Flight Manual References

Be careful what you buy. The manuals can be very expensive and there are generally several manuals for each type of aircraft, e.g. flight manual, repair and/or service manual, engine manuals, electronics manuals, etc.  I have a set of repair and maintanence manuals for a Lockheed Electra model 10 and they costs about $600. Having a set of drawings scaled to 1/8th scale was another $250. I have anoither several hundred dollars in Evergreen sheet plastic, glue, resin, and molding materials. The two Williams Brothers Wasp radials in 1/8th scale were $35 each and the electric motors and machined landing gear with worm gear retract mechanism will be another 2 to 3 hundred.

So, where are you going with your project? Generally the "In Action" and/or "Walk Around", and sources like Gintner referrence sources are sufficient to build a great accurate model with plenty of added scratch built details.  And, they will not cost you an arm and a leg. 

Osprey.

I am an ecletic researcher and modeler doing subjects that are not in the mainstream of Bf-109's and B-26B-55's.  Squadron's In Action and Walkarounds series are general in nature, and are riddled with errors.  I like to doublecheck my sources.  I have one Osprey book and it also has an error in it as it is personal in nature.  They screwed up the serial number of my uncle's original B-17 in the colorplates in "The 303rd Bomb Group" book.  The flight manuals have more info in them with generally gooed drawings.  For example, take a B-26-MA.  I got the flight manual for them free off the web a couple of years back. It had good info about the interior with good drawings.  How many oxygen tanks does a B-26-MA have, where are they located and oriented in the plane.  Hint:  it is not the same as a B-26B-55-MA.  Where is the coffee Thermos located? With the sectional drawings, I can accurately turn my MPC/Airfix 1/72 B-26B into a B-26A that they show on the box with help from the portly and fat Valom B-26's that I have.  I also want to build the only B-17B to see combat in WW2 using the Koster conversion C/D kit so I have to scale up the top and bottom gun positions from my Academy 1/72 B-17B.

I get it and I'm with you all the way. Congrats and enjoy the builds.