I remember the first time the idea of thinner elevators entered into my modeling life. It was in the early 60's. The idea was to make the elevator softer around neutral. That and sloppy controls, seemed to help reduce "hunting" and for years was the preferred method for fixing this particular problem. Up until about ten years ago, I was of the firm belief that this method was the best, and easiest way to cure the issue.
Now, I prefer a different way to cure these issues. Why would I use a different method?
I became aware of a slight hesitation at the intersections of the figure eight maneuvers. It was actually pointed out to me by my flying buddy, Gordan Delaney. The hesitation made a flat spot at the intersection. One had to anticipate, input, early to avoid this flat spot, and often resulted in the intersections that had the vertical portion either skewed to the left, or right, depending on whether the input was early or not. Timing became such an issue, and one, another problem to cure in the search for a better pattern.
Once I began to use a better cure for hunting, the hesitation at the intersections went away, and I no longer have to anticipate, or try to time my input, with a bigger chance for error.
My better method, I use 1 to 2 degrees of down thrust, which helps cure several issues our tethered planes have. I often also use a small positive incidence of the stab and elevator. I no longer use thinner elevators to soften neutral, nor do I use sloppy controls to cure hunting. These old methods make timing more of a problem to overcome while flying the pattern.
Using the down thrust, and slight positive incidence of the stab allows tight, precise controls that do not require me to anticipate and apply early input while trying to fly a better pattern.