You can use alt-x which toggles on and off see through mode on the selected object. You can also animate the materials opacity 100% on frame 0, 0% on frame 1 and then use the "Forward Time One Unit" "Backup Time One Unit" hotkeys.
Modeling off of blueprints is annoying but necessary. My biggest problem is that planes I'm not interested in often get in my way and obstruct my view. I usually hide them temporarily, but it dawned on me that if they were on a separate layer, I might be able to get rid of them more easily. I don't really use layers in…