: I'm about to position the forms on a box beam I built (following the advice
: in Nick's book). Does anyone have any helpfull techniques for both
: aligning them accurately and minimizing my inevitable frustration?

: thanks, EdP
Having done this recently, i have just gotten rid of a tic in my left eye, that i got from closing the left eye, and sighting down the line with the right for 4 consecutive days :-)

My advices, as a newbie are :
1. transfer the lines to the back of the forms. It's tedius work, but well worth the effort (had to pull ALL forms off the strongback to do that). I forgot to transfer lines on the bow/stern, to the other side of the forms, which has given me some headache afterwards. I also forgot to "turn" the forms halfways, so that the "original" side points to the bow/stern. Takes care of any small errors you made, when transferring the lines and you will benefit from the white face of the form, when aligning the forms closest to which ever end you are standing.
2. Draw center lines on all 4 sides of the strongback. You can use a "bricklayer" string with coloured powder.
3. I would suggest a "C" or "U" clamp on the strongback to tack the forms to.
4. Tack (or pre-tack) with a nail-gun or a hot-glue-gun. I used screws, and they tended to jerk the form 1-2mm's when i screwed them all the way in.
5. I used the method in the pic to adjust the forms. When you hold the form in place with two grips (?) you can nudge (know what i mean) the form in place easily, and then tack it in place with a couple of drops of hot-glue or nails.
6. When you put on the first few strips, re-alignment of a form or two is easy, using the strips as guides.

Just take your time - patience is the key

/jesper