Written by Andrej Green and sold on the Matija and Andrej Model works website, this guidebook covers all you need to know about painting and weathering Tamiya's 1/48thscale F-14A Tomcat.
Although only one build is featured throughout the guidebook, the steps covered can be used for pretty much any aircraft as the processes are pretty universal.
This guidebook is only available as an e-book, which does have its advantages as it won't take space up on the modelling desk, and the pictures and text can be zoomed in for a better look. The book has 134 pages with 340 high resolution pictures, which as stated can be zoomed in for better details.
Now with most "how too " books they tend to be published by manufacturers who favour their own products over anyone else's, which then gives you the headache of replacing paints, pigments, washes etc with other brands. This e-book however doesn't favour one particular brand over any other, and in most cases just gives you the generic colour used.
Each chapter covers a specific area of the build.
Chapter One covers the cockpit and ejection seats.
Not only does the author build and paint the kits parts, he also uses various aftermarket options that are available as well, with each option all painted and weathered, so you get a good comparison if you really want too super detail this area.
Chapter Two concentrates on the undercarriage, with how to add detail and paint these parts for an authentic finish.
The bays are also painted and weathered in this stage.
A nice touch in this part is how to paint and weather the tyres, to give it that nice pushed look.
Chapter Three finishes the main build and then turns to the painting.
First up is priming, then the first part of the pre shading.
One handy little tip he demonstrates is removing the front cap to expose the needle, which gives you more control when spraying fine lines, and helps with the mottle effect.
Various lighter and darker shades of the base colour are mottled onto the aircraft including yellows for the burnt look parts of the airframe get.
This is all tied together with several light coats of the base colour.
The white tails are also pre and base painted to good effect.
Once the aircraft is painted and decaled the weathering can begin if you want a used looking plane.
Anti slip panels are painted on and a great tip on painting these are shown.
Engine exhaust effects are shown and do look the part.
Post shading, panel line washes, and applying dirt and grime with a sponge are all covered.
The last part is for the external weapons, pretty much using the same techniques as the rest of the airframe.
Chapter four, is a reference part for the F-14A Tomcat.
Plenty of pictures of the F-14 are shown in flight. No close up pictures of internal parts are depicted though.
The photos do show the weathering the Tomcat acquires.
The final chapter shows loads of pictures of the finished model.
The author picks out mistakes he has made during the build, which is a nice honest admission, and so the modeller can learn from these and improve their own models.
This is a very handy resource for building not only the Tamiya F-14 Tomcat but many types of aircraft, especially US Navy cold war aircraft.
The E-Book can be purchased here -
Want to make the best Cold War Era U.S. Navy Fighter you've ever made? — Matija and Andrej Modelworks (mamodelworks.com)Our Thanks to MATIJA AND ANDREJ MODELWORKS AND THROUGH A SMALLER LENS!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site.
Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.
