Welcome, Dale. You have come to a great forum with lots of great folks. It is amazing how folks in this hobby are always ready, willing and able to share their knowledge and experience, some of it hard won, with others, especially newbies. Feel free to plunge in!
You might also want to check out the forums on Kitmaker.net. It is a huge modeling site with different forums devoted to various modeling interests from ships to planes to armor, etc... If you are interested in it, and it has anything to do with modeling, you'll find it there. I'm also on that forum under the same screen name, though I usually hang out in the modelshipwrights forum. I do try to take time to look in on forums that don't relate to my particular interest (1/350 U.S.N. and IJN WW2 warships with the occasional German and British warship) since a lot of the tips and techniques are equally applicable to other modeling subjects. I'm obviously a ship guy, but I do build the occasional warplane that catches my interest.
One heads up. Don't go over board with buying a lot of "hobby specific" tools, equipment, etc... There are a lot of things you can pick up at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, even flea markets that work just as well, if not better, than the things you can buy at your local hobby shop at much, much lower prices. As an example, I found my airbrush compressor, a Campbell-Hausfeld with a 1Gal. tank, at a flea market for $40.00. Works just great and sure beats paying $100.00 + for an Iwata or Badger compressor as sold in hobby shops or on hobby web sites. I'm sure a lot of folks here and on other forums will be glad to give you lots of suggestions on ways to same some big $$ on your modeling needs.
Again, welcome and have fun!
Bob
Just launched: Revell 1/249 U.S.S. Buckley w/ after market PE and guns.
Building: Italieri 1/35 P.T. 596 w/ Lion Roar PE.