RE: What type of scale to buy?
If accuracy of half a pound or so is enough, you can weigh a finished plane by weighing yourself holding the plane, then set it down and just weigh yourself. (It's how you weigh a dog, too.) And for most planes, that's accurate enough, 'cause as others have said, there's not much you can do after it's done. For small planes where every half ounce counts, I use a postal scale.