F6F - Ziroli vs. Don Smith
Having built a KI 61 from Don's plan, I did the following: I borrowed from what I liked from Ziroli and used the crutch method, but I cut my formers utilizing the clamshell method. Since the formers are drawn on the sheets in vertical halves, I just sandwiched two pieces together and cut and sanded the two halves simultanteously, then glued them together. Now I have formers that are exactly mirror images of each other. Then, I built a fixture that sits on my work bench with vertical members of consistent height, spaced according to the fuselage plan. I tack glue the formers to the vertical fixture members and once everthing is where it should be, you start adding stringers and sheeting to the entire top of the fuselage ala Ziroli.
I thought that this offered the best of both words and seemed a lot easier than building the two halves and trying to match them up.
Jeff Lovitt