RE: Hangar 9 T-34
On the two stroke side, I flew mine with a Magnum .46 XLS. Plenty of power, flew well at 50-60% of throttle, take off run of 200' or so on a not-so-smooth runway.
I side mounted the engine, and routed openings in the cowl for the cylinder head and muffler. I also don't think it's possible to completely enclose the engine/muffler for a total scale look because of the landing gear set up. Unless, of course, you're talking about going electric.
Another thing that I'd do: use a metal clevis on both the elevator and rudder control linkage. The elevator uses a metal torque rod, and I think it abraided the nylon pin in the H9 supplied clevis until it broke. Unfortunately, this was at the top of a loop. The vertical dive from 200' up was breathtaking, but the sudden stop at the end kind of ruined my day.