Your best bet would be to start with something simple. Find tutorials on basic modelling, and work from there. Your best bet would be to create the tank outline using simple geometry such as cubes/spheres then modelling them into the tank.
Well, there's really no special requirement, it should just be frontpage-worthy. We review a thread and then decide if it's gonna be frontpaged. As for the moderator status, I really don't know, bgizzle is the admin, so he's the man in charge, not me ;)
Contest is still on.. Looking good for you so far :) I will pay you the $9.99 through paypal or bank transfer..
If you go 'back' the gravity from the last level still has affect.. It is a known glitch. Is that what you mean? Also, what do you think so far? And.. I will be removing my name form the hig scores.. not too fair. :)