Hey Dan,
I used a piece of 3mm ply sheet which I thought would be pretty close to the size of the popsicle stick. The wheels hit the outside of the wheel well by about 1/4" of the wheel towards the trailing edge. When I bought this aircraft 2nd hand, the retracts had been made non-retracting, & were bent foward past the leading edge!!! I straightend them back to get the servo to work when I put my gear in it.
I fly off grass as well but they still sometimes dont go into the wells.
When you fitted yours up, were the legs straight or did they have a slight bend where they bolt into the mechanism?
Thanks Tony.