Well - the recipe works. BIL was able to bake some respectably pretty rolls and loaves last night and sent the pictures to prove it!
I'm very glad that someone was able to, even if it wasn't me. And perhaps it's better that it wasn't me. Hubs probably won't let me give up even after 3 tries... but we have some new info which helps explain what's going on with my attempts.
BIL used rapidrise yeast.
His rising times were twice as long as mine - in a 150 oven. Like 90 minutes.
And while hubs insisted that I only put a dozen rolls in each pan; BIL put 2 dz. in.
(one other detail - BIL barely worked the dough; just punched it down; floured top/bottom; rolled to 3/4 in thick and cut out - leads me to believe I might've shorted a cup of flour in my last batch - lost count - as my magpie hubby kept flying in/out of the kitchen distracting me; yep-yep it's HIS fault I can't count and won't let him "watch me"!

)
The first one - was an assumption on my part, since the recipe didn't specify; I used regular yeast.
Again, I had no times in the recipe - only till "double", which I was able to get in the first rise OK @ 45 mins... but nothing in the 2nd. no matter how long I waited... and it's possible that putting the cutout rolls so close together helps force them Up - rather than Out, tho' when the dough's as loose as mine was it would've spread into a cake, I think.
This recipe has been like trying to draw an elephant from the description of people who've only known one aspect of it! BIL remembered lots of kneading - but didn't do any in his successful batch. Neither hubs or BIL remember the potato flakes in the recipe. Hubs claimed authority over the process - and has never made bread in his life, while I thought I knew a good bit because, yeah, I DID make bread quite frequently... a long time ago. And yeah - we're all pretty competitive...
so I learned a whole lot about my ovens. I'm figuring out how/where to work in the kitchen. And as long as one of us can bake these... the rolls will keep on rollin' on....