: I am about to start construction of the stern piece of my Shooting Star. I
: would appreciate any tips on holding the steam-bent strips onto the
: concave form scetions. Ideally, I want to do it wiothout staples

Josh-
I just finished the stern section on my SS using Rob's heat gun method. It worked well. I'm using western red cedar and white pine accent strip. Rob's advice was to practice. Good advice. Cedar doesn't bend very easily, but makes a smooth curve when it does bend. White pine bends easily, but I had a little trouble making a smooth curve (probably a function of inexperience). A couple things helped. Wet the strip before heating - it prevented charring and made the cedar more pliable initially. I mounted the heat gun to a platform and moved the strip back and forth and rotated it in the region where I wanted a curve (think roasting marshmellows) while holding the strip in the approximate shape that I wanted. Going back and forth between the heat gun and the stern section stations, it was not too hard to get the right curve and twist. Be sure that the strip is long enough to give yourself some leverage for holding the curve while heating and during cool down. I didn't use any staples. I overbent the strips slightly and didn't have to fasten the strips to the last 2 station. The last 2 stations are just there to push the strips out to hold the proper shape.
A couple of caveats. Working in an unheated garage, the heat gun method will warm you up nicely - particularly when you get just the right curve in your strip. Just be careful if you have too many layers of clothing. I didn't bother to take off the burrs on the edges of my first few test strips and they burned off quickly. I don't know what happens with the sharp edges on a coved strip.

Wes T