A friend of mine father passed away a while ago and he gave my son a 101 inch DVIII scratch built from Bill Wendt plans.I plan on putting a husky 61cc i converted from a [Rancher61 saw].Dont know thw all up weight yet with just the plane.He also has 2 1/3 scale Bals USA pups in his garage,one built up RTF,and the other basiclly just needs finished up.This one is done in the antiqe cloth and he made a cowl out of aluminum flashing.Wish i had that one.I would go with no less than a G62 even though the plans say a 2.7 could fly it but that would be the low end.You might be able to pick up a used byron reduction drive but it might take a while or go to ironbay and see if they sell them.There is also a guy in England i think but like you said hes pricy but i think his is for the G62.Talk to Ralph at rcignitions,hes probably got one,he has somthing of everything else in his shop i think.