Welcome to the world of building.

An inexpensive and commonly used item for a building board is a hollow core door that is topped with acustical celing tiles. The tiles accept pins readily. You can set this on top of a table, or a few saw horses. Once you lay the plans out, you will want to cover it with waxed paper for glue protection. Some other items that will assist in building are:

An exacto miter box and razor saw.
A couple of sanding bars. (such as the ones from Great Planes)
A bunch of small clams, the little plastic spring type, or even the metal paper clips.
A small square and some small triangles.
An 18" metal and a flexible clear plasitc rules,

Scott