RE: Who has Built & Flown a SIG Bonanza?
A couple of years ago this site had a very long thread about the Sig Bonanza. It looked so impressive that I bought one. And just about one of every other GA scale classic on ebay.
Long story made short; I just started . I would say this is a fast building kit. Foam wing sheeted with 1/16, the plans show retracts. Box fuselage with a plastic turtle deck. I bought an aftermarket glass cowl out of Lewisville Tn, (I think).
In its day it was a 60 size plane. But now it is clearly a forty size. HOWEVER, and this is the first bump in the road I have found ; the nose gear is mounted on its very own little mini firewall that is mounted a couple of inches in front of the real firewall. The two large hard wood beams that connect this together are exactly in the way of a Ptts style muffler, (which they didn't have then). A four stroke 7o would solve the matter. I'm considering replacing the pieces with my own and moving the beams lower to allow a Bisson on a 46.
Oops, you asked about retracts didn't you ? Well, here is my take. The wheels would have to be small, 2 " or less and the plans show a Carl Goldberg mechanical unit. It would sure look sweet. I fly on grass and it isn't that well maintained. I'm thinking I will need to go with fixed gear for durability and because the wheel wells for my 2.5" or even 3" wheels would require wells so large as to compromise the structure. But if we had a hard runway, boy howdy, I would have retracts !!!