Welcome Larry. Yes this is a great site and a lot of good modeling is being done here. One of the best thing to do for a new modeler is to start building his library. A lot of errors are made in model kits because they do not have a good researcher and library. "Historic Ship Models" by Wolfram Zu Mondfeld ISBN: 1-4027-2186-2, "Planking Techniques for Model Ship Builders" by Donald Dressel
ISBN: 978-0-8306-2868-1 and "Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern" by Milton Roth ISBN-13: 978-0-8306-2844-5 are some of the ones to start with. Like the others said, ask question and one of us here probably will be able to guide you.