Wing loading
No Chris it doesn't take that much room to take off. You would be surprised at how quickly one of these fairly heavily wing loaded warbirds gets off the ground. I've got a Sea Fury with a heavier wing loading than mentioned above and it doesn't take more than a 50 ft. roll out before breaking ground. If you try to duplicate a scale take off, you don't want to pull it off the ground and climb out at 60 degrees.
Now, the problem is not the take off, it's having enough room to land one of these things. A safe wheels landing with an idle at about 1800 rpms turning a 22X12 prop keeps you going down the runway quite a ways before things begin to slow down. On grass it's not too bad, but on a hard surface be prepared to taxi back at least 4 to 5 hundred feet from where you touch down. Head winds are a big help.
I've discussed this wing loading thing with a few pilots and a lot of wether or not a plane can carry a certain amount of weight is highly dependant on the airfoil and the lift developed by the wing; therefore, certain airfoils can carry greater weight easier than others.
I guess there is only one way to really know.... Crank it up, point it into the wind, and go for it.
We'll be doing that very soon on the Texan.
Tail Dragger, my kit is an American Eagle aircraft. It is a fiberglass fuselage with foam core wings and stabs. It goes together fairly easily, except for the cutting out of all the wheel wells, servo holes in the foam wing, and flaps. Once this is done, however, the rest is not much different from any other construction.