The weekend of work on the tailwheel also reminded me of another thing - Platt's Laws of Scale Modeling. While many of us will never compete with a model, I think there area lot of "truths" here about the ongoing quest to "get it right." Dave's last word on things that resonates with me is "when it's no more difficult to do a thing the right way than it is to do it a different way, why not just go ahead and do it the right way?" I'm a big fan of some of Platt's building techniques and enjoyed these too.
Platt's Laws of Scale Modeling
The following laws have been compiled from observations made over a lifetime of building competition scale models. It will be noticed that, like "Murphy's Law", while formulated for amusement, they are nevertheless true.
Dave Platt
[ul][*] All of the best information on a subject arrives the day the model is completed, and proves conclusively that what you have done is wrong. [*] You never finish a scale model. You just stop working on it. [*] Those subjects requiring the greatest number of working channels have the least room for radio gear. [*] How right it looks matters more than how right it is. [*] Competitive scale modeling is about replication, not authentication. [*] Given a choice, judges will believe wrong information over right. [*] Live by the principle of scarfology. Things disappear from the marketplace, so scarf them up while the scarfing is good. [*] Experience has demonstrated that the worst 3-views of any subject are the ones that came form the factory. The best were done by some careful modeler who wanted an accurate model and made his 3-view a labor of love. [*] Never, ever, use color photos in documentation. [*] The weak link in the RC Scale reliability chain is still - the engine. [*] A fair model with a good docs-book will outscore an excellent model with a poor docs-book. [*] Scale RC is a very relaxing hobby – if you can stand the pace. [*] Big models fly; small models flit. [*] First, it’s got to fly. [*] No amount of flying will improve your static score. [*] It’s a mistake to take a scale model out to fly while you still like it. [*] Whenever a manufacturer improves his product, the old one is much better than the new one.
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I particlularly thought about the first one as I compared drawings and photos on the tailwheel.
And as we are talking about documentation, two new books show up in the mail today. I love new books!
Tom