Newbie: PE parts

www.greatmodels.com has a great search engine,if you search out the kit you have,it will also tell you the AM parts that it has available for it.

Here's my

I hate PE parts.  I understand their use, don't get me wrong.  I just hate messing with the stuff.  Having said that, if you are going to get into using PE do yourself a favor and buy a bender like Mission Models' "Etch Mate 3".  It's expensive and a uni-tasker; but it will make your PE world sooooooo much better.

I usually get my stuff off eBay.  Just do a search for whatever model kit you're looking to build and you're likely to find all sorts of people selling kits, aftermarker parts even fully built kits.  I also buy from Squadron Mail Order, Internet Hobbies & Great Models webstores.

Thanx for the information. I am not in a hurry to do the super detailed stuff. I am just trying to figure out how the hobby is currently working, where to get stuff, where to learn stuff, etc. Ill worry about getting really good at this hobby later, or maybe even never.

I am getting back into this hobby to force myself to take on smaller projects that I dont have to obsess about. I need to get back to being more whimsical which for me, will mean to not be so detail obsessive.

So I have seen that there are PE vendors and resin vendors that sell add on for different kits, etc. I guess I am at a loss on how to find the available PE/Resin parts for any given kit. Looks like Eduard has lots of stuff, but I haven't really found a state side vendor of their lines, just small hits here and there.

So where can I figure out / purchase all of the aftermarket offerings for any given models? Actually, for that matter, whats a good online source for kits? I do a fair bit of business with my LHS but would like to know good online vendors that I can source kits from as well.

Thanx!

There are both specific packages aimed at a particular kit, and generic packages just by scale.  A popular example of the later is railing packages for ships.

Lots of tricks for working with the stuff- too many to list in this message.  But stay tuned to forums, a frequent question is how to do thus and such with PE parts (bend, attach, cut, etc).  New methods show up all the time.  Good reason to keep monitoring good forums.

Frankly, I'd recomend that newbies avoid P/E altogether unless it's included in the kit...    Stuff's expensive, and you likely won't use all of what's in an after-market, kit-specific set...  

If you wanna buy packs of "German Rudder Pedals" or "US Seat Harnesses" that's one thing, but buying a "Tamiya 1/48 F-14 Tomcat" or "1/35th Italeri M-7 Priest" set is another matter...

Air conection is good

http://www.airconnection.on.ca/

Sprue Brothers, Great Models, Squadron, etc. eBay. 

MOST PE sets are model specific, down to a specific kit. For more generic or universal stuff - seatbelts, placards, things like that, you can usually find general sets. 

Honestly, be careful with PE. I've found some of it to be fantastic, and some of it to be highly mediocre. Also, I'd recommend against using PE that attempts to replicate any kind of cable or wiring, since PE is 2D and flat.