Agree with Heath, for solid molds. But you'd probably be better off going with the adaptable mold style, where you make a workboard with slots cut into it, and clamp blocks in the slots that just touch to the pattern. Here's a cool style, where the blocks double as spool clamp screws for closing the box
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For a bending reference, I'd be more inclined to use just a thin masonite cutout. Easy to make with coping saw/rasp, not a lot of material (i.e. cheap and light weight), and doesn't take much storage space.
Currently all my references are just hand drawn on paper... I start by drawing the whole guitar body, then trace half of it and cut out as the master template. Use that to draw the shape on the wood, and to draw it on another sheet of paper for side bending reference (because this one gets all wrinkly from the water during bending). But I might start making the masonite templates for all my shapes, since they are cheap, relatively easy, would be quicker to trace around, and helpful during bending to see the shape over the full depth of the side, rather than just one edge laid on the paper.
I assemble totally freestanding, but they do come out just a touch asymmetrical
I call it hand-built charm.
