FromageTheDog

To each their own. Personally I am a fan of the original Hotshot II livery; I found it the most appealing of the entire Hotshot lineup. I wouldn't say I was enraged, but I was definitely disappointed that they skipped right over a proper re-re and went straight to a Blockhead edition. One would have been an instant buy; this isn't. Simple as that.

As tempting as they can be, avoid Hitec servos -- the spline count doesn't match anything that is provided in the kit... ...ask me how I know! I ended up getting a Savox SC-0252MG which has held up fine to me and my 10-year old's abuse...

Not much to offer re: ProCat vs. BossCat -- I'm happy enough with the XLS and don't intend on getting any more in that lineage. That said: after the engineered excellence of a Kyosho or Tamiya kit, the vintage Schumachers definitely feel needlessly finicky and crude -- but there's nothing inherently difficult about the assembly. I built a Cat XLS since I always wanted to know what it would be like, and never could afford one as a kid (kinda like all the other kits that seem to find their way into my collection). Highly recommended, if only for the experience!

To push back a little on the "premium priced top end" characterization, I think the prevalence of cheap Chinese radio gear forced Futaba to introduce less eye-wateringly priced gear that still maintains their high standards of quality. I'm thinking in particular of the FHSS-based gear like the 3PV, which while more expensive than the FlySky equivalent, is still quite affordable and comes with the benefit of Futaba peace-of-mind...

Argh. No red shocks is a bummer... And if this is really what it's going to looks like, then @BubbaGump365's interpretation is much nicer, IMHO.

Not sure how I feel about this one. One of the really appealing things for me about the HotShot II is how it looked. Hopefully they end up releasing in the original livery as well...

As a kid I saw ProCats in the flesh, with the XLS something I only read about in magazines. It's been a little surprising to me how similar the two are; looking at the ProCat innards it looks almost exactly like an XLS with wider front tires and a different body. What details am I missing? Either way I think I'll skip the ProCat, but glad to see Schumacher continuing to release stuff from their back catalog. Pretty lame how they double-dip with the "brushless capable" drivetrain. They could learn from Kyosho -- stop screwing your customers and just include the heavy-duty transmission from the get-go.

It's not lost on me that most of you responding in the affirmative are not in the USA! We just can't have nice things, here... :-(

As the subject says, whatever happened to the M-07? Seems like only the RWD M-08 is readily available these days. Was angling for a new FWD chassis and would rather not another M-05...

TT02 is vastly more efficient, and the much better runner, at least in my opinion... TA02 is the more interesting build. I guess it depends on what you're after...

Similar story here: ordered 11/25, finally shipped yesterday.

Just checked; Tamiya is definitely no longer in the list of eligible brands. Too bad. The only reason I would buy Tamiya kits from Tower Hobbies was the coupon codes... Bummer. ...That said, I tried adding a random Tamiya kit (Grasshopper II) to my cart and applying a coupon, and it seemed to work...

I've been looking on eBay too, but haven't found any Thunder Shot stickers that weren't priced to the moon. At least not yet. For anyone that needs Terra Scorcher stickers, though, that would be a good option!

Ah! Perfect -- thank you both for the very informative responses. I hadn't even considered Tamico as I'm in the US, but they've got everything in stock now... Very tempting! ...and maybe not. Over $70 with shipping! I'll wait for Tamiya USA...

Do they sell the stickers separately, then?