Re: waiting a week for the paint to dry. I know that's hard to believe but it's very true.
Technicially, you will probably *think* it's dry after a few hours, or by the next day. You'll likely even pick it up and say "What are these guys talking about, it's dry already??!!"
However, the reality is that it's not. The paint is dry to the touch, but still very soft. It is very easy to leave a fingerprint, or rub paint off without even knowing it. AND, if you want to do any polishing of the paint, don't try this until the paint is fully cured. If you do, it will just muck up the paint. (Yes, I've tried to push the envelope far too many times...)
The way I tell if the paint is fully cured is to smell it. If you can still smell the chemicals, then chances are it's still curing. If it doesn't have that tell-tale odor, then it's likely good.
Some will dry/cure quicker than others. Silver is notorious (in my experience) for taking FOREVER to cure (like, longer than a few weeks the last time I used it...). Some brands will also be quicker than others, but a week is a pretty good amount of time to let it do it's work. The Tamiya spray paints are about as good as you can get from a spray can. Many will testify that they may even be BETTER than other paints you have to airbrush. It's a good choice/recommendation for a beginner (I know the cost of Tamiya paints is a bit high, but personally, I feel they're worth it. I've had nothing but grief with generic brand spray paints - likely that's due to the user, but I choose to believe otherwise...
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Good luck, and all I can suggest is to take your time.... A nice clean build looks really good, regardless of how many extra little details and modifications you made. There's lots of out-of-the-box builds that are done really clean, and look absolutely stunning.
Concentrate on cleaning up the mold lines, sanding the attachment points, and assembling it so there is NO visible glue anywhere (it's not as easy as it sounds). All this stuff is what takes more time than you think. If you find yourself saying "I wonder if that paint is dry enough for me to just glue that part to this one??"..... walk away. Trying to put things together that aren't dry enough to handle properly is a disaster waiting to happen (at least at my bench it is....) That said, you likely don't need to wait a full week for most of your parts to dry after painting - but definitely wait on the body - the other stuff is likely able to be gently assembles after a day.
It'll be hard to 'wait'.... but it's one of the most important parts of getting a good result.
Good luck. Looking forward to seeing it in a WIP, and then finished!!
Murray