I've been playing with Modo for about 6 months now. I've learned my hotkeys, I can model basic shapes like no ones business, and can subpatch like a straight up mofo. For a quick example of where I'm currently at, I submit two models I've done over the last week, this and this. I'm getting decent, but I'm hardly the…
The mesh doesn't have to be solid. For example you can make a lot with splines and then extrude the shape. If the shape has to conform to a curve just make sure it has enough segments so it can deform properly. Another thing you can do is model the details with a plane and extrude the edges to follow a spline. Depending on…