Daw,
Don't mess with the gear. You must become one with the Tripe
Yes, they do have that tendancy, but so did the real thing, and it rarely hurts anything, even the prop (probably not so with the real thing). I did (as we discussed) fly mine with a Saito 56 and a 12x6. I'm anxious to see how big a prop I can get away with on the Saito, but I've heard that they are not as succesfully over-proped as the OS 4 Strokes are. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad. The Tripe landings on Realflight are more accurate than take-offs btw. Just carry a little power all the way down.
I will (as promised) get some pics to you of the firewall mod I intend to do so a standard mount can be used.
Hope there are more out there with these beasts, I'm interested in seeing what experiences other folks are having with them.
Here's a couple pics of mine. You can see in the second one the error I made in shaping the covering tight around the cheek fairings. Mine came with it partially down that way, and (had I studied my documentation more closely), could have probably pulled it away, but I ironed it down. It not as obviouis in these, but there is athe same problem along the top deck.