It has been my experience that by todays standards almost all of the older kits were not really very good. My time period goes back to the late 70's early 80's. It would seem the advent of Carl Goldberg models was a game changer. Then later, at least with radio control (the serious CL guys were always concerned with weight), with the advent of IMAC competition, and the desire to 3D fly, the aircraft started to get lighter. These lighter structures require better machining and engineering. Something that we really enjoy today, that did not exist before.