It depends so much on what you want the plane to do. Scale planes "look" right in the air when they are weighted to represent the mass of it's full sized counterpart. Nothing takes away from a plane's appeal for me, then to look scale, but fly like a kite. Watching a P 47 leap off the ground or a J3 climb straight up doesn't do much for me. But, there are many places where light wing loading is necessary to the plane's utility. A strong light construction benefits both trainers and 3D aircraft. It boils down to what the flier wants. The beauty of this hobby is the variety of combinations. One guy's scale project is the next guy's fun fly.

Air is free, getting into it will cost you.