Sorry for not posting a reply. I lost track of this post. I agree not to encourage illlegal copies of any software. Hell, I paid a lot for 3DS Max!
Blender is ok for the novice, but Max gets some getting used to. There are tutorials that came with the software that helped me along. I'm sorry but there's no easy way to model without spending time and money. In fact I'm taking animation classes using Lightwave. If you do see online tutorials you'll need the software of course. Try looking up Blender tutorials online. I'm almost sure there are some out there. I'm going to try to open up a .dat file with 3DSMax and have a look see.
