Komakai publishes photographic reference for builders of racing models. These are not historical monographs - the weight falls on close-up images of one particular machine: the interior, the engine bay, the suspension, how the body is mounted, lettering and sponsor liveries. The listings take in endurance racing cars, rally specials and single-seaters, and three volumes cover road and racing motorcycles. For anyone building a machine as it ran in one specific season, this is the most practical kind of reference there is.
A racing car changes from event to event. Liveries differ, sometimes aerodynamic parts do too, as does the cooling layout and the colour of details. A kit captures one configuration and the decals in the box usually cover one or two outings. To build the car from a particular race you need photographs from that season, which is exactly what these volumes are built on. Motorcycles are no different, except that the frame, the exhaust routing and the fairing mounts take the place of the cockpit.
Settle which entry you are modelling, then compare the kit against the photographs. The commonest differences are in the livery and in small items on the bonnet and inside the cockpit - rarely major surgery, but exactly the things a knowledgeable viewer spots immediately.
On a model with opening panels this is where building from the box and building from reference part company. Photographs show what is black and what is bare metal, how hoses run and where the harness is anchored. Without reference these are guesses, and guesses tend to be wrong.
Racing machines carry deep gloss finishes, so the work differs from military subjects: a smoother base, more clear coat, polishing between stages, and decals applied over gloss so no film edge shows.
Reference on other kinds of machine sits in reference books on real machines.
