ORIGINAL: Ilikebipes
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The downside of a foam core wing is as I said, it's not for novices. There are assumed, or aquired skills, that not all have, not to mention some tooling such as vacuum pump and bagging equipment.
Sorry, this is where I will disagree. You do not need a vacuum pump and bagging equipment. True, that is one method to cover the wing, but plastic covering is very strong and is plenty to cover a finished foam core wing. A tried and tested method as I have witnessed myself.
Um, yes on some airplanes. However, you'll rarely see this construction method (plain foam core covered in plastic) on most giant scale aircraft. In fact I can't think of a single one in recent memory that used plastic covering over foam....Some of Byrons bi-planes used this method but I haven't seen any recent airframes marketed this way for a while now.
Warbirds, in particular will be sheeted (now I'm only talking about wings now, as that is the topic at hand).
Some guys use the shucks to sheet the foam wing by placing heavy weights on them until the glue sets but it's really best to use vacuum bagging technique.