Well thats a prett good model, especilly for a first try and inexpensive software.
At work we have Solidworks, around $10,000 a seat, and ESPRIT cad cam at around $15,000 per.
For personal use, you guys should really look at the stuff I have been messing with called Alibre.
You can download it for a full version 30 day trial for free. And it CAN be self taught, with the help on their forum and tutorials.
After the 30 days the "light" version is still free, or , get this....if you want this $15,000 professional software for personal use only....$500!!!
LOL, I'm prolly sounding like a sales man about now, but I'm not, just this has gotta to be the best deal in software in the industry!
Try it, the free version is better than Autocad.