What's the best quality model out there?

Hello jany and welcome to the forums. 

Your questions have no correct answers.  Look around the forums and you'll find most have been answered already but I try to answer a few.

Best quality?  All manufacturers will have some good kits and some bad kits.  Building a bad kit into a good model is usually more rewarding then building one that falls together out of the box.  When there is a specific kit your looking at you might ask, "is such & such kit any good?"

Glue?  You'll need several type.  I use a liquid type, Tenax-7R, applied with a brush for most my building.  I use CA glue, aka superglue applied with a toothpick or other small pointed tool.  Good to have some "kicker or acellerator" around for the CA glue also for filling gap and seams.  Then you need glue for clear plastic parts.  I have a bottle of Testors for clear around here someplace.

Airbrush?  Badger, Paasche & Iwata (personal fav) all make good airbrushes.  Buy the best airbrush you can afford and practice, practice, practice.  Your going need a compressor too!

Anyhow, welcome to forums and look around, you'll find lots of help and tips here.

Some kits are better than others, all have issues.  Personally,
and this is just my opinion, I won't touch AMT, Lindberg and some
others.  To many issues for me.  On the flip side, I have
seen some awesome work done with those kits.  Kudos to those
builders out there!  Best kits out there would seem to be
Tamiya.  Fit is excellent and little to no decal problems. 
But you do pay for the quality.  Personally, I like multimedia
kits.  And since I am huge into Formula 1, that is about my only
choice for most of the cars.  On the flip side, I just finished a
Studio 27 kit that really tested my patience.  Bottom line, what
are you interested in building?  If you take your time, you had
better really like your subject and be enthused about seeing it to the
end.  Get something that really interests you to build and forget
about the rest.  It is your kit to build!  My early kits
really show had bad I was after being away from the hobby for 15+
years.  Practice makes better, we are always trying to reach for
the best job we can do.

 As for airbrushes.  If there
is one thing I have learned about them, modelers seem to build lifetime
relationships with their airbrushes.  I started with Paasche and
won't touch anything else.  I love my airbrush, and when I treat
her right and practice enough, she does very nicely for me!   
Get the best you can get.  If you can try somebodys airbrush, all
the better.  Get an air compressor and build a well vented paint
area!  When I built my new house, I actually had the builder put
in a vent for my paint booth.  They thought I was nuts.  Find
an airbrush you like and go for it.  Once you get used to it, you
won't give it up!

 Finally, all those tip and tricks you read about in
the magazine.  Give them a try!  They do work!  I
usually try one or two things I have read about on each kit. 
Sometimes it works, sometimes not.  I always learn something new
to try on the next project.  

 Good luck!  I look forward to seeing your photos on here one day soon!

A few mainstream kit suggestions:

The newer AMT 57 Chevy is a real nice kit as the early 60's Pontiac released a few years ago. The 68- 69 GTX/ Roadrunner is also decent, though AMT also has moulds for the Daytona's that maybe go back to the MPC days (not as much detail)...someone will correct me if I have the wrong lineage, there. The AMT '62 T- Bird looks like it will be a decent build- I am just working on it; the '57 T- Bird is a much older and lower detail kit. The '57- '58 Plymouth/ Chrysler kits from AMT also have nice detail.

From Revell, the '48 Fords are nice, the late 60's Charger in the same program is also nice. The late 60's Dart is a really nice kit, too. Not as familiar with Revell stuff, but I really enjoyed building the above mentioned kits.... the  '57 Checy and the early 60's Pontiac were the biggest surprises as I am so tired of the ubiquitous '57 Chevy...lol... but it was a lovely kit...only built my copy because I got it at a yard sale for $2 or $3 and will build another when the chance presents itself.Also liked the '67 GTX kit, though it is not as good as the '69 Dart.

AMT also makes a '62 Chevy (I think it is a '62) that has decent detail, far superior to the older '63 that was part of the Prestige series...Corvettes by both AMT and Revell are all over the place in terms of detail... the one by Revell that is part of that better series that offered is really nice to build, but the AMT  '60 Vette and the Revell early Vette ('53?) are not so detailed.

Lindberg is a hard outfit to figure out...the '32 Ford they offer is fun to build though not super detailed, and people raved about the '53 Ford and the '64 Dodge...I found the latter two not as enjoyable because of the fit was tricky in places, though the '53 Ford convertible turned out fairly nice. 

I am partial to Mopars, and the Fords from the 30's to the late 50's....while they have some limitations, the early 50's Ford, the '49 Merc and the '57 Ford have been around forever, but I have built several of each, as they are fun to build, and fun is what it is all about, for me... my "big" unfinished project is a '68 Plymouth ragtop rebuild...the '68 Plymouth ragtop consists of a beat (smashed windscreen area) Johan promo, since repainted nicely but in need of a windshield frame.... I cut open the hood. The chassis and drivetrain comes from the '69 Charger I mentioned, from Revell, as the detail of both the chassis and motor are quite good. The interior has to be the original interior, as the Charger interior, besides being incorrect, was just a bit off and did not look "right", so the Jo-Han interior got a repaint and will be the weak part of this project. I cut the windshield area out of the Charger body but it just did not look right... will eventually find a "more correct" windshield and frame for this project, and when it happens, it will get finished....the Charger frame had to be shortened something like a sixteenth of an inch and looks good with the Jo-Han body...has rallye wheels, too, which look good. I also have to get the rear bumper and front bumper/ grille replated. 

Bill 

Jany,

 As with all kits it is like Touch N Go as far as quality is concerned ( personaly I prefer the kits with alot of extra Bleh its more of a challenge to make them look better ). I have yet to come across the perfect kit and hope I don't, I want my skills to grow.

 Glues and the like, Model Grandpa said it all. You will want several different types of glue cloudy windshields make my cornflakes soggy.

Airbrushes, I use the Aztek 470 some like Aztek some do not. I found what works for me and am happy with it. So my best advice on that is simply this, find what you can afford and learn practice and rinse and repeat.

Advice and tips, I have to say coming back to model building after a 10 year lay off I thought I needed all the advice in the world. I came to this site asked a few questions and did many searches on the forums for tips and advice. I got a whole lot of great info. If you ask questions someone will respond with an answer or a link to another post. Everyone I have gotten replys from or replied to myself all seem to be Great people. Enjoy the forums and welcome aboard.

Guido