Gregers, Derek,
Yeah, I think you got it this time, an even better idea than the original one (I can be modest sometimes!). So, if I get you right, we need to find shows to squat in, say different countries, around the same time as the BIG one in the US (in 2005). Those 'national' shows would allow for people to meet without incurring the costs of the trip to the US, and build 'camaderie' and contacts with the view of hosting the BIG one later in their country/continent... Regionals on a larger scale, such as 'Continental' would probably not be anymore less expensive that going to the BIG one (the Intercontinental). For me, near London, it's just about cheaper to fly to NYC that to Helsinki, if you know what I mean. Knowing prices of domestic flights in the US, you are probably in the same boat (no pun intended).
That Chipmunk will be awesome, I feel.. You should do the nuke-armed variant equiped with the Rocket Assisted Take Off system. Looked cool. And I thought they had Russian-made machine guns..??!? Are you using the national insignas with the flying elephant, or the later one with rampant zebra???
Joke apart, I think this could be a great theme for us... What if Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia, no?) had won WWII... Tell you, that Zuluzwilling in its three-tone purple/mauve/orange scheme and the flying elephant roundels was a mean looking thing! Best ever machine for this demanding dusk-bomber role. Did you see how many Spandau machine guns it had!
Tim, James, thanks for your support. I've contacted IPMS USA to get some info from them. We'll see what they think.