Todd,
Man, that is an incredible deal for those four planes. They're in pretty good shape, too. Each of my planes cost at least as much as you paid for all four of yours, mostly in similar condition. Those planes will clean up great.
Being all of one month removed from where you are, here's my newb-rampup fettling list. Mostly these are the things that were non-obvious to me, so my apologies if any or most of this is obvious to you. Also a caveat for the more experienced (pretty much everyone but me and Todd): these aren't the "right way", they're just how I managed to get my planes working well starting from zero knowledge....
1. The chipbreaker tip needs to be ground, almost sharpened, so that its front lies flat on the iron under tension. Otherwise you will get chatter, and/or shavings will go up between it and the blade.
2. The chipbreaker needs to be closer to the edge of the iron than was obvious to me. The finer the shaving, the closer it should be. For coarser work you have to back it off to keep from clogging the mouth. 1/16" off the edge will keep your #4 from chattering during final smoothing.
3. The frog's bevel should normally be more or less in line with the bed's throat bevel.
4. The lever cap should snap down, but it shouldn't take undue effort to snap it down.
5. A perfectly square edge works well on jack planes and jointer planes (which you'd use the #5 1/2 for out of that set). You can skew the blade in a jack plane to hog off more material quickly. However on your #4 plane you want a very slight taper at each end of the edge, so you can do final smoothing without cutting sharp lines into your workpiece. This was the final piece of the puzzle for me to generate my first really wispy shavings.
6. The sole doesn't have to be perfectly flat, but the mouth area does. A belt sander makes short work of evening the rest of the sole with a slightly hollowed mouth.
7. Stanley still sells parts, new, for your #78 fillister and you can order them online for reasonable prices (but more than you paid for the plane, alas). You need the fence and the nicker if you don't have them. I don't have the depth stop myself but I imagine it's useful and will be getting one. You want the blade very slightly proud of the right edge of the plane, and the nicker should be at least even with the edge of the blade for cross-grain work. You don't need it for rabbets along the grain.
And with all that we come to the most dreaded thing by far....
You have to sharpen, but the widely recommended solution (Norton waterstones and a good honing jig) would cost 10 times what you paid for the planes.
For me as a low-budget newb, sandpaper adhered to float glass has worked great. The first place I found fine-enough grit wet-dry sandpaper was an auto parts store which had half-sheet packs to 2000 grit. With 2000 or 2500 grit you can achieve a mirror polish. But only if you use a sharpening jig, unless your hands are steadier and much more naturally gifted than mine. My planes just hacked at the wood until I swallowed hard and shelled out for a honing jig. I bought the Veritas MkI, but I wish I'd just gulped and bought the MkII.
Okay that was long but hopefully it's moderately helpful, fresh from the mind of someone also just finding his way....
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Originally Posted by Jim Koepke
They are very easy to sharpen. Otherwise you are much better equipped than I am, including possession of a workbench and enough yard space for a mid-sized shed... 
