As usual, good advice from 'MinnFlyer'

If you do choose to go the scratch route first. build a "kit of parts" first, then build the plane. When in doubt, build paper mockups to see how things will fit together.

Also, the ink from many plans can be ironed on to the wood with your covering iron. If this fails to work, I resort to tracing paper and glue it to the wood with 3M spray.