Jan Visser did make some replacement textures for the Turkey, resolving the transparency issues. Unfortunately I can't find a link to them right now. Someone on the MAAM forum at Avsim would probably be able to help more unless Jan reads this thread first.
The hook works fine in FSX... Launch systems, though, I'm not so sure about. I know there were problems making them work vaguely realistically with a taildragger, but I also thought someone found a way around them?