I be more than happy to help you ! Acctually the skinning process should already be considered in the modelling process.
Once thing that really have help me when i model aircrafts is: Never use SubD (Tab key and/or Shift-tab), when you want a more smooth surface just hit the SDS subdivide tap. YouŽll get a large number of polys but the GL count is kept down, and most importantly: YouŽll not have any problems with destorted edges once you unwrap and the mesh is much more "edit-friendly"
IŽll be happy to explain in further details, or if you need help with teh future process, drop me a line on
aircraftprofiles@gmail.com
And by the wat, just because you move on to 3d, doesnŽt mean that your profile days a numbered

attached is a WIP