TomD
As much as this is a masterpiece, I think in the bigger picture this style of plane offers the option for simpler construction as the moving fence pieces are not in the body of the plane. It reduces the risk. The main barrier I was feeling was just how difficult, expensive, and time consuming machining the brass was going to be, but if one can cut that out of a chip of wood, so much the better. Further, it is easy to mount the spars with compression fittings, and alignment would then be automatic, though that might seem like cheating. The there is the whole fact that it could be seen to be a better operating version of the type. Scores!