It could absolutely be done, particularly for the fuselage.
The concern with the wings deformation in flight, which could be answered a couple ways by beefing up the compression struts and with the flying/landing wires. Certainly Robert solved that problem with his Eindecker...and it's actually a pretty big aircraft (the full scale one).
The ribs in the Aerodrome design are just 1/4" tubing on the top and bottom, riveted into the back of the spars with a small gusset. Very light weight. The wings rely on the drag/anti-drag wires within to keep things tight. I spent more time on the jig (an hour) than I did actually putting them on the wing. Bending the tubing to the airfoil did take some time, but there's a big bunch of them.
One would also have to improve the carry-throughs for the the wings, IMHO. This is the most common of the modifications to his plans, btw, with the little "blades" replaced by bit of steel tubing that fits neatly within the spars.
A technique Robert used on the really big planes he designed, like the Sopwith Baby, was to have three aluminum tubes fill the main aluminum spar tube.
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A word on the "kits" Robert sells. Basically they're the plans and the material list, with the gussets pre-cut. Every tube is over sized, as one must cut, bend, and cope each one. It's pretty much the same as if one purchased just the plans and bought the materials one's self. I did the math on the costs of the materials if I bought them myself versus what Robert charges and it came out as pretty much a wash, with (depending on the vendor) Robert actually being a bit less expensive. He's got the power of wholesale working for him.
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