Sorry about the size of the picture but it's crappy and was just to illustrate the type of joinery I use. (I build furniture and cabinets as another hobby.)
Actually, I am not at all into 3 D and airplanes flying like helicopters.
I enjoy flying pattern and aerobatics for the most part, and the beauty is that with models you don't have to deal with the physical abuse to do it.[8D] I overpower the airframes because it is often fairly windy where I live and I like to be able to fly without worry about being able to get the plane back when flying in a strong wind so I can do upwind leg in a reasonable amount of time. Plus when the wind is coming right down the runway it kinda fun to be able to walk faster than the airplane is flying. But regardless, I like planes, even my scale ones, to be fairly responsive and in order to do that I have to get as much air into my airplanes as possible. As a result one of the primary tools I use in building is a scale, and I have only done that for the past ten years or so, because I used to build with strength as the primary goal. But I have found that if you keep the weight down you be surprised how little damage can come about from and accident as the video link below will show. The plane hit the ground hard (twice), and survived with only a minimal amount of damage (the 1/8 inch thick plywood motor mount) and could have been back in the air in less than five minutes. But given that this setup is spinning up to over 42K rpm in some configurations I had to replace the mount. And I know all about the skin carrying the load as this is the frame for the plane in the video weighing in at less than an ounce, with the wings fully sheathed it weighed about 8 oz. The all up weight of how it was flown in the video is 2.5 lbs of that 8 oz is the battery and another 5 oz for the 100 amp CC esc.

This ain't 3D. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSOl9bjzb0
You ought to see the type of abuse my wife's 5 lb Lt- 40 can take.
As far as building it's all about what works for you, but don't be afraid to experiment, and keep an open mind. Heck that's how I ended up trying carbon fiber veil over balsa from a C/L stunt guy.
Fixing a warp or a break, and/or, making a part as good as new should be the goal, but keeping it light is as important in modeling as it is in full scale.