but I have zero 3D modeling skills.. (means I'd be reliant on other peoples models) <-- Yuk! haha
It's not that had to learn how to model; for hard-surface models (like most hand props) it's all about breaking an object down into its component shapes, and adding or subtracting them until you've got the thing you were after. For organic models, it's like working with clay, except that instead of your hands, you're using a bar of soap or a pencil to push it around (depending on whether you're using a mouse or a tablet).
If you learn how to model, you don't have to wait around for someone to release something you really want to make. You can just dig in and do it. (And I can't speak for anyone else, but I find there's a sense of satisfaction when you've finished something you modeled from scratch that you just don't get from downloading someone else's work and pressing "Print".)
Any reason you chose Blender as your software? (free? community support? or other reasons?)
I'm not the person you were asking, but I use Blender because it's extremely capable software (and the "free" part certainly doesn't hurt either). Yes, it has an infamously steep learning curve, but most of that is for stuff you don't use when modeling for 3D printing (rigging, animation, lighting, texturing, etc.); the actual modeling part is pretty straightforward. It does both hard-surface and organic modeling, lets you get precision down to thousandths of a millimeter if you're obsessive about accuracy, and has nifty features like non-destructive boolean operations (very handy if you're trying to model something that needs to mate with an existing real-world object; you can easily tweak it until you've got everything right, and then apply the boolean modifiers to make the operations permanent - though performance can suffer as the model increases in complexity).
I looked at some prints from a Ultimaker 2.. they looked 'really' nice IMHO... (as I really dislike the 'lines' you get on most FDM printer/results)
You get lines from all FDM printers, including the UM2; that's just an inescapable fact of how they work. You can, of course, calibrate your printer and slicer settings to
minimize them as much as possible, but you'll still need to do some post-print finishing (sanding, using self-leveling resin or filler, vapor smoothing, etc.) for best results.
