Thank You Dave. The hardest part is avoiding frustration :-) (The longer Maya has been running/the Mac, gradually, the slower it reacts, which becomes a test in patience).

Getting into the areas of detail (cutting holes in the back, seeing/finding unneeded verts, clean-up, etc.) and planning-out / 'seeing' where the best edge flow will be has been slow going (second guessing what might be better choices). Although the hardest part for me has been getting good at 'local' translation control at the component level. If I have an edge loop selected using the Move Tool, and I go through the; Object, World, Along rotation axis, Local, Normal, Normals average, etc. I'll still end-up guessing when moving the loop. Same is true for extruding.

But, the new options with the extrude tool (Thickness, Offset, Division), and the Interactive Split Tool have been great! (watching the AREA videos on what will be available with the Maya 2012 bonus tools also looks great).