Went to an air show for the first time in forever, fell in love with theF35 and F22. It kinda inspired me to get into model building for the first time. Question, how difficult? Best brands? What’s a good introductory level model? I don’t know crap about these things…..so I’m askin. Thanks for any input

They have all kinds of planes.  Start with something slow and inexpensive, $100 or so will get you in the air.  
There's no limit on how much you can spend, but learning will involve crashing.  Start cheap

https://www.horizonhobby.com/airplanes/

Tamiya

Unless you're into other hobbies, most modelers all start off the same way.
Buy an inexpensive SIMPLE kit of the airplane you like and just assemble it.  A 1/72 scale small kit is a simple starter.
Don't worry about paint for now, this first build will tell you if the hobby is for you.
If it is, then you can start buying supplies and tools as you need them.

A good minimal tool kit for a first, simple build would be.....
A bottle of solvent glue.  I don't know if they even still sell the old tube glue but that's no good for a clean build.
A hobby knife.
A set of small side clippers to cut parts off the tree.  Pulling them off causes damage.  Walmart usually has side clippers in the fingernail department.
A small file or fingernail sanding board.
A small pair of tweezers.  Again, Walmart.
A small artist's brush to apply the solvent glue.
If you're like most people, a magnifier visor helps to see small work, as does a desk or bench light.

If you like it, get started with painting small parts like tires with a brush.  Then get into airbrush work and more complex builds.
The key is to not get too deep, too fast, or you'll spend too much time and effort learning about how to use an airbrush or brush painting, and get frustrated.
We all got started small, and wound up spending more on custom photo etched parts and research books then the kits cost.

Great advice! Thanks guys

@Soxfan I’ll share my modeling story to maybe give you some encouragement.

I’m not too far off from where you are now, and I was in a similar place a few years ago. I was in a hobby lobby with my wife and picked up an Airfix P-51 kit for $6 (hobby lobby does a 40% off sale on models every other week). The airfix kits are cheap, simple, well molded and detailed, fit together well, and have good decals. The P-51 Kit was great because it’s paint scheme was easy to brush paint (German camo schemes, for example, can be a little complicated so don’t start there). For glue I got Tamiya extra thin cement.  I picked up some masters touch acrylic paint brushes in the paint isle of hobby lobby (also on sale for 40% off every other week). I bought Vallejo acrylic paints (no fumes and easy water cleanup) also at hobby lobby. Other than that, an Xacto knife, side cutter snips, and some fine sanding sticks and you have a basic starter setup.  Add decal setting solution and gloss and matt varnish for the decal process if you want to go crazy.  Before you know it you’ll be hooked.

Here was my first kit : https://www.hornbyhobbies.com/products/north-american-p-51d-mustang-a01004

YouTube is a great starter reference too. I found this guys videos helpful for starting out and brush painting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MMny7eXE4yo

💯

First, pick a scale!

1/144- very tiny

1/72 - tiny

1/48 - meh?

1/32 - Now you’re talking’!

1/24 - Ohmygodthattakesuptoomuchroomifimgoingtobuild100kits.

Start reading up on tips and techniques on the various modeling sites. Look at others as the post up builds in progress.  Learn about filling seams, surface prep, rescribing panel lines, etc…

A few websites
https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/. I’m a moderator on this one.

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?act=idx

https://www.hyperscale.com/

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php

I’ll give you a bit of a warning though.  All these websites are “international” and I’ve seen a few pissing matches and hurt feelings due to language barriers and sense of humor differences around the world.  Never bring politics to the table on a modeling forum.  Even though some builds can be considered political, especially when discussions of “Why no swastika on your Me87 build?” And they post it’s not allowed in their country.  

As other have said, Tamiya makes a great product. They have a 1/48 F-35A kit.  Italeri produces a 1/32 A model and Trumpeter puts out the A,C and soon a B in 1/32.  Some Trumpeter kits build great, some are the devil.  I’m not sure about 1/72.   But as you can assume, I’m a 1/32 fan.

As far as an F-22, no one makes it in 1/32. Closest, but still far off is the old Testors YF-22.   YF was a much different bird than the F-22.

Plastic or RC?

If plastic -
New Tamiya is pretty pricey
Check sites like ebay and rare plane detective for discounted kits
Some of the older monogram/revell like from the 80s and on are fine and not too expensive


If RC
Start with how much do you want to build
Or do you just want to get flying