What kits would you recommend...

Well I cut my teeth on Monogram, Airfix, and Heller. They put out some nice kits and even if you get a kit with a few problems, it will further your modeling skills. Academy has come along way and their current crop of kits are both very nice and inexpensive. Many look to high dollar kits for a succesful build, but modeling skills are much more important.

Dragon m1a1 Ha its great next to no filler, easy to paint, sand, finish, acceptable details. just the rear rack is a little hard to install

As varied as the opinions are on this forum, the best thing for you to do is to go find a subject that YOU like, whether it be aircraft, armor, automotive, ship or sci-fi, and find the relevant kit and build it. You'll only enjoy the hobby, and really get into it by building those several pieces that bring back some fond memory, or that sparks some historical significance for you. In short, you'll only enjoy the hobby as much as you enjoy the subject in front of you. If it costs a few bucks more, so what....at least you have something you like and can be proud of when finished. Enjoy!!
Gip Winecoff

For aircraft, Monogram's 1/48th kits can't be beaten. There's a large number of subjects with adequate
detail, relatively easy assembly, good instructions, and best of all, you can get two or three of them for the
price of one Tamigawa kit. For armor, Tamiya is, IMHO, the way to go.
Ray

If you are after aircraft in 1/72, Hasegawa, Revell and Academy all offer good kits for modest prices. It's worth finding kit reviews because you never know from the box if it's going to be a nice modern tooling or a re-issue of something older.
As for armor, I have a few 1/35 kits from Italeri. They are not up to Tamiya standard, but IMO they are great for learning and experimenting on because of their price. Italeri kits tend to be £8-£15 depending on where you shop and how complex the model is.

Try small scale armor from Revell Germany, such as their Pz IV, Cromwell, Panthers. I really recommend them all!

I agree with Sherm. Tamiya's older relases does make good starter kits at average price. They are easy to build and fit very well. Tanks usually come with one piece rubber tracks.

You'll notice some folks on the forum saying not so good things about Italeri kits. I don't know if thats because of Italeri's close association with Testors (who's kits I wouldn't recomend to anybody) or for some reason to do with Italeri themselves, but I've found a number of kits in their range that would be suitable for beginers, their 1/72 T-45 Goshawk, 1/72 Harrier GR.5, 1/72 Panavia Tornados and 1/72 Eurofighter kits would all be good for beginers.

Revell Germany also makes some good stuff that can be recomended for beginers, their 1/72 Vickers Challenger tank is a breeze to build and the detail is great for the scale, most of their 1/72 aircraft are also good for beginers to work with.

I find that both Italeri and Revell Germany kits come at a good price that won't come back to haunt you if you mess up.

I've been building a few Academy 1/72 kits lately and am generally impressed with what came out of the box. I've got their 1/72 A-37 Dragonfly and OV-10 Bronco on the go and they fit well,have some nice recessed panel lines and the instructions are nice and clear. A beginer should be able to handle them without too much dificulty

As far as armour goes ..... some of the older Tamiya kits are quite reasonably priced though the detailing isn't as crisp. They are still fairly well engineered as far as fit goes. Try something like their Panzer II, T-34's, Lee/Grant or Stuart. You should find these fairly cheap, easy to work with and somewhat acceptable as far as detail goes.

Dans,
Airfix has some very reasonable kits for beginners to get started with. Just know that most of the higher end kits have a better fit when the parts go together. Check out some internet stores www.greatmodels.com for one and browse through there. You will have plenty to keep you busy at a moderate price.