I used to have a beam scale in the 60s and 70s myself, never thought about using it to weigh my planes!!! Today, for my planes, I use a fish scale I bought at Harbor Freight. Problem is we all know fisherman tend to lie just a tad so it shows my planes just a tad heavy. I have never bothered to just weigh parts when I'm building but I know people that do, I would if I had one of those really cool little micro scales though.