I'm in the noob boat too, and right now all I'm doing is reading and studying pics from the photo-ref CD.
My first step is going to be the helmet, followed by ALL of my soft parts, then the rest of the hard parts. This way, I can use temporary trash can armor until I save up the cash for the good stuff. Its also gonna give me a good practice run at the cost of only a couple of trash cans, and some paint.
If I were you, I'd search affo$'s posts and print his paint list as well read his tutorials. I'm not saying that the other painters on the board are sub par or anything, just that his style really stands out to me as one that I'd like to emulate.
Just my 2 cents. 
-Shawn