I've just finished my first cab which I began last September. When I started I didn't even know my Opti-Pacs from my J-Pacs or my leaf switches from micro-switches. In short.... I knew sod all! But I've got there and It's turned out better than I first imagined.
This is by far the best forum for this hobby (I think so anyway) and it's just as important to read about peoples
mistakes as it is to see all these beautiful ideas and creations coming to fruition. It's easy to get carried away when you see someone's project you
really like and you want to incorporate some of their ideas into your own. But keep in mind that
EVERYONE makes mistakes in their projects. For me it was two steps forward and one step back a lot of the time.
I'd second the comment above about planning. I spent a lot of time planning my panel to make sure my hands fell just right on the buttons and that my hands wouldn't "bump" into other controls while using trackball and spinner etc.
Just one bit of advice SmartBomb..... I'd change the title of this thread. At first glance in the forum list it comes over as just another complete nOOb topic (but we've all been there

) and I very nearly didn't read it myself.