Lightwave Help?

Assistance required from the IntarWebs assemblage:

I’m looking to dive into 3D modeling and animation. This is a Mac household. I’m thinking that Lightwave is my best bet. (My goal is starships-in-space kinda stuff — ship designs, and movement through space, etc.)

Can anyone out there help me….ah….er….acquire a copy? Used, whatever — it doesn’t have to be the latest New Hotness, just enough that I can make it work, and recent enough that the output looks good.

Any tutorial resources would be appreciated as well.

Help me, O Friends Who Live In My Computer, you’re my only hope…