poly to subd question
 

Is it necessary to go from poly to subd's when you can just get the same smoothed look by going to Edit Polys>Normals>Soften/Harden option box? If you mess up the poly to subd and back to poly's and save the process you kind of screw yourself. Where using the soften/harden even if you save and close out you can come back later and harden the edges if needed.

Just curious as to the need for subd's, and if you use 'em. I noticed Kurt uses them like they're going out of style.

it's not essential you convert to subdiv at all. You can smooth the model under the polygons/mesh menu.You can also use a poly proxy mesh as a reference to what the final smoothed mesh will look,Kurt uses subd in his workflow because he likes the extra control you can get when tweeking but if you prefer to tweek just in poly then thats your perrogative.
The bottom line is whatever works for you is ok.
Modeling can be done entirely in Nurbs, polygons or sub division surfaces or any combination of these there are no rules as long as you end up with what you need to make.