I was definitely going to go with a terminal strip/box. I'm not sure about the "star" scheme difference you mention and will need to research it to know what to do.
A "star" scheme is where you have at least one individual wire to each brake set. I also ran forward, the (-) partner for each brake set because I wanted to have all the wires on one terminal strip.
The typical brake wiring is how you have the wires now, with one power wire looping between the four brake sets in a chain, hence, "daisy chain".
You can read through the restoration thread in my signature line, "the Cowboy/Hilton" but it is without pictures, ATM. Photobucket wrecked that for us. If you do look through there and find something of interest, PM me and I can email you some pictures about a process.
If I have one piece of advice to give a builder for a project like this is to draw some plans. They don't need to be Cadcam quality, just a general layout of mechanicals and the fixtures you're adding like bunks, counter tops, cupboards, etc. Those plans will serve as a reminder and help schedule the different parts of building.
Beyond that, build sturdy and insulate the heck out of everything. Insulation pays off for years down the road.
