Well stated Bill.
I hate to quote that Commie Lenin, but quantity does have a quality of its own. At that ratio you can build 11 ply airframes for every 1 balsa, and still have change left for some Micky D's drive-thru. LOL! All the best for your upcoming Douglas SBD-3 build.
As for the "meatballs" comment, I picked that up from the old 70's TV show, Black Sheep Squadron. I used to love that show as a kid. I still remember Robert Conrad as the lead 'Pappy' Boyington character. The arch nemisis Japanese pilot named "Tommy" would get on the short wave radio from his Axis controlled airbase island, and talk directly to Pappy on his Allied controlled airbase island's radio, and they would talk smack to each other, and arrange one-on-one air duels, and such. Zeke v. Corsair.
The funny part, where the term "meatball" comes in, is when Pappy would get on the 2 way short wave radio, and call Tommy a "meatball" (because of the resemblance to the rising sun emblem) durring their smack talking sessions. Then Tommy would say something like, "Hey Boing-ton-san...you round eye! Are you scared to fry up and fright me?" LOL!! Primetime TV in the 70's started to preclude racially derogatory terms like "Jap" or "Nip", so the F.C.C. TV censures gave the O.K. to the less derogatory term of "meatball". Oddly enough, Pappy's dog on the show, a bull terrier, was named meatball also. The entire series is available on DVD now, but if you've seen one episode, you've seen them all.