I am intimidated now!

to what Vance has said. You have deffinatly come to the right place to pick up tips. I have been modelling for about 25 years, but my models have improved more in the last 3 years on here than they ever did in the previous 22. And i would also deffinatly advise against staying away from the expensive kits. Some of them can have so many parts they scare hardened modellers. Best bet would be to start with a few cheaper less complicated kits and work on the basics and try to pick up some of the more advance methods. And you don't want to spend all that money just to find the hobby ain't for you.

Welcome aboard and don't forget to show some pics when you get going.

mgh:

Welcome first of all to the forum!  I'm still relatively new to it but I can tell you that this has been a great source of information for me. 

I took a  long hiatus from it due to the military, family, etc. but my recommendation is that you find some less expensive kits to start with.  When getting back into the swing of things I started with some less expensive, but decent kits.  Revell was a good starting place for me since it's less intimidating breaking open a $15 or $20 kit as opposed to a $50+ kit right off the bat.

Dave is right about the website.  The magazine and the Kalmbach books, my favorites are by Shep Paine, have been a great starting point.

Other than that, try to have fun and post some pictures here for all of us to see and give feedback!  Good luck!

...me too...

Don't be afraid to ask some questions & don't be intimidated - nobody bites in here. Well, there may be a couple, but they take it easy on the new guys! And if you're just starting in, don't bother with those $50+ kits. Starting out with a simpler & less expensive option - even if it is an older kit - sure takes the pressure off.

Using the search function on this site can get you some pretty good results for particular methods. Also check out youtube, there have got to be hundreds of how-to videos up there. Some are better than others, but they'll all help you get more familiar with the process.

This website is sponsered by a book publisher so you've come to the right place.

Go up to the menu bar and click on "shop". Choose "Special Interests" and from there go to "Scale Modeling" and then "Books". Both catagories under that heading have stuff that will help.

Testors also has a nice beginners book on getting started in scale modeling.

You can also go to the IPMS website: http://www.ipmsusa.org/ and search the chapter directory for a local IPMS club and go to some meetings and ask questions. The members of a club should be more than glad to help you out.