I'm saying exactly that. I used plane modeling, subsurfs, smooth button, but no sculpting. I'm terrible at sculpting.

it is harder using the scult tool, than plane modeling. Also you usually should only use sculpt tool for detail, not to create a whole model.
*impressed* Where did you learn this, out of curiosity? ._.
Actually, I have seen that most people use sculpting for characters and animals and stuff. Start out really high poly, then bake the model, adjust, texture, rig, animate.
That was only my second attempt at sculpting, and sculpting was all I did for it. :_