I think there's a lot of promise for interesting discussion here. Thanks for starting us off!

I'll add one simple observation: Different models do indeed fly differently. We can "feel" the difference when we fly them. Some models seem "heavy" in the air, others "responsive." My Puppeteer is a real "dog" but nevertheless (or perhaps precisely because of this) fun to fly. Some models almost fly themselves...and where's the fun in that? Other models take every bit of our concentration to keep them in the air...or to get them back onto the ground in one piece. So it seems clear to me that the basic shape and configuration of a model (at whatever scale) does indeed strongly affect its flying qualities.

So I think we can all agree that a model of, say, a Fokker DrI flies differently than a model of a Sopwith Pup. And if I had to describe HOW the two models were different, I'd say that the model DrI flies more like the full-scale DrI and the model Pup flies more like the full-scale Pup. Nevertheless it might still be true that the ways the two models fly ultimately have more in common with each other than they have with either the full-scale DrI or the full-scale Pup. It may be true that models fly like models and full-scales fly like full-scales.

I think what I was basically objecting to is the attempts to make scale models easier to fly than the original. I don't want a model DrI that flies like a trainer...or a Pup.