Hi Wrongwaywayne (what a name!)

Moving the gear up was easy. I cut out a piece of balsa just before the wing and inserted a 5layer plywood piece. Additionally I added some enforcment from the plywood to each side of the fuselage and put fiberglass around it. This way the force is distributed evenly into the side of the fuaselage and not just on the piece of wood holding the gear. Afterwards I adjusted the cowling. The cover under the wing stays with the wing. This way the plane is assembled very fast. The whole mod was done in a couple of hours. I look if it's worth taking some pictures and if you can see anything and poswt them.
The kit is rather old and I had to do a few repairs (rebuilding part of the trailing edge, the leading edge,. ...). Therefore I think that the plane put on a copuple of oz. The whole plane weights a little over 10lbs. It really was flying nice and I could slow it down a lot before it stalled and tipped over. You could even tell the moment because it became a bit shaky before it happened.
Talk to you soon,

regards
Rainer