I had the "making of" Return of the Jedi as a kid and loved how these kits were built. The scout walker that was crushed by the logs in Jedi was a plastic kit tin plated and then acid poured in to remove the plastic so that it "crumpled" realistically. Lighting the ships internally caused problems because some plastic parts melted from the heat of the lamps.
For me, these models, and the paintings which formed the backdrops to some of the scenes in the first three films, were a lot more convincing than the green screen CGI of the follow ups.
Thanks for sharing.