Hi Tinderstick and firstly a warm welcome to the forum. It's nice to be able to welcome a beginner and hopefully help them along the way to enjoying the hobby that some of us have got so much out of for many years.
To start with have a look at the "Back to Basics" thread, available from the link at the left hand side of the main page. Or you could click here!:
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/tutori...ck-basics.html ("Back to Basics")
I hope it at least points you in the right direction to start with and gives you soemthing to think about when you start on your Spitfire.
Let us know how it goes and post some pictures!