RE: Balancing question?
Agree w/UAT full .. and I'd put the gear in whichever position had the rearward-most CG .. for most planes this will be gear down .. but it could possibly be gear up .. then you have the CG set for the worst case that could occur in flight. I suppose an alternate point of view is to always balance with gear down, since that's the landing config where the speed will be lowest...
Dave