Great work, I'm amazed at your 3d modeling, despite your own self described deficiencies. I've been trying to learn Blender for 3d modeling but I've mostly used it for sculpting. I haven't gotten the hang of being able to model inorganic objects - seems like it never works exactly the way I want it to, so I ebd up spending way too much time and getting frustrated. I looked at CAD programs and thought Tinkercad would be too basic to make complex objects, but you're proving me wrong! I wouldn't worry about what people think - it's the results that matter. I've had various PC programs over the years where I would use older, less-featured ones rather than the "better" or more "professional" ones simply because I could make them do what I wanted to more quickly.
And you mentioned that the smaller details of your cockpit model possibly not showing up - I agree that you should still put those details in. Even if they don't show on your printers, there's always the option of using higher resolution printers - you might decide to upgrade or send them to shapeways in the future. Plus, you may decide you want to do a larger scale print in the future, so those extra details would be worth having.
I don't know if you need any tips on 3d printing, especially because I'm not the most experienced either, but for the filament prints, you may want to enlarge the models slightly and exaggerate some of the details to accommodate for the loss of details when sanding. I also found that skimming/filling the layer lines can help eliminate the need to sand those layer lines all the way down to their lowest point. I mostly used Tamaya white, but I actually used White Out to some success as well. It brushes on, dries quick, and seems to take paint and primer well.