Building boards

Most builds start with flat frameworks, constructed over a plan. Hence some method of holding parts in place until set is needed.

The classic building board is soft wood or foamboard, with pins to hold the parts in place. Pinning through a component is to be avoided,   pin clamps  are very useful. Waxing the plan, or more often, clear plastic sheet protects the plan and allows the completed part to be lifted off.

 Parts can also be held down with weights - a variety of metal bars for example. It helps to have several of each dimension. I use steel and aluminium bar stock, cut to short lengths.  A sheet steel baseboard and multiple magnets, as in the photo above can be used to hold parts in place as well as square. I find multiple cuboid magnets  helpful - with one pole marked so that they can be placed together. 

Building jigs 

Jigs can be useful for making accurate parts, especially if several models are to be built. 3D printed cutting jigs etc...take it away Allan..   plan.

Tools (D/T)

Aeromodellers tend to accrue tools, but actually you do not need many to start. See Mike's scale pages for suggestions on tools and glues.

Glues

There are a wide range of glues , suiting different materials and roles. People have thier own preferences. 

I use aliphatic resin for most wood framework construction, but UHU Hart balsa cement when I want a swift bond. Cyano (superglue) in various thicknesses I mainly use for repairs. UHU Por bonds plastics to wood. I use epoxy for bonding wire to wood. Epoxy is useful in heavily stressed joints, such as the wing to fuselage joints of hand or catapult gliders. More suggestions  here.

Covering

A whole topic in itself.  Models can be covered with tissue, plastic films or a combination of both. A summary is here. Areas that have to be handled may have wood infill, for strength, which is then painted or covered. This video is old and rather long but details how to cover in tissue. A more direct description is shown on this more recent video