Just starting my Petrel, the form is ready for the sheer strips, so I have some time to figure this out.

The recess, nick shows it out of plywood, and says he built his out of veneer and glass, and I have seen a couple on the web built out of strips. My question is how did you (as in anyone who has built a petrel) build the recess? I have some Peruvian walnut strips I would like to use however this looks a lot more complicated than ply wood.
I am considering making some veneer out of the walnut and either laminating it to 1/8 in ply or just glassing the veneer like Nick did. Then the question of how much glass for the veneer, build it up to 1/8 inch?
Also if I do just build it out of strips how do you keep the proper angle on the back part of the recess?
A lot of questions I know. Thanks for the help.
Joe