ORIGINAL: cmoulder
Matt,
Your method is definitely a lot more accurate than mine, but I can't quite envision the template from your description. No rush, but if you have a photo that would be nice. I've found myself more than once thinking '''There has got to be a better way to do this!''
Now, I measure-eyeball-measure-eyeball, and then repeat that about 20-30 times, then have my wife come take a look at it and do the same thing before gluing anything. Pretty good so far, but I always breathe a huge sigh of relief when everything lines up, because it isn't exactly a sure-fire thing.
Yup...that was mine as well, until I came up with this technique.
I re-read what I wrote and I see it wasn't clear. To visualize it, take a piece of square paper and fold it diagonally. You now have a right isosceles triangle. Fold it again, bisecting the right angle. You now have the makings of the template.....open the second fold back to the original triangle. The second fold line is the vertical that attaches to the fin. Draw a few lines parallel to the hypotenuse (the bottom) and you have a scale model of the template. Note, the vertical fold and the parallel lines are perpendicular to each other
My original template was made from cardboard which worked okay but was not transparent and was a little too flexible. Lexan of course, is transparent and has about the right flex. I'll take a snap tomorrow and send it to you
The technique requires careful scribing of the fin's post and stab's elev facing. But if that's done accurately, fin to stab alignment will be within 1/10 degree and probably better
Matt