I can only speak from working on the Bucker Jungmeister kit, and have, as a matter of fact:
[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Pica_Bucker_Jungmeister%3A_Over_the_Hump_With_This _Kit/m_1315732/tm.htm[/link]

It seems that kits have come a long way since this kit was designed. It seems to come from a time when modelers generally had a long series of kit builds behind them, starting with rubber-powered stick-and-tissue models from their childhood. It seems kit manufacturers like Pica assumed modelers had a lot of skill, inventiveness, and perserverence. The contrast with a modern kit is striking. So you could say the kit seemed okay for its generation. Personally, I'd love to see the old kits re-designed and updated, but intead we'll probably see them continue to drop one by one out of the market.