UPDATE: Oct 19, 2013
Thanks to all who made contributions.
I have tried all the methods and tips, and results are summarized here.
As with many things in life, one tool or technique does not "fit all", but these tips and tricks can be kept in your "mental toolbox" and the right one pulled out when needed.
I've addressed these tips in the order they were posted.
Adrian's 'engineer blue'....did not have any available, one tip I did not try.
Adrian's photocopier.....I was able to print directly onto .012 inch gasket paper. My copier had no trouble handling it. I had first verified that my copier made true sized reproductions. I made a copy of the gearbox cover, first on plain paper to verify that I had it placed on the glass in the right place, then on the gasket paper. Make a plain paper copy if the copy machine cannot handle the stock, and use this copy as a template. This is the way to do it if you can get the part on the glass!
Disadvantages: Basically single use for the gasket paper....after cutting out a gasket, re-running the gasket paper thru again is inviting a paper jam. Besides, the copier prints black anywhere the light is not reflected back to the scanning head....the unused gasket, including drop-out, becomes black (or dark). If you want to take the trouble, you could use the part as a template and cut a hole in paper to make a "white mask" to surround the part.
Rohan, Motorson and Biland: Ball peen hammer or ball bearings. Simply pressing a near-sized ball into the gasket paper while placed on the part, gives a very sharp impression. I could not cut the hole as was suggested (did not want to beat too hard), but a good impression was all I asked for.
Bluto's inkpad: I made an impression of the oil inlet block (that mounts to the timing case). Here is an example of why more than one tool in the box is necessary....I did not want to remove all the oil lines to put the block on the copier glass, but could easily spring out the block far enough to get the pad to coat the part. At first, I did not get much ink to transfer, then I re-inked the pad, and got too much ink, blob-ing up the gasket paper so much the hole definitions were blurry. After 3 trys, wasting gasket paper, I took BillT's hint to transfer the image to plain paper.
BillT suggested using grease, but Bluto's ink was cleaner, and after 6 or 8 tries, I got just the right amount of ink to get a sharp definition of the holes and part outline on plain paper, then used it as a template.
Triton Thrasher' s dirty thumb: This is the technique I was trying to improve upon...I know you had your tongue in cheek, TT, when you wrote that.
Ashman's dart: I found the dart to be very helpful for the odd sized hole for which I had no bearing. As with the bearings, I could not get my dart to cut the hole. It does produce a definite impression, but in my case, I had a "shotshell" wad of gasket paper to cut away. The dart wants to shift the paper, so it helps to tape the gasket to the part with painter's tape while making the impressions.
Splatt's maun wad punch. ...do not know what that is....
BillT' grease on paper: discussed above.
Unclviny cartridge brass for punches: ..a poor man's punch set. It works, but case mouth tends to crush after a few holes. I placed a 1/4 inch mat of hard neopreme behind the gasket to back up the punch...this helped to protect the case mouth (good to do this with any punch). Need I warn anybody not to use a case with a hot primer? Avid reloaders, like me, are as reluctant to beat up cartridge brass any more than vintage MC parts.
I have always had trouble getting my punch concentric with my hole. I found a technique to solve that problem. With a draftsmans circle guide, draw a circle around the hole impression large enough to see the line with the proper sized punch in place. Shift the punch until you have concentricity with the drawn line.
Thanks again to all, and I hope this helps.
Slick