Okay to make the "crown" thingy I start with a cube and split it in all the places I need to give it basic shape then extrude out the spikes shaping as I go!
As for blueprints... I wish!!! I have them for Deathscythe H custom from the movie Endless Waltz! All the others I just take the action figures I have and take pics of them with my digital cam. then use those as the rep pics so that I can get the basic shape then I just use my eyes looking at the toy and get the detail in! So far it's worked really well for me!
Oh and my gundam design that I made would rock the world of a Zeon mobil suite!
here's a pic of him!
HAve you ever seen the GundamWing movie Endless Waltz?... The Wing Zero Custom has these wings that are mechanical but have feathers made out of the gundainium alloy stuff, it looks really cool cause it's a organic looking thing mixed with the mechanical! That is where I got the inspiration for the wings on him! They just look organic but up close you can tell that I made sharp edges around them to give them that man made look... But anyways like you said each to his own! 
