How about GMax?
It's sort of the 'little brother' to 3DsMax. I used it back when I first cut my CG teeth and it was pretty good. I just took a look and it's no longer supported by either Discreet or Autodesk but I did find a working download link. In it's time GMax was used by a lot of people who were making custom skins and other things for their games. For a beginner looking to get into MAX this program is a pretty good place to start. Also, modeling with it is very simple stuff.
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
