Okay, I'm hooked again.  Got back into this mess about 2 months ago after being gone for 25 yrs.  Did a couple of sheet wings for my boy and I and the first one met a greasy ending yesterday in some wind that I should not have been flying in.

So heres my question.  Going to put together another scratch built with a built up wing (something easy like a baby clown knock off), but have no idea on the rib thickness.  I'm thinking 1/8" balsa, will that be enough?  Going to build the body out of 1/4" balsa and beam mount a norvel .049 with a 1 oz clunk tank.

Also, whats the best thing to cover with now.  Monokote was just coming on strong (never used it)when I got out of models and I know there are several other items out there now.  I always used tissue, silk or lightweight nylon (which I have in spades at work).  Thoughts?

John
When I built my set of Barnstormers I used 1/8 for the fox 35 powered full size, 1/16 for the WenMac .049 powered Baby Barnstormer, 1/20 for the Cox .020 powered IBTW Barnstormer and 1/32 for the Cox .010 Micro Barnstormer.

Hope this helps.

Clancy

1/16" ribs are fine, use spars top and bottom (1/8"x1/4"? 3/32"x3/16"?).  Be sure to put 1/4" square hardwood beams at the motor mount, with thin plywood (1/32" is enough) doublers.

--Ray

P.S. Covering, no-one's addressed that yet--I've been using "microlite" by Coverite, an iron-on film like Monocote that is very thin and light, perfect for 1/2A.  Silkspan and dope are still used a lot.