Ok...it's really a silly idea, I know. But hey...it's all RCU's fault.

I was an avid fan of the X Team (LeRoy, Franklin, and Younkin). Just a few days ago, http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_50...tm.htm#5035391 led me to this month's Air and Space Smithsonian article about this legendary team. I commented in that thread, just this morning, how neat it would be to see all 3 of those aircraft in the air again.

Being, in particular, a big fan of Jim LeRoy. I worked earlier this year to model his Pitts S2S in .40 size, and have recently begun construction of a 1/3 scale model of the bird, documented in http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_44...tm.htm#4422492

Not long into that thread, I was informed of the "team" project, documented in http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4669019/tm.htm of several RCU builders to construct the same model. I've been following it quietly ever since.

Well...all of these things seem to have swirled around in my head a bit too much.

What I wonder is this:

Would anyone out there be interested in another "team" project of sorts, the goal of which being to model Franklin's Waco, Younkin's Sampson, and LeRoy's Bulldog in 1/3rd scale? How the planes got built (Re-covered ARFs, Scratch, Kit, whatever), or who built them (and individual, a group, whatever) wouldn't really be a big concern...the focus, instead, would be on getting each plane done in 1/3rd scale, hopefully by modelers relatively close to each other, so that we could, in the not TERRIBLY distant future, get all of them together. This need not necessarily be a big undertaking. Perhaps someone has already built a 1/3rd Waco UPF-7, and would be willing to strip it and put Franklin's black and silver color scheme on it...or maybe there's even someone out there who's already done Younkin's Samson...who knows? Or, perhaps there is someone out there who was as big a fan of Younkin or Franklin individually as I am of LeRoy who's been looking for an excuse to model one of those planes.

As I say, the point wouldn't necessarily be the build(s) themselves (though, certainly, they'd make for interesting reading) but rather getting a group of modelers together to jointly "re-create" what was, arguably, one of aviation's most dynamic and exciting airshow teams.

So...am I completely loopy, or does anyone else out there think this might be fun?

I think it would be cool as heck to see 1/3 scale models of all three planes and for someone with the piloting skills to perform parts of their act. Both Kangke and Sportsman Aviation have produced sport scale versions of Franklin's WACO (Kangke is 1/5, Sportsman is 1/6), but the Sportsman is not made any more. I have one though, and it is a great aerobat, even if I don't have a jet engine under it

Yeah, I've seen both of those...as you say, however, they are first the "wrong" scale (wrong in the sense that, imo at least, to do this all 3 planes should be the same size) and second, they are sport scale...though, I suppose one could certainly do the work to spiff them up.

Of course, I'm merely hung up on 1/3rd scale since I have the Bulldog started...I guess there's no real reason they couldn't all be, say, 1/5th scale...would just mean I'd have to build another Bulldog