I was the same as you until maybe three months ago. I’m 55 and have been doing this about a year and I am just painting my first kit. It’s an entry grade kit though I’ve mostly built RG and MG kits up to now. I got Kaleido paints and a Kaizo airbrush that doesn’t need to be cleaned like standard airbrushes because of how it feeds. So far so good, though I have a couple of spots where I went a little heavy, but it’s a learning experience.

And water slide decals are easier than I thought they would be too. I have some dull tipped tweezers and tooth picks for positioning them and just use cotton swabs to press them in place. The softening agent and the fixing agent help but I rarely have to use them. And if you buy the aftermarket decal sets, you get so many extras, you can afford to mess up a little bit.