This is some of the most valuable advise listed.

My thoughts include most of the previous as well as:

1. Set aside workspace that you will not need for anything else while you are building.
2. Have good lighting, adequate flat table and a level white sacrificial building surface.
3. Get a good razor saw and hand crosscut w/mitre box saw. Zona is a good brand for these. The difference is the crosscut will have a reinforced edge that gets in the way when trimming whereas the razor saw permits you to trim close.
4. Find an inexpensive Stanley razor plane at your local hardware store.

5. Build your first model without the use of CA adhesives if you can. Recommend Elmer's Carpenters Wood Glue or Gorilla Wood Glue. And for Epoxy get 30min only. Both of these will result in a strong joint and permit you the longest working time. A small cheap paint brush is handy for spreading the wood glue in tight spaces and small edges and can be set into a cup of water and then blotted on a paper towel whenever you are ready to use it again.

6. Do not be in a hurry and just take it slow and enjoy the build. This gives you time to note small things that will present themselves. Sometimes points of frustration later become points of enlightenment.

7. T-pins are great but the small straight pins that come from a new shirt (the ones with dipped heads) all stuck in a pin cushion (I use an old piece of packing foam) are nice for small thin pieces and because these pins are lighter guage, less likely to split a small part.

8. Get a nice standard Exacto (style, not brand necessarily) knife and a pack of 100 #11 blades. While you don't need to try and make one last so long that you butcher something up you can make them last a long time by stroking them on a sharpening steel routinely.

I can assure you that being in a hurry is a good way to take a long time to complete the build due to time spent correcting your mistakes and tests. (And you will test things out from time to time. )

Have fun,

Clay