Help, getting a 3d item model file?

[joebobohobo]

Hello, today i just found out what exactly model editing was, and was very eager to get into some model editing, make some cool stuff.

Then i spent hours trying to get a version of Wow Model Viewer that would work, and then when i did that i found out it doesn't work with past 2.4.1 or some such something or other, then i spent several more hours trying to find out how to obtain a 3d model file (3ds or something similar) for a specific item.

So my question is, where would i find them? Is there something I'm overlooking?