Expanding the Spitfire family - via smaller developers?

[Cripple]

Had this thought whilst in the shower the other day, and I am kinda thinking out-loud, so please bare (heh heh) with me.

 

Now, the Spitfire mkIX is fairly close to being released. As an aficionado, I know that the mkV is pretty close to the IX, and the Seafire III is pretty close to that. Do you see where I am going here: three planes from one (almost).

 

Now, of course it isn't that simple. Nothing ever is. However, if the bulk of the graphical and flight modelling for the IX has been done, then it would become a lot easier for a development team with access to that to modify the relevant sections rather than starting from scratch. We can't expect ED, with their already massive commitments, to work on what are essentially variants of an existing (virtual) airframe. However, what about a 3rd party development team?

 

I fully admit this is a far from fully-formed train of though, and I can already see problems with this concept: chiefly that ED and not about to just release several years of expensive work in to the public domain for Joe Nobody to hack in to something that might be polite be called an almost-Seafire. However I still believe the idea has potential to be worked upon.

 

What do you all think?

 

(This wouldn't be limited to the Spitfire, of course. It is just the airframe I am most familiar with. I believe the 109 family could similarly be expanded.)