cfa10yrplan

ok flamers, get your torches ready.
Look, for 5 years, you have been picking asset managers and allocating funds here and there.  The skill set for deep fundamental research, sector/industry experience, and modeling is a very different skill set.  I think you are very much underestimating the dramatic change from what you have been doing.
your best bet is to be accepted as an equity associate somewhere, and put in several years. and then maybe you can move up.
now to answer your questions, people generally don’t give out models randomly, a ton of work is put into building a good model.  Why don’t you try asking one of your asset managers you have money with to send you one?
consumer names are easy because everyone is a shopper, and therefore there are a ton of people who cover these sectors. just like how large cap names have 30 research analysts covering it already, there’s little differentiation/fresh-ideas left. just something to consider.

cfa10yrplan

Industrials is a good sector to start and finish. Manufacturing (potentially a whole field of study around this) is even broader and pervasive than consumer. Modeling is relatively straight forward in terms of revenue and cost drivers.Exposes you to business cycles, international arena, and supply chain (commodities, materials, chemicals), and a variety of end markets.