As I have just got back into LEGO this is interesting to me. I wondered if the sets had got better?

When I used to make my space models back in the days of classic space up to UFO series I used to fill in the holes in the space ships as best I could in most cases at least on the bigger ones. The one that immediately comes to mind was on the biggest (If I recall?) Ice planet space ship, there is a small square compartment behind the cockpit and it is just full of holes and I had to just build it solid so my astronauts could take their helmets off if they wanted to.

As I have just got back into LEGO this is interesting to me. I wondered if the sets had got better?

That really depends on your point of view. Obviously there are many new pieces, so models are in general sleeker, and of course they've gotten more expensive, but TLG has been putting more emphasis on the minifigs lately. And gaps are still evident on some sets.

This is kind of minor/lame, but on the Death Star double cannons on the top level, the cogs to move them up and down are both supposed to be on the left side. I mirrored the two cannons so the cogs were on the outsides, and easier for AFOLs' fingers to use

Interesting...

I built the new Space Shuttle last week and when I came to the step where I had to put the rear wheels structure on it, I had to make a small correction:

The way they're "officially" placed just looked odd to me so I just turned it 180^o with the angled part facing the front and the vertical one facing the back.

I actually 'corrected' the Grand Emporium!

All I did was add a turn table to the top of the billboard so that I could angle it so it looks a bit better where it is displayed

D

Normally I build them as per the guide and then once it is finished I make any changes I think it needs, I am just planning my changes for 8070 super car.

Paul

I corrected the green grocer. The little roof of the bay window is not built very sturdily. One can just push the top with the feathers downward. So I strengthened the underlying structure with some extra plates.

I'm usually very obsessive with keeping to the instruction booklet when building a set. One of the few changes I make involve the Magna Guards:

I know that the purple cones were placed there so as to allow part of the staff to be hooked onto the ship, but that just irked me. Plus I never really liked the idea of storing weapons on a ship's external side. So I just places the cones on the "right" way, like this: