well i dunno about wings 3d, but in a program i used you dont move the shapes around by hand and try to visually line it all up (which it sounds like you may of been trying to do)
you select a face or edge first, then use a menu to make faces come together or to align edges etc
so if you were trying to do it the other way, then try looking through the menus (file, edit etc) and see if there are any options like that
