N3n-3 navy basic floatplane trainer

OK, I am being greedy. I know I recently asked if anyone might be interested in designing a model of a designed but never laid down class of battleships. This request is much closer to home. Has anyone ever seen an N3N-3 up close and personal? While attending the US Naval Academy in the late 1950s (the Army calls it Canoe U), we were required to become proficient in that string and bailing wire contraption. We had a flying fleet of about 20 and another 10 which were used as parts bins (they stopped building them in 1039). It was not what you would call a hot pursuit ship; you took off at about 40K, landed at 40K and you might get 90K out of it in screaming dive.:) Take-offs were not bad. We would taxi down a ramp on a wheeled dolly, with the help of a half dozen sailors. Once we were afloat, 2 men would swim out and release the dolly and haul it back up the ramp. When taking off, You had to keep a nose high attitude to make sure that the nose of the center float did not contact the water. This would cause an abrupt stop (usually upside down). Landing was a white knuckle experience every time. When you got down to the last few feet above the water, you had to come to an almost nose high stall. As soon as you felt the drag on the rear of the float, you had to ease off the throttle and keep the nose high until you no longer had enough speed or lift to keep it there. If you dug the nose in at 40K, you were going to seriously hurt (cartwheels are not things you want to do in a flying kite). I am sure the instructor in the back seat had whiter knuckles than we had!! I am also sure that he had his hands on his set of controls and and was following every move we made. I was fortunate; I got the "I have it" call several times during the training sessions, but never in "white knuckle" mode.:)

So now you know the background why I would like very much to see a model kit designed. I have a number of official Navy photos from different angles and I also have a specification diagram that should have all the measurements that a designer would need. If anyone is interested, I will post the pics and the specs in this thread.

For those of you who are not familiar with the aircraft, it is best described as a PT-17 with floats.

Thanks for listening (I know that I am a motor mouth).

John