One of my first kits was italeri's 1/72 KA-50 Hokum. I really liked it. You can paint it black overall if you don't want to mess with camo yet. Decals are great, fit is ok. As with other italeri's kit cockpit is simple, maybe too simple.
I have found that good tools make modeling easier. If you can afford it buy sandings sticks, some sand paper and tweezers to hold small parts. They'll help a lot.
Even now, that my skills have grown a bit, is one my favourite models.
I actually bought the 1/72 Ka-52. I haven't built it yet. It shares a lot of parts with the Ka-50, so I guess it'll be a good one too.