I have to agree with you on this, the modern practice of putting servos at the rear has increased the weight of most aircraft due to the neccessary additional weight needed in the nose to compensate, I built a Graupner Extra 300L LEKI with a Webra 80 in the nose and 10onz of lead, eventually I converted this to electric which decreased the overall weight even with 6S2P liPos installed. Closed loop linkages are the only way to go in reality to ensure slop free links, with Ailivators i.e. two servos on the elevators working with the Ailerons it makes sense to keep the weight at the rear as low as poss.