Welcome Finny! Glad to have another addition to the FSM family. You won't find a more supportive group of guys than the ones you'll find here on the FSM chat forums.
I, like you, thoroughly enjoy the 1/48 WW2 aircraft. Specifically, I love the U.S. aircraft due to the large varieties of flashy nose art.
If there are ANY questions you need to ask about weathering, just post them to the forum and you'll get tons of responses. One thing to know, though, is that for every one question, there may be ten different solutions to them. The one that's the "best" is the one that works for you. The fun part is trying them all as you try to find the one technique that you like the best.
Bottom line: Enjoy the journey. I've been building for 37 years and I'm still learning new things. I still operate at about a 1:1 ratio when it comes to my screw-ups and my successes. I've been down in the dumps a time or two over my latest flub-up but the folks here on FSM always lift me up with great tips, tricks and encouragement.
Welcome!
Eric