I have assembled a few AR's and done some light machine work on automotive projects, but I have held off on an AK kit because frankly I have been intimidated by the idea of having to press the barrel into the trunion and the riveting.  With ORF begining to produce milled recievers for AK74s my mind has begun to churn a bit. I seem to recall that in (some?) milled recievers the barrel is screwed into the tunion? Is this the case? Would this be a build that requires less specialized tools? Last but not least is there an experienced builder in south east VT or Souith West NH that might be willing to help a novice through this process?

Just buy a stamped steel kit and go for it!!!
If you get a matching numbers kit (WolfsburgBob is selling '74 matching kits) then you will not need a bbl. press. If you do a screw build, you will not need to rivet it. All you need is some time, a Dremmel tool, and some gonads to take the plunge.
If you buy a milled receiver, then you are going to have a difficult time finding a milled '47 kit to use with it. Seems that about 95%+ of the kits are coming off of AKM's or AK-74's. You cannot use a milled receiver with a stamped kit or vise versa.
Buy a kit, then go for an Arsenal receiver, break out the drill and Dremmel and before you know it you will have a new rifle!!!
Good Luck.
KILO OUt

I have built two type III threaded barrel AK-47s, a Polish and a Russian. I think a threaded barrel kit is easier to build myself. The problem is there is only one source of threaded recievers- Fireingline -they are top drawer and are kinda pricey. Worth every penny to me. Others have had barrel indexing problems, I got lucky both of mineworked out OK.

I have built a stamped rivet gun also. Kinda of a PITA, for me anyway. My rivets look kinda rough.
I was building my first screw together today when I snapped a tap of in the forward rivet hole.