Would these things be possible to skin...(and need transparancy help)

There's a bunch of new skins I want to make for a new map I'm working on, but I want to know if they're even possible first.

I know I can change the armor of a regular unit pretty easily, but can I add a weapon that is much larger than the unit's default one? Like, can I change the Grunt's axe to a spear?

If not, would I be able to edit the Blademaster so his sword is a spear instead?

I've tried editing Frostmourne so it's a thinner blade, but there's a black edge around it that I can't seem to get rid of. Is it possible to make it transparent around the edges by editing the Alpha Layer?

Also, can I get rid of Arthas' shoulder pads? And speaking of getting rid of body parts, can I make the Blademaster's beard transparent?

There's a lot more I need to know about, but that should get me through most of it. I know about editing the Alpha Layer to make parts of the unit transparent, but it always seems to just make it black instead. What I do is (using PSP 7), I Load the Alpha Layer, Edit it so the colors become grayscale, then use black to cover up the parts I want to not be on the unit. Isn't that what you are supposed to do?

I know that's a lot...but most of it just involves getting rid of parts of a unit. Any help would be very...helpful. Thanks!

You can alpha out a unit's weapon and attach a new one either by editting the model or using a special effect. To get rid of Arthas's shoulder pads, you must model edit to get rid of team color. And then you can alpha them out. You can alpha out the blademaster's beard. To use the alpha channel, you don't need to make your picture greyscale. Just put black on the alpha channel on the parts you want to be transparent.

Good luck