RE: The new MAN
I still have a number of the older MAN plans from the early 60, most of which are no longer available. Also many Flying Models magazines where they printed full size patterns on several pages and had one or two page plans in something like 1/4 or 1/3 size to make scaling up easy. In those days, many of the planes, whether control line, FF or radio, had curves and form to them, not like many of today's box designs. Of course, back then, I wasn't working 55 or more hours a week, or coming in to work in the morning and finding a nice little request from my boss to get over to the airport with several days clothes, materials from work, etc and get there in an hour (30 minutes drive on a good day). I've even stooped so low as to get a number of ARFs just to keep my stock of flyables adequate. I still feel that a good honest kit built or plan built looks and flys better than an ARF, and often lasts longer.
I've got quite a few plans from those newer English publications, and find them adequate to build from, if a bit primitive.