[Stiglr]

Best advice I can give (from one who has created many an h-stab) is...

Get in the habit of creating properly-normalled objects as you build. If you have to create surfaces "manually", always select vertices in "counterclockwise" order before actually creating the surface... when you're done with an object, set it to view as ONE-SIDED (unless you specifically need it to be two-sided, such as canopy glass). Use your Show Normal command to get the "pink porcupine" effect to be sure objects are facing the correct way.