Why? WHY? Why do you think you don't see any newer movie ships that last very long. Every single ship in the original Star Wars trilogy was actually built by hand and as popular today as it was back then (even more so). You can fake alot of things in CGI that you can't with the actual physical object. Light falls differently on a actual model then it does on a CGI model because all the formulas that have been created for ray casting still haven't been perfected and you can always tell the difference. The nuances of little happy mistakes aren't possible with CGI. So many of the best effects in movies were because of little happy mistakes that no one was planning for. Not to mention the fact that the actual physical models can go on tour and make them even MORE money... can't do that with a CGI model. Sure the 1:1 scales are nice, but nothing sparks the imagine more then actually seeing something with your own eyes. I've seen photos of Jupiter and Saturn millions of times and thought nothing of it, but when I finally got my first powerful telescope and saw the eye of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn with my own eyes, that everything changed. It just floored me to know that I could go outside on any given night and point the telescope up at the sky and see these beautiful planets any time I wanted with my own eyes. It changes something inside you. Gives you more of a visceral experience to know it is actually there, it really exists, you could reach out and touch it. Its hard to explain... but it also helps the actors see what the ship they are flying up looks like up close and personal. Helps them imagine the scene much more visually and emotionally. I think Lucas made a point of bringing the actors in to touch and feel the models that were made so they could get a better sense of what they were dealing with. In essence, the actual physical models are 100% better then any CGI computer rendered garbage and can inspire much more then some pixels artificially generated in a computer. As for cheaper and easier, ILM was able to crank out hundreds of ships in a short amount of time at a fraction of the cost as it would take to design, build, and animate in a computer farm these days at a fraction of the cost. The real question is this... what would you rather have... real chocolate or artificially chocolate flavored substitute? Why do you think that we modelers love to build those ships? Because it gives us the tactile feel and ties us to it in a more connected way. I admit, CGI has come a long way since it started, but NOTHING beats the real thing!