RE: taildragger vs tri gear
Taildraggers are a lot more fun. Takeoffs are usually the biggest problem. Landings are easy if you have a steerable tailwheel. If you do mostly wheel landings you will have rudder control for a longer period. Three points are prefered. Just remember that the three point requires a full stall which should be at ground level. Learned to fly full scale on a tail dragger. Full scale trike pilots seem to forget that the mains have to be on the ground before the nose. One of the main repair and fixup problems on 172's and 182's is a dinged firewall. Model trikes usually have the nose gear mounted to the firewall so the same problems apply.