the 28.5 is a great "in the middle" motor. anything more and you'll lose top end and have to regear(wich is fun!!). i went with the black side dom(python $154) and i got everything else from rob. make sure you have a decant radio to set your servo end points. its not as important with the nitro's but with 5th scale its a must.. its really important that you set some time aside to do all the pre-run stuff. its really tempting to just thro gas in it, but with out doing that carefully you risk an un-satisfiying first run. to do everything it took me about 6 hrs the first time. its really enjoyable. kinda like getting a kit, but seing it built first.. there is a sticky here, but i have my own list of things that i did that is pretty spacific. if you think you might miss something just pm me