well, for 1 and 2, can't help.
for 3: when exactly do you have a pb?
first, you must make the turret models, then in TS you have to glue them with a light ( light as sibling), then glue the turret+light object (called turret01, turret02 etc) to the main hull as child.
Then, you have to convert the model, when it's done, you have to make the pof data for the turret ( somebody else could explain it better than I do, I do that in model view, I open a V model, copy the data from one turret of this pof, and paste it), then you have to make the turret entries in the ship tbl ( look at other ships entries to do so )