No, you don't have to wait that long to work with it. There are two different states of the epoxy that you are dealing with here. There is the time it takes to set and then the time that it takes to fully cure. 30 minute epoxy sets in ~30 minutes (hence the name) and fully cures in 8-12 hours. You usually only need to wait for it to set before you can deal with it, but you would be better off letting it completely cure. You can start working with the joined parts once the epoxy has set, but you don't want to fly it until it's cured. One way I use to tell if the epoxy has set is to watch what's left over after you mix the epoxy, once it's hardened up you can usually handle the part.

Hope this helps

Ken