Hmm, the smell. That's very interesting. I read somewere were the sense of smell can be recalled more easily than any other. There may be more to that than you think! I remember the first time I got up close to one of these old birds and the impressions I got. There was sooo much more on the full scale level that you just are not aware of from pics and drawings. You stick your head inside the cockpit and want to drink in all the details. The stains on the wooden handles, the scratches on the painted metal fittings, the weave on the fabric and the imperfections of the hand painted markings and OH thats how the seat is attached and look how they adjust the guns!
I used to have an antique MGA which I decieded to model in 1/18 scale from one of those cast metal prebuilt numbers. I almost wore a path out to the garage looking at details and I had taken many pics! And to think I had actually restored this vehicle myself! It was amazing how differently we look at things when we want to reproduce them in scale.