I agree with you, that is why I started with the early systems, and studied the alternator and drew the connections between it and the VIC coil, and worked my way into a better understanding. The early systems are important to learn from. A nice demo cell will always be a nice demo cell to use for demonstrations after you have progressed.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/bigbuba/Picture38-2.png)
However, looking back now, after all the work I've done. I think a Variable Spacing Plate Cell would be more useful than a Tubular Array Cell. This is because you will be able to vary the capacitance over a large range and experiment with various coils and VICs.
Also, many have built nice tubular arrays, and failed because they didn't understand the requirements of the Control and Driver Circuit, and the VIC. The cell is ONLY one part.