The nominal location for a tail dragger gear flying off of pavement is the axle under the leading edge of the MAC. On a Stick, this is under the leading edge. For grass flying, move it slightly forward.

Here's the dynamics. A tail dragger is unstable. The CG wants to lead the drag so a tail dragger always wants to swap ends. A nose gear plane which has the CG forward of the main gear is stable. The closer you have the CG to the main gear on a tail dragger, the more stable it is, but the easier it is to nose over. Put the gear forward and it doesn't nose over, but get a little out of sorts and that CG way back there wants to swing around and ground loop you. Locating the axle about 15 degrees forward of the CG is a good compromise for pavement.

Normally, your wheels are also straight forward or slightly toed inward. Don't over do the toe in or you'll cause nose over from wheel scuff drag. Naturally, they need to be free rolling as any drag is going to drive you nuts trying for a straight take off.

Each plane is different, but normally, you have to ease the power in so the plane won't nose over. On long fuselage planes, this is less of a necessity. The World Models Mach II has a fairly long fuselage and you can pop the power to it safely. A Stick has a medium short fuselage, so I would add power smoothly over a count of "one thousand." On a scale plane, you may need to hold up elevator to keep from nosing over.

In my opinion, the quicker you get the tail up, the better. The rudder tends to be less sensitive than the tail wheel in most cases and air flow tends to straighten the plane out.