I know I'm resurrecting an old thread here, but I love Frank's (Countilaw) comment above. If you really want to do pattern flying the way it was done back then, you establish the rulebook and then let competitors develop whatever planes they want to be competitive within that rulebook and that set of maneuvers. Do you guys think no one ever built a thin wing Kaos and stretched the fuselage to accommodate a heavy engine so they could go 120? Or did no one ever put an Intruder wing on a Deception just to see if it would help? Chances are, someone somewhere did anything you can possibly imagine being done to try and gain a competitive advantage, and through the trails of competition the RC community figured out what worked and what didn't. The purist mentality has no place in a sport based on innovation.