My experience is like yours - the free plans on the net are good for ideas, but not good as plans per se. Once in a while if you google for specific plans you can actually use for cutlists, etc, but most are pretty bare bones (which actually has been good for me b/c I taught me to be more creative, think about the best way to make items structurally sound, and measure 5x before I cut into a piece of expensive hardwood.)
Popular Woodworking often has decent freebies. Other than that or running Google searches, I'd recommend searching local library DBs for plans/books - lots of libraries have good sized craft sections.
Sorry could not be more help - sounds like I share your pain (a bit.)
The below is the one I have found useful - not really a plan per se but actually an assembly list. Used the ideas in here to make the clock itself.
http://www2.woodcraft.com/pdf/77A50.pdf