albertsponson,
Kalmbach Books put out a book by Mike Ashey called "Detailing Scale Model Aircraft". According to my copy this is the third printing of it dated 1998.
If you are an aircraft modeler than you should have this book. It covers a wide range of basic techniques such as tools, glue, filling seams, decals, washes, drybrushing. It also covers lots of detailing and scratchbuilding. Each chapter covers a different area i.e...cockpits, engines, landing gear etc...They also have a nice section on using aftermarket sets. What I really like about the book is that they use mostly older inexpensive models, Revell, monogram and Hasegawa for the most part. The other great thing is that almost all of the scratchbuilding and detailing is done with plastic, with a little bit of brass and wire thrown in. No need to mortgage the house to buy pricey resin and PE sets. They focus on "real" modeling the way it used to be.
Two thumbs way up for this one
Darren