Welcome to the forum Smitty;
I am sure you will find considerate advice and help if needed from all the good people here, as have I myself.
From my perspective,you could not have picked a better build than Force 9’s for ideas and inspiration. I also have a WIP on the Connie that I have been doing several modifications on that may or may not be of interest and/or help. (plenty of snafus logged there). I too am totally stretching my abilities and skill level on this one, which shows in the amount of time I have spent on her already (close to a year now).
Anyway, looking forward to your build log, and here’s the link to mine.
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/155174.aspx