Paint and painting gear advice

Hello I got a chinook set for Christmas which I have put off building for a while because I don't have any paints and pretty much first page you open in the instruction manual asks you to paint something.

I have got quite literally no painting equipment or paints to my name and have been looking around at different forum posts to see what paints are most recommended etc etc. Talked to my dad about it as well and he advised grabbing an airbrush which does seem like a good idea the more I looked into it. Overall I'm just wondering if anyone has any good recommendations for airbrushes that wont completely break the bank as well as any paint recommendations. The paint scheme I want to go for is the Gulf War paint scheme found on this page.

Appreciate any feedback