There is not always room for a plate, and even if there was, the original bounting beams are often installed so closely together, that any eccessive force (hard landing) will cause the retract unit to bend/break the beams, even if an additional mounting plate is used. I have several 40-50lbs jets/prop, and I use wood screws in them all. The screws just barely peeks through the beams/blocks/plate. As mentioned above, something has to give, and I want to "control" that as much as I can.

If you secure the retract rock solid with machine screws and nuts, the mounts might hold up on a hard landing, but on inspection you might very well discover that the struts are slightly bent;(

Other modellers might prefer this..

I prefer to fix the screw holes and put in some new screws


btw, l/g issues seems to be the most common trouble area in this hobby, if I jugde by my experience.