Simply stated, I'm impressed. It's looking tons better, good work on this one.

Have you checked out any of the hard surface tutorials yet? Their a great place to start off if you want to learn a lot quick. I've only checked out the organic ones so far, but I've been thinking about working my way through the assault mech tutorial.

Oh and if you want to start off thrifty, there's a 2 point tie fighter tutorial in the archive that looks promising.

Let me know if you ever need any help, I'm still barely passed the status of noob myself, but I'm always willing to give a helping hand if I can.