Do puzzle and finger jointed panels bend in fair curves? And are they as strong as scarf joints?

Shearwaters, Sea Island Sports, and Wood Ducks have puzzle joints. They're plenty strong, and end up 'glassed on both sides in the course of construction. Their shape and length is carefully calculated to result in fair curves in the panels.

People react differently to the appearance of puzzle joints. But everyone reacts the same way when it comes to actually assembling the things---it's delightfully quick and fool proof.

I like all of the various panel joining methods---scarfs, butt joints, puzzle joints---and all three approaches are used in our 30+ kit models. The reaction to puzzle joints has been so positive that we will gradually shift some models to that approach.