If you are a new modeler who jumps right into the build without any prep work or if you are an experienced modeler who hates prep work and keeping track of the pieces and progress, this book can be a big help. A full color version is available as a PDF download on my website along with a grayscale spiral bound version. See a 16 page sample along with photos of finished models and other books at glennhoovermodels.com. This book contains detailed instructions on building the P-3C Orion anti-submarine 1/72 scale model aircraft from Hasegawa. I take the model kit instructions from Hasegawa and break them up into individual steps. I reorder the steps so that the small pieces (antennas, etc.) are assembled last which reduces the risk of damage when building the model. The steps are organized to insert the paint and decal steps in the best spot. I also incorporate Eduard's Photo Etch set BIG7239 in with Hasegawa's instructions. As most modelers know, it can be tricky to go back and forth between the model kit instructions and the PE instructions. I took out the guesswork and did that for you. The PE steps are colored in gray making them easy to skip if you just have the basic model. This book provides a little history of the Orion, photos of the model kit contents including the photo etch frets, a detailed list of tools that I used to build this model, along with a list of paints. The actual instruction section contains 497 steps that tells you what to dry fit, glue, and/or paint for each individual piece. Each step instruction shows the source (i.e., either Hasegawa's or Eduard's instruction) along with a block for you to mark that you completed the step. If the last column contains an X, that means there's a photo in the back with more details about the step. The major instruction sequence for this model is1. Cockpit2. Initial Fuselage3. Initial Wing Assembly4. Bomb Bay Opening5. Wing Pylons6. Prime and Paint7. Horizontal Stabilizer8. Bomb Bay9. Initial Wheel Wells10. Decals11. Windows12. Nose13. Wheel Struts, Tires, Wheel Well Covers14. Bomb Bay Doors15. Weapons and Bottom Antennas16. Engine Exhausts17. Top Antennas18. Tail Boom and Propellers19. Ladder20. Horizontal Stabilizer21. HF Antenna WireI provide an index of the individual sprue parts that show where in the book the part is mentioned. This index was a great way to make sure that no pieces were overlooked. Finally, there are several pages of in-process photos with assembly tips and the final photos of my build. This book is a great checklist to make your build go smoothly. Of course, you can feel free to use different tools, paint, weathering, etc. or even add your own diorama. It took me over 2 months to write the first cut of this book then another 1.5 months to do the actual build to test my instructions. I make tweaks to improve the instructions and add the photos. I did a lot of research and didn't see anything this detailed about a model build. Most articles or videos concentrate on parts of their build or just give a summary review. I wanted to go down to the piece level and take you thru the whole build. Anyway, I hope you find this book useful. Revision 1: Steve Sanchez (VP-40 Crewman) made some valuable comments that were added to this book. A note was added about the kit's cockpit layout versus his experience Step 207 was updated with his comment about black framed windows Step 470 as updated with his comment about the propeller paint stripe widths
