I got a great deal on the plane, it was new but out of the box, apparently stored in a barn for some time and the box had bird droppings on it. $375 which included the Robart retracts. I had the retracts converted to electric by Robart. I built mine with the functional gear doors, this worked well on asphalt, not so on grass. At a local fun fly I cart wheeled the plane during take off, quite the embarrassment! Shocked the formers loose in the fuselage, I don't think they were glassed in very well from the beginning. There's was very little damage done and repairable. It was just sitting in my basement. I joined a new local club that is a restricted runway and the owner is quite the aviation buff. We were talking one day he had asked what other planes I have, when I mentioned the Staggerwing he got very excited and wanted to buy it to display at his home in the city of Pittsburgh, rather than sell it, I agreed to let him use it for as long as he likes. Apparently he had flown in a Staggerwing painted the same red color. The plane now sits in a plexiglass enclosed display in front of his house in the city, the roof rafters are plywood cutout in wing rib form, there's a half dozen planes inside, 1/3 scale Cub is one, don't remember the others.
Back to your question;
If flying off grass, leave the lower main doors off. There would be grass stuck at the hinge line after every flight.
The included steel wires for the elevator, rudder, and retract are too heavy, I ended up using carbon fiber rods from CST.
The plane was tail heavy so do what can to reduce tail weight. The battery packs had 16" extensions so I could get them as far forward as possible
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I used a Valley View 40 twin, flew very well.