I have been trying to contact this guy for weeks. Does anyone else know where I can locate a similar product or how I can contact this one?

http://home.cablerocket.com/~scaleribstitch/id16.htm

Where's the fun in that!

WOW Painstaking [X(] Impressive abufletcher-san!

I used the adhesive style rib stitch tape that Cable Rocket produces and had some problems with the adhesive bleeding through the finish tape . This is with Stits Poly Brush. When the Poly Brush wicks through the fabric it puts the adhesive into solution and the adhesive comes through the tape leaving sticky residue on the surface. It cleans up with an automotive style pre paint cleaner like Prep Sol but it's still an annoyance. This probably won't be a problem if you use a water based finish. On the other hand, the finished product looks great once you get over the adhesive wicking issues.

I'm not sure it was much more work than some of the other techniques people use. For example, I've heard of people individually gluing on hundreds of brush bristle clippings. Or laying down hundreds of lines of white glue. And it was definitely faster than waiting over a month for a shipment to arrive from overseas!

The standard technique of making your own "rib stitch strips" seem pretty fast and the results look good on most models. I think that's what I'll probably use on my DrI.

I hope you eventually get a reply. I recommend the product highly. It worked very well for my DR1.

I have a question about the rib stitching. Im currently finishing my sig 1/6 Cub and i was trying to understand the stitching. This is my second kit build and i wanted to put as much detail as possible into scaling it.

I already have the covering for it ( Coverite Cub Yellow Fabric )

My question is that is there anyway to do a Rib stitch UNDER the fabric so that i dont have to paint it?? or is it only done on top with a plain fabric and then paint the entire plane?

As i said ive never done this process before and i dont fully understand it. Any help would be appreciated

The way that rib stitching works is that the covering material (originally linen) now universally Ceconite, which is a high thread count, low denier woven Dacron material is sewn to the ribs, stringers, longerons and posts of the full scale airplane. The covering material is doped to the leading edge, and then smoothed out along the panel, the stitch starts from inside the wing, and the needle is poked through the covering material adjacent the rib, and then drawn over the rib and back down through the covering material. The lower panel is pulled to the rib, and the needle is passed through the lower covering also adjacent the rib, and directly below the upper stitch. The needle is then passed across the bottom of the rib, and back to the inside of the wing. The thread is tied off to the beginning part of the stitch, and then the same is done about 2" back down the rib (chordwise) from the first stitch. This time, when the rib has been stitched top and bottom, the needle is caused to make a knot in the thread in the center of the rib, and then you proceed to the third stitch, and again make the knot and proceed. Once the entire wing panel has been stitched, the reinforcment tape (often called Pinking Tape) is applied with dope.

On my models I cover the wing, and shrink the fabric (I only use Koverall) and then I cut hundreds of pieces of thread 1/8' in length. I run a brush of Nitrate dope along the covered rib, and then using a very fine paintbrush dipped in the dope, pick up a piece of the thread, and place it on the reference mark for that particular stitch. Once I have all the Stitches in place, I cut a piece of the reinforcment tape (I use tissue paper that I slit to the correct width) and dope it down atop the stitches, rubbing the tape down so that only the stitches show and the tape tends to disappear.

It's slow and tedious, but the results are worth it.

Use the 50' rule. Don't make the rib stitches too big. Anything that you can see on the full scale at 50 feet, should be just as visible on a fifth scale model at 10 feet. If the detail on the full scale disappears at 50 feet, then you should not be able to see the detail on the model at 10 feet. I have seen a lot of model airplanes where the detail looked like you glued Buick Ventaports to the model. The detail was just too big for the size of the model, and jumps out at you. Keep the detail in perspective.

I will include a couple of photos of one of my Waco models horizontal stab (there are 294 rib stitches on the horizontal stab and elevator on the Waco). I hope this helps.

Bill, AMA 4720
WACO Brotherhood #1

What covering is this?

Bill, that looks fantastic! I'm quite sure that took longer than the actual stitching I did on my Snipe, which by the way, had really obvious stitching on the original. What do you see as the primary advantage of Koverall?

You guys all have great looking planes! Thanks for sharing the pics.

-Mike

Those are some sweet looking planes!

Tundraman: I emailed the company asking if they were still in business and this was the response I received today:

Hi Charles,
Yes , There is a new website and email address as in the signature of this reply below...you have correct email since I got this email

Regards,
Ken Kosmenko
Scale Rib Stitch
Email: [email protected]
NEW WEBSITE: http://www.personainternet.com/scaleribstitch/

It's the same site as the link you provided from what I can tell...the [email protected] email add is no good anymore. You may have sent the email to that address.

So hit him up!

Charles

I use SolarTex from BalsaUSA and it is terrific stuff. The DR1 covering is "natural" (unpainted) but I used their colored coverings on my Pup.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Just ordered two packages. Thanks again!

No problem...post some pics of your project when you get it!

Will do!