This digital guidebook is a comprehensive resource for building U.S. Navy Fighters of the Cold War era, featuring Tamiya 1/48th F-14As in the VF-14 Tophatters 80th Anniversary scheme.
The guidebook is divided into two parts:
This digital guidebook,
, covers all you need to learn about making your own Cold War-era U.S. Navy Fighter. It has 143 pages and 13,000 words that explain the “why” as well as “how” behind each step. The book is divided into four chapters. It starts off with the cockpit, and shows three ways of weathering three different types of seats. You can also learn how to either paint your cockpit straight out of the box or add some extras. The landing gear is covered in chapter two, while the painting, engines and weathering are discussed in chapter three. In the last chapter, you will find some F-14 color-corrected reference photos. These photos can be used as an inspiration or to learn more about reference photos. Although an F-14 was the subject of this book, the steps could be applied to any U.S. Navy jet fighter from the Cold War period.
What made me want to write guidebooks?
In 2021, I was encouraged by a couple of friends to post on TikTok. I chose to focus my content around how to build scale models. At the time I did not know any other 23-year-olds that were involved in the hobby. I also wanted to continue to grow the hobby for years to come. In my 10 years of scale model building, I hadn’t built many planes. I was looking to “accelerate my learning curve” at least a bit. I picked up a book that I found to be quite lacking and that would eventually inspire me to write my own. The book’s biggest flaw was that it didn’t explain each step. An entire plane was reduced to fewer pages and steps than you would find in an magazine centerfold.
I was determined to fix this. I practiced until I felt I could do it, and then I did more. This guidebook was my first book from start to finish. I wanted it to be detailed enough for a novice to pick up, and build a nice looking model, even if it were their first plane. This is the guidebook that I wished I’d had.
Why Digital?
With a digital book, you can zoom in and see what’s going on at each step. While a book in A4 size is nice to look at, the space it occupies on the bench makes it difficult to follow along. In 2024 you’ll have a PDF file on your smartphone that you can use to see the steps you are working on alongside the model. You can also pull up the document on the computer at your bench. It brings me back to my original “why”, which was helping others learn a new hobby or create something amazing. The digital version of my book can be delivered anywhere in the world instantly. I also don’t need to raise costs for shipping or the price of the goods I sell, as I would with physical books.
Let’s not go into the reasons why I decided to create my first guidebook. You can read some of the excerpts.
The Wrap-Up
You can get your copy here:
. Please let me know what you think if you pick up a book. I’m always looking to improve and make it so anyone can use my guidebooks. I’m always striving to improve and I want to make it so anyone can pick up any of my guidebooks and make a great looking model.
Best,
Nick, “Through A Smaller Lens”
The finished product in my favorite photo