I'm thinking there's a lot you could have done to improve both of those techniques.  Take the first one for example.  Why not just create one long plane with a cut segment through the middle, then twist the whole thing, instead of starting with two perpendicular planes, and welding the end points?  Seems like the end result of welding the points is the same as twisting one larger plane at the middle.  Also, it seems like the symmetry tool in Max has it's own built in pivot point. So instead of wasting time applying the symmetry, then moving the object's pivot every time, it seems you could have just added a few symmetry mods on top of each other, then moved their internal pivots to line things up.  Probably would have made the whole video about 10 minutes shorter, mate.

Sinner, I suppose after the first initial steps, it would be possible to use only the symmetry modifier's mirror gizmo to align the edges for automatic welding.  Yes, that's entirely possible, and probably faster.  However, for the purpose of a tutorial, I prefer to be very clear about how and why all the steps are done, and piling on symmetry modifiers in the way you suggest, while faster, could become confusing to someone trying to learn.  The chances of  an improper weld increase that way, and mistakes could be made which would result in a failed model.  So, I err on the side of caution here, and use the longer, but technically sound, technique instead.  If someone feels they could cut corners to speed up the process, at least they will know how the basic structure of the model is formed first, which would be most helpful in creating your own shortcuts or personalized procedure to achieving the object.

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