Hello Grant,
It took me a little while but I think I found out where the project came from. It was in Popular Woodworking's August of 2001 issue. I was thinking they reprinted it not to long ago, but I couldn't find it. You might see if they offer it on their web site as a free plan. (if it's not that issue let me know, and I'll look again. I've tried to catalog my magazine plans, but they may be off.)
I built this not long after the plane came out. From what I can remember it wasn't that hard to build. I think the most frustrating part was the fact I didn't have a bandsaw blade small enough to to all the curves as tight as they should have been.