As I said....to me, it's not so much a "crutch" as it is personal choice. IMO, it still comes down to the idea that, at some point, the plane will fly straight, and everywhere else it won't *heh*. Just depends on where you want that "point" to be. For me, I'd just as soon trim and mix to overcome any turning tendencies, and then not sweat dealing with offset and thrust angles.

And as jrf points out...some full scale aircraft DO have accommodations to help offset various torue, p-factor, spiral slipstream, etc tendencies. Of course, they have an advantage. In their case, they CAN pick a specific flight condition (cruise flight) and "tune" to that condition...since, unlike our models, they will spend a large percentage of their lives in that exact condition.

Of course, as CH says...2-3 degrees ain't much, and it's not like it's "difficult" to put it in, so hey...whatever works. This is very much a cat that can be skinned a few dozen ways...so long as he stays skinned.

In any event, I think all of us agree that simply rotating the motor isn't going to change the thrust angle, and that OP is pretty safe mounting his engine that way.

And zeeb...feel free to share that if you wish. Just remember...YMMV.