Hi
yes this is a correct process.

What i always do when opening a 3ds in MED is to reload the texture in the skin editor and then save as MDL. (only use a 24Bit-Tga, 32Bit is with Alpha-Channel)

I don't know, why u couldn't see your test-model after u build and run in WED.
The only guess i have is that u were inside the sphere or u had a texture with alpha channel. Click "0" (zero) to unlock the camera and zoom in and out.

i hope this helps

cheers

sinnlos