Well, I started my first model. It took a little time to acclimate. The first thing I noticed was that the instructions were very basic. You have to read the detailed plans to answer your questions about how something goes together. This makes sense now that I have spent some time examining the plans and realized it is the separate skill of reading the plans that needs to be developed first to be a successful model builder.
For gluing up the frames, I uses some setup blocks I had from my workshop. They are exactly 1x2x3", are perfectly square, and they have good weight to them. I thought they worked out very well.
I had drawn a line on my work surface and taped the boat bottom square to the edge of the board. That way, I could use a square to make sure they placed exactly square to the centerline and each other.