There's room for both approaches in the hobby of scale modeling. To achieve the sorts of results you see at world championships, "obsessing" is an absolute requirement. Masters like Pete McDurmott take this obsession for scale accuracy to dizzying heights. But sometimes you just want to build a flying model for the sheer fun of it and and to "wow'em at the field" (though any large ARF Extra would probably do a better job at that).

BTW, I'd love to see some photos of the engine area of your SE5a. Might give me some ideas for mine.