If you do some digging, there were a lot more models in the SWPT than is talked about. The CG gets all the attention because that's where the money is now.
As for "I know that it's CG therefore it looks fake" is kind of backwards logic. You knew that the OT was done with models but you don't say that looked fake.
Like I said above, it's not about the amount of detail, it's about focus - if you're forced to try to see everything at the same time, not allowing your eye and mind to move from one area to another in some kind of progression, then your brain gets overloaded and gives up trying to process the information, which ruins the most important part of any sci-fi film - suspension of disbelief.
You go into sci-fi saying, at least subconsciously, "OK, I know spaceships, monsters and lasers don't exist but I'm going to say 'the hell with it, they're real' for the next two hours". When your conscious mind (what you're focusing on) and your subconscious mind (what you think you're focusing on) don't agree, then suspension of disbelief is broken and you don't enjoy the movie. And that happens when CG isn't given proper depth of field to make parts of it out of focus.
