target has one for $24 dollars. It is a 11 pound cap. accurate to 1 gram. would this work good for measuring parts and pieces and even planes? what do you guys use?

What is the link to the scale? 11 lbs will maybe limit you to what you can weight. We weighed my plane at the field today and had to do the fuselage, wing, and landing gear, then add them up. Turns out that your 11 lb scale may not have been able to weigh it in one piece.

All that by the way side, I've been weight planes for the last three years on a 2610gm Tripple beam scale. That limits me to 5.7 lb pieces.

If you are a small plane flyer, then it should do you fine. 1 gram is about 1/30th of an ounce, so the resolution would be great. If you are flying 60 size and up, it may come up short on a full plane weight in.

Don

Description
Colors galore! Make your scale match your kitchen or office. The Primo line comes in 11 eye catching colors from a warm red to a sky blue. These digital scales are economically priced and very easy to use with its two-button operation.

Features
Capacity of 11 pound/5 kilogram,displays ounces and grams
Accuracy of 0.1 ounce or 1 gram
Spill proof design, easy to clean
Includes tare feature (great when working with a bowl)
Operates on two AA batteries (included)

The largest plane i have is a 40 size alpha trainer.

Been using these scales since the sixties Works fine and accurate on my stuff up to about 18 pounds my heaviest.

The Berkley Digital Fish Scale are very accurate up top 50 #. I cross compared it to a digital scale thats certified by the state at a grocery store, and did some comparisons on several weights and the Berkley Digial fish Scale exceeded "my requirements"

for weighing my big models I use a standard bathroom scale. I weigh myself without the plane then me and the plane and subtract.
Everything else I use a small digital postal scale

I use a cheap 1lb kitchen scale for weighing parts and small planes, and a cheap fish scale for weighing bigger planes. I just hook them by the back of the spinner. I think I got the fish scale at Sports Authority for $8.

The scale you are looking at should be good. You may want to build a lightweight cradle for holding your planes on the scale.

Good luck

Here's the link to hudmun's scale: http://www.target.com/Primo-Digital-...3Ascale&page=1

Not a bad price.

Hit the garage sales where you see a bunch of baby stuff. Baby scales are accurate and perfect for the job.

I also weigh with just a normal bathroom scale. I make the plane stand upright on it's nose and then (without using any force) balance the plane by placing a hand each side so that the plane doesn't tip over but stays vertical to the scale with all the weight down. It's probably not dead accurate, but I think it is close enough.

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.

thanks for all the responses, the beam scales , very cool. The one from harborfreight looks like a deal.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95364

I bought one at office depot. Mine tops out at 10lbs. I love it. I use it all the time.

Unless you are doing electric flying, where every gram counts, or doing pattern flying, where you must not exceed a certain weight (don't know what it is now, around 11 pounds), any decent scale will do just fine. Why waste all sorts of money on a balanced beam scale, or an expensive digital scale. I have a food scale that measures down to .1 ounce and it works just fine for my electrics. I don't fly pattern, so I don't much care about the 11 pound weight limit (or whatever it is).

So, you want to save some money? Buy what you need, not what you think you may need or what someone tells you you will need.

CGr.

Question seems simple enought and I don,t see anyone telling him what to do, Actually quite an informative thread on a wide spectrum of techniques folks use. As for my balance beam being expensive naw, it just made the transition from selling peachs at the peach stand from the farm I was raised on to weighing airplanes.

I like the electronic linked for twenty bucks and may pick me up one also. Should be handy for weighing small bits for comparison. I do pay attention to weight some more than others and I don,t fly Pattern and recently retired from pylon but still fill my days with plenty of RC flying and I still fly controlline and I,ve never failed to improve an airplane by putting it on a diet.

Grey Beard I,ve looked at a number of the inexpensive fish scales (The kind with the direct compression spring) and even tried some But when the spring gets near the heavier side the accuracy seems to go out the window.

Actually you know the accuracy to true weight is really not that important but rather consistancy from a scale I think is the most important thing. This for making comparsons of components or before and after from repairs/modifications/Kit bashes.

John

I'm using a digital fishing scale, similar to the one in the link.
its not as accurate as 0.1 gram but an 1/25 of a pound here or there so i measure everything three times, its good to get an idea about the weight, 44 Kg limit doesnt come cheap.
i hang the airplane on the hook.

http://cgi.ebay.com/40KG-Electronic-...3A1%7C294%3A50

I just saw a scale liek the one availble from Target at Ikea for $12 it only goes up to 6#'s but looks good enough for the small weights.

Jon