Dan , the state of the art scale foamy warbird isn't much more than a scooped out chunk of foam with just enough room for a tank and your radio gear, think of it as a "fat" profile plane with an inbedded arrow shaft or 2. Most of the weekly warriors [around here] are so beat up looking [even when new] that they don't start looking good until they're about 200 feet down range. The whole appearance argument is pretty humorous, especially with the surface area deviation allowed. The typical covering technique "du jour" is wads of packing tape with spray can paint blasted over the top [ if the paint is optional, nothing like looking at a pink foam warbird ]. I'm sure you have your special cases where some guys don't mind spending 10 hours of free time between contests to keep a scale plane airworthy and looking good for 60 minutes worth of combat time next go around, but it has been my experience that the average flyer is happy to just get the mangled pieces glued back together well enough to be airworthy enough for the next outing. If you want to compete with .25s, you'll need to get a red telephone that is hooked up to Tower Hobbies quick parts service, too. Most flyers end up with bags full of spare engines and engine parts, impaled servos, center punched RXs, etc. Might as well try to find a small group of local guys who would be glad to have another competitor of any kind, whether it be someone who wants to fly museum pieces or someone with scale profiles.