Hi Matt,
Learning, the earlier the better, of course. As anything you really own in terms of skills will support your growing. I always see it as a tree, the earlier the trunk grows strong, the more safe the branches are, and with this the twigs and the leaves. I guess as a teacher for photography you agree (I hope). Things build up on each other and the progress is, ideally, constant. One can’t really learn when it is needed, speaking of complex things. But yes, it is as difficult to come from still images to do film, as it is difficult to come from film and work with still images, it is a complete different thinking and a different creative process, and sometimes it can slow down the progress—for a moment or two.
Please keep always in mind, that anything we are interested in will not bore us. If we have no interest in engineering, which I think is the core of your project, then it will keep them to the end. Take this thread for example, if one has not these challenges at the moment, one might not be able to make any sense of it, or doesn’t understand all the details. If someone wants to understand the technique of this “instrument” and why it reloads on its own, then this project is wonderful. But again, I’m not anywhere near to say that I have understood the audience or what the term really means, speaking of creating content. No-one really knows it, and the one pretending to know it, have no clue. Why would a $1/4 Billion movie fail otherwise? But I digress.
Your storyboard is logical structured, and introduces the parts before going into the mechanics of it. What ever audience you imagine, will guide your editing. Your storyboard can lead to a long version of the movie or to a very fast paced version. The speed of the final you see in your mind is relatively clear to you, not to me for now.
There is an old discussion, should a screen writer write about what s/he knows or more what s/he doesn’t knows. What s/he doesn’t know, needs to be explored and the impression what is new will tint the movie in a different way other than knowing all parts and working yourself “just” through, without even getting “stupid” for a moment: Getting “stupid” for a moment is a high skill, to ignore what you know and see the image for what it is. If you can go with such fresh eyes after the long way you have taken already, your work will be better. And perhaps, now, that close, with all parts already available, the fun part should be not forgotten, to get faster, form the slow mo to the realtime speed is certainly an essential part of the movie, perhaps gives an rhythm for all assembly scenes before, with a light increase of the speed and closeness. Like a “Shepard Tone”. 
My best wishes for exploring the next steps. It will be great, I feel it. Remember the first time you saw all the parts working and the impulse you had to animate all of that, you’re that close.
