Ah, I fondly remember Scientific ship kits. I started building model ships when I was about 12, which would be about 1950 or so. First two ship models were Scientific, a revenue cutter and then the Constitution. Finished the cutter out-of-box, but bought commercial fittings (blocks, deadeyes, etc) for the Constitution. Die cutting was just getting going in those days, so whether it was an airplane, ship, or whatever, cutting the parts out with a razor blade, or #11 X-acto was pretty standard. The ships did make up fairly nice finished models, especially if you bought aftermarket rigging fittings.
Model Shipways kits were definitely better, but they cost far more than the Scientific kits, so I did not buy a MS kit till I was an adult.