Making Wing Ribbing

[cliff strachan]

Hi Lars. I must admit that I'm really confused as to just how you do make model wing ribs. Looking at your photos of your procedure it would seem that you apply masking tape to a portion of the Waco's wings and then rely on the ridge of paint to provide the required raised ribbing. But this also appears to be imposible as it would likely be too time consuming.

Please, for dummies like me could you  please explain in more detail. I think that whatever method you adopted they turned out really good.

Cliff

[Lars_Opland]

Hi Cliff,

Garet sorted out my posting troubles earlier & it's listed as "Canvas Wings II" now, with a clearer explaination than I was trying to post this time. I can only quibble that the covering material is more properly referred to as "Linen". I think many "rag-wing" designs might not be able to get off the ground if covered in doped canvas....

The trick to the whole procedure in solid wood is to mask around each bay, one at a time, & "sculpt" the indents with a finger tip & sand paper. The first application of lacquer, over the pencil guidelines & flat areas only, prevents the tape from pulling up wood grain across the ribs. Leaving the leading edges & such masked for one whole pass from tip to tip means you only need to move 2 pieces of tape to do the next bay over. It's never taken me less than 4 passes across the whole wing, & 3 full coats of lacquer (one after each pass), to make the job smooth enough for a 1:72 kit master, so it IS a bit fiddly. I'm preparing to do a fourth kit wing master this way (Fairchild, Bellanca & Waco preceeding), but the Waco Cabin Biplane was admittedly a long haul.

-Lars

[cliff strachan]

Thank you again, Lars. Mind you I must reflect on your excellent description of your method to make wing ribbing. But regardless of my slowness in catching on I'm very impressed with your description. Thanks again for your time. It does seem to provide an alternative method that provides an excellent result.

Cliff.