I will try to help a bit:
- If I understand correctly, it`s enough to hit Tkey with your mouse cursor in the 3D window. You will be presented with a requester asking if you want to move or scale the material. Hitting an appropriate key (X, Y, or Z) can restrict its movement to one axis only. I would be happy to learn how to rotate materials in Blender;)
- I make thick meshes just by extruding (Ekey) and scaling (Skey) the new vertices then. But they are actually empty inside. If I want to have holes, I extrude the mesh after making the holes. Hope you meant the same as me;)
- I agree. I tried, but still can`t do it.
PS. The cockpit equipment of the Fiery Monster was my dream today; no longer a nightmare!;) Most is done now. Yiiihaa!