ORIGINAL: JoeyCoates
yellerchamp, I have had decidedly different luck with my munk. I am a very proficient pilot and I can land a plane, but those retracts are NOT put in very well. At least if you fly off of a grass strip they are not. I would advise keeping your munk with the fixed gear, but that is just me. Oh, I did replace the retracts, but I do not remember what brand I replaced them with. They were just a set of inexpensive metal mechanical retracts though.
What he said... [8D]
I had the WM Superchipmonk for about six years and loved it. It's an aerodynamically clean design, so it floats and glides a LONG way. To land it, I had to learn to chop the throttle halfway through the downwind leg and let it idle all the way around the landing approach. Sometimes I would STILL overshoot and have to go around.
I powered mine with an O.S. FS-70. It provided plenty of power and got lots of comments about how fast it was, etc. More often than not, people would assume that it was at least a .90 engine, again probably because it's an unusally clean airframe.
It was typical WM quality (i.e. excellent) except for the retracts. I learned later that they were the same mechanical retracts that WM uses in its P-51 ARFs, which are almost two pounds lighter. I tried replacing the 5/32" wire with 3/16", which helped a little but they'd still bend on grass, even on the really good landings. I eventually replaced the retracts with fixed gear and never looked back.
I lost the plane to a radio failure after six seasons and many, MANY flights. Someday I might get another, although I'd go with fixed gear to save myself the grief.
Good luck, whatever you decide.
Regards,
-- Rod