Ok, thats a pretty long list, but here goes! I am a photographer in the RNZAF and we deal in Macro and close up photography quite a bit, the folowing is what I would recommend.
Lenses: You need a good macro lens, depends on what camera system you have, (Nikon, Cannon etc) something like nikon's 55mm MicroNikkor is ok, it is a manual lens (ie no Auto Focus) and will do the job. You can get pretty good close up shots with this type of lens. A more techinical option is to link it up with a set of close up rings, these are basically spacers that fit between the lens and the camera, although they do not have any glass in them, they simply change the lense-to-film distance allowing even more close up work, it all depends on the scale you are working with.
You need an SLR type camera, with manual mode. Instamatic type cameras will not really do the job at all. A camera with 'depth of field preview' will be usefull.
Lighting: Short of using complex studio lights, the best light is natural daylight. A lightly cloudy day is best (bright sun has too much contrast). A good idea is to use a piece of white card (size depends on the scale, but about A3 should do for 1/48 aircraft or 1/35 armour) held just out of the frame to reflect some of the natural light back onto the model This will help fill the shadows and give a better scale apprearance. Move it around until the best look is achived, it is a case of trial and error. You can use more than one piece of white card if necessary.
You can add a little fill flash if you like, set the flash to one stop under the exposure you are using. (ie if you are shooting at f22, set your flash to f16), remember that shutter speed has no effect on the flash, the amount of flash exposure is controlled by the apperture. I would experiment with just using daylight first - keep it simple.
Apperture: you need to be using the smallest you have on your lens, ie f22 or f32, most macro lenses will go down to f32. The reason for this is that the closer you are photographing, the smaller your depth of field, so you need to get as much depth of filed as possible. This is achieved by using f32. This is the biggest thing that lets down model photography. If you look at a photo of a real vehicle/aircraft etc taken on a bright sunny day, your depth of field stretches from about 3 feet infront of your camera to infinity, but on your close up photo of your model it will only stretch from about 2 in to about 4 in (or from about 6 in to 10in) the closer you are to the model, the less depth of field. A technique to help with this is to get as far back as you can get away with, and then enlarge the photo a little bit more in the printing stage.
Shutter speed. Use whatever shutter speed is indicated by the apperture you have selected. You must use a good sturdy tripod and a cable release as you will be working with quite long exposures ie 1/2 down to perhaps 1/20th of a second. The closer you are to your model, the longer your exposer needs to be, your meter might tell you you need 1/8 of a sec at f32, but the correct exposer may actually be 1/4 at f32. The trick is to bracket your exposures, ie shoot one at the indicated exposure, then 1 stop under and one stop over, you will probably find the 1 stop over exposed image actually comes out looking the best. Again experiment and take notes, once you have a set up that works for you, stick to it.
Film speed. Because you are using a tripod and a cable release, use a slow film speed, ie 100 ISO, or even 50 ISO if you can find something like that. The reason for this is that these films have a finer grain and a better contrast range, and will give the best looking images. Don't even think of using 400 ISO as the grain and shorter contrast range will let you down. A lot of experianced photographers use transperancy film (slide film) but this leaves less room for errors as you must get the exposer spot on - you can't compensate for it in the printing.
The best angle to work from is to try and recreate the angle that would be used if someome was taking a photo of the real thing, ie about 5.5 scale feet off the ground, that might mean that if you are photographing 1/72 aircraft, you need to have your camera set up with the lens at 'ground level'. If you put your model on a small table, you can do this easily by adjusting the tripod height so that the lens is the same height as the model.
Also try and arange your model so that the angle you are shooting from creates the 'thinnest' model, ie the distance from the closest part of the model to the furthest part is as small as possible, this will help to get as much of it in focus at the same time as possible. Another trick is not to focus on the closest part of the model, but about 1/4 - 1/3 the way in from the closest part. The lens hyperfocal distance will mean that about 1/3 infront of where you focus, and 2/3 behind where you focus will actually be sharp. This is where you need the depth of field preview button to check.
Well this is a pretty complicated subject, but I hope you can use some of this info to take better pictures.
Phil