Thanks for the poke! Since the last time I was actively messing around with my airplane workshop idea I’ve built two Flite Test designs using a bunch of gear from AliExpress but still haven’t flown anything. 
I have a long-neglected cart at AliExpress containing all the electronic bits required for a 10-person workshop, it works out to just under $1k for 10 each of motor+ESC, battery, charger, TX/RX, plus enough XT60 and bullet connectors, and 40 servos. Probably want to toss in another ~$20/person for miscellaneous wires, props, etc.
TBH I could just hit the big ORDER ALL THE THINGS button now, but I’d rather get some expressions of interest from members before I do that.
Edit: Nearly all of the Aliexpress items don’t have any price breaks down at our scale, so we could scale it down to 2-3 attendees without really increasing the price by much at all.