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How to Build Wood Aircraft Ribs

Wooden aircraft ribs are simple to make if you start with the right plans. Most amateur hobbyists use design plans from a hobby shop to get started. Whether you are a beginner, an intermediate enthusiast who works with design plans or an advanced hobbyist who wants to design his own wood plane from start to finish, you will need to transfer the design for your wing ribs to a template. Any sturdy piece of thin plywood or Formica can be cut into a template, just use something with a thin, hard surface you can easily shape.

Things You'll Need

Formica or thin plywood
Balsa-wood rib blanks
Model aircraft design plan
Work bench
Hobby knife
Old magazines
Fine-grain sandpaper
Scroll or band saw

Instructions

- 1
  Trace the rib pattern from your plans onto a thin piece of plywood or Formica. Take care to get the dimensions correct. This will become the template you use to make the ribs.
- 2
  Use a band or scroll saw to cut out the pattern you have traced on the template. Include interior cut-outs.
- 3
  Sand the outer and interior cut edges of the rib template until they are smooth. When you can brush your finger along all the edges and feel no snags, your template is ready. It is a good idea to cut a piece of sandpaper and glue it to the bottom of your template to help keep it from slipping when you place it on top of a balsa blank for cutting.
- 4
  Use a hobby knife to cut an individual rib out of a balsa-wood blank by placing the blank on an old magazine and placing your template on top the blank. Simply follow the template edge with your hobby knife to cut out the rib. Cut out all the ribs you will need. You can cut out one rib at a time, or cut out a stack of ribs up to 1/2-inch high. Do not make the interior cut-outs in the rib just yet.
- 5
  Stack the full set of ribs that you will use. Put small nails or pins through the interior areas you will later cut out of the ribs. Sand around the outer edges of the stacked ribs until they are perfectly smooth and uniform.
- 6
  Make the internal cut-outs. You can use a hobby knife or a scroll saw for this. The internal cut-outs do not need to be as precise as the exterior outlines of the ribs. You can make additional cut-outs in individual ribs for landing gear blocks or servo leads, as needed.

Aviation