You can also reinforce the aluminum gear with music wire.

Once you experience a taildragger you'll not go back to a trike plane. I find them to be much easier to land than a nose gear plane.

The tolerances on an RC plane does not have to be as critical as on a NASA spaceship. Don't worry about the aluminum landing gear having a wrinkle or two in it from being bent back into shape, the plane will handle and fly just fine.