You could build a whole new "oil rig" for the fuselage behind the cockpit in a single day. The eindecker is very simple. And then graft that onto the slab sides in the front. I've also tried the bamboo skewers, but even they add weight. One trick that many modelers have used is to run kevlar thread up and down using one thread for the whole frame, with a drop of CA to lock the thread at each cross-point. The Kevlar weighs virtually nothing.

For me it's partly a matter of "building aesthetics." I just couldn't bring myself to ever use a slab side on a WWI model...except on a model of an aircraft that actually had slap sides...for example, the Albatros CI I'm working on.