulletin boards gleaning as much information as I can before starting a model kit.

 : 

Catalogs keep you abreast of what's available from the different model manufacturers. Most model manufacturers have their catalogs on-line now. However there are a few model-builders who like to be able to pick up a paper catalog and see what's available.

Aircraft Magazines are a great source of pictures, as most of the magazines are chock full of articles and pictures. My main ones that I use are Air Combat, Wings, Airpower and Combat Aircraft, since my area of specialty in modelbuilding is combat aircraft, such as the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F/A-18. These magazines usually have a lot of photographs which you can use as references to detail your model.