Ok, here is a pic of the beginning of the model, since i'm a noob, i'm going to start asking loads of q's

first, i modeled the building cylinder separately and am working on the strut like things that go around the outside, separately. my plan is to detail about 1/4 of the whole cylinder, then duplicate with rotation to get the rest of it, combine it, then texture it. my first question is if there is a good method for attaching this "strut" to the cylinder. i'm experimenting at this point, so any advice would be welcome.

i looked at the ouput of "combine" but i would rather have exatly connected lines and vertices. my first instinct is "cut polygon" but i'm not 100% sure.