The four volumes of the "Virtual Airplane" series will teach you how to create the model shown on the cover. This guide assumes that you may know nothing about the 3D modeling software, so it starts the course from the very basics. In subsequent chapters the author builds a computer model of the P-40B fighter, gradually introducing new methods and tools. Every step of this workflow is shown in numerous illustrations.

This first volume ("Preparations") describes how to prepare and verify the reference drawings. This is a preliminary phase before you start building the digital model. From this book you will learn:

• How to verify scanned scale plans of an aircraft;
• What are the common errors made by the authors of these drawings;
• How to edit raster images in GIMP (fixing the errors found in the drawings);
• How to draw corrected scale plans in Inkscape;
• How to use original factory blueprints to improve scale plans;
• How to use photos to improve scale plans;
• How to revert the barrel (perspective) distortion of photographs in GIMP (to match such "orthographic" photos against the drawings);

In the 20^th century you could make an aircraft model from paper or plastic. At the beginning of the 21^st century the time has come for yet another variation of this hobby: computer models. The primary goal of the "Virtual Airplane" series is the popularization of this new branch of scale modeling. To make this hobby more affordable, the author exclusively uses the free (Open Source) software. However, these volumes may also be interesting to all non-modelers, who want to master the free, powerful 3D graphics suite and create various computer visualizations. What's more, the methods described in this particular book (Volume I) may also be useful to traditional scale modelers who just want to make better models (using the verified and corrected plans), or to those who want to create new, better drawings of historical aircraft.

Supplementary downloads for these series include various additional resources (drawings, samples, add-ons) as well as the models and textures created in every lesson from volumes: II, III, and IV.

Technical note: "Virtual Airplane" is a "picture book". It contains 227 illustrations, which significantly increase its size (it may take longer to download this book). These illustrations look best on a color display of appropriate resolution. Thus the Kindle Fire tablets (especially the HD and HDX versions) provide the best reading experience. You can also read it on PC computers or other tablets, using the corresponding free Kindle applications (for Windows, Mac, and Android). The book from this site is not optimized for the iPads.