Bill,
I agree with almost all of what you said, and with the spirit of most of the rest of it. The only difference, to me, is not so much with "cheaters," as with some who do not understand the enjoyment intention of the older (OT and Classic) events. OTS started, in John Miske's words (in the 1979 MAN article, as I roughly recall) as an essentially non-competitive opportunity to either: fly again the models of our early days or - to finally fly some of them we wished we could, but couldn't, back then.
We'd learned a lot about improving design by then, but OTS was not about building another modern model, but about building the old designs as they were. ...With all their quirks and problems, but at least out of lighter wood than came in the Sterling kit boxes, etc. ...
One highly regarded flier, and true gentleman in all senses, did not understand that part of the OTS spirit, and came from a faraway country to an early VSC. ...with an equal span AA, Sr, cowled front end w/spinner faired in. He had no intention to cheat, but saw several areas where the AA,Sr could be improved, and did so... EXCEPT - the emphasis is on reliving the flying of the days when such kits and mag plans were current. Otherwise, there'd be no reason NOT to build a modern layout, revise wingtips, body and fin shapes, then do a paint scheme that looks like the "original's" box art, or a well-known photo.
I even think it goes back to GSCB, that modifications that change a design's "sit" at rest were not in the spirit, at least - if not specifically not allowed. Many of the rules sets for these unofficial, basically "fun" events spell out several "allowable mods." If a mod is not specifically allowed, how do we change to: we can use it, because it wasn't mentioned?
Now, power plants were never intended to be the same as the originals used. It ceases being fun when you need to be a wealthy MECA connoisseur to find what was once a common engine. Some do prefer to go with the original engines - that's part of what they enjoy... For practicality, commonly available, current, engines have always been part of OTS.
In that understanding, even though it isn't my best preference, I agree electrics should be allowed. Practical. In some parts of the country, noise complaints mandate them, in efffect. Could you imagine someone, in such an area, bringing out an unmuffled Fox 59 in a Lethal Lucy and flying it wound up as tight as Leon Shulman did?
Of course, some competitive feeling is involved, but the limitations of the basic eligible models does a lot to keep it from getting go-for-broke bloody.