When you drive a nail in with a hammer, do you look at the hammer head or the nail you are hitting with it? When you drive a care or ride a bike, do you look at the hood of the car or the front wheel. or do you look where you want to drive and steer the vehicle where you need to go?
Tunnel vision when learning the pattern is hard to over come. You have to use your whole field of vision. rom the time I was a Beginner to when I moved into Expert, I figured out along the way that I need to use my peripheral vision as well as looking at the orientation of the airplane. As you improve, your models will improve also. A well trimmed model and confidence in it's performance help this also. When I am flying at my best, I can "see" the shape I need to fly as I approach the maneuver, then I just trace the shape with the airplane. I still fall back into the tunnel vision every now and then.
The outside loops are one thing, outside squares are another! More than one aiprlane has been written off looking at the model and trying to time the pull out, and most times the first down line is curved and the shape looks like a backwards "D". But just like hitting the nail on the head, if you use your field of vision correctly, you can see the ground in your peripheral vision and know when to pull out. To put it more simply, you need to learn to see the ground while looking at your airplane and sometimes vice versa. It's way easier said than done, but that's my take on how to "look" at your airplane.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee