Thanks for responding. Building bikes for myself is a supposed to be a retirement hobby. I love bike touring and racing and doing so on my own creations would be something I could be pleased about. I will have zero issues with mitreing as I have done hundreds (thousands?) of mitres building aircraft. Things I have not done but am looking forward to include silver and fillet brazing and painting. Just today I started building a paint booth. To make room for it, I sold the mill and lathe. I have read that, as you say, fixtures are not necessary and I find the idea of building above a surface plate very appealing. Jerry