David,

the Tipo and the Illusion were roughly conceived for FW mounted nose gear, however... it is possible to use a belly mounted gear. As you know, there is a 1/16" ply tank plate that butts up against the FW (ideally). Before you install the FW and the tank plate, plan where the belly gear needs to go - typically flush against the RHS when viewing the plane from the rear upside down. This allows the header to pass beside the strut on the left and in the case of the Illusion, to even be tucked in the fuse if you mount the engine at 270 degrees (I won't get into that as I haven't sorted it out myself).

Then, epoxy a 1/4" ply plate (or rails) for the gear flanges to the tank plate, either above or below depending on engine/tank plate desired location. If you install the mount point above the plate (i.e., in the tank area), you can also reinforce it with tristock on the FW as well as on the sides if you go all the way to the side of the fuse - this actually would be the strongest although a tad heavier. On the other hand, if you install it underneath, you have the added support of the tank plate which will be bonded to the fuse all around with epoxy/MB (that's what I did). It really boils down to the required tank position but in my case, it needed to be as low as possible as the carb ends up being low when mounting the engine either on the side (e.g., Tipo) or at 270 (Illusion).

MK gear is fairly low profile so you shouldn't have a problem installing the plate low, the mount point underneath and using a 2" nose wheel. It worked on my Tipo's even though I'm using electric Kraft Multicons (much bigger).

The added benefit of using belly mounted gear is that it is much easier to access in a glass fuse. The driver just comes straight down on the screws rather than having to be inserted from the wing or retract opening. I'd use the belly mounted gear as it also makes the tank plate installation and pushrod setup easier.

Hope this helps, David.