for anyone looking at a T-rex as a first heli, please visit http://trextuning.com/ to see whats involved in getting a trex to fly right. stock shogun V2s flys out of the box, they have the new styled beveled tail gears which are stronger, and more durable. The only thing i recomend as stated above is changing the landing skids to a lower profile wider stance set. Just remember one thing BOTH the trex and the shogun are intermedeate level helis and above, they are naturally skittish due to their smaller design, and can fall off very quickly. This makes it unsuitable for a begginer pilot. if you do buy either one of these do yourself a favor, buy a FMA co-pilot. It will help you not only learn, but it helps almost eliminate that quick unintentional fall off. You want to fly your heli, not constantly repair the broken parts. plus unless you have someone that is good at troubleshooting heli's, you might not even know what is not right with your heli, and this is the most frustrating part of fixing a downed heli. I had to learn everything the hard way, and i dont wish that expense and aggrivation on anyone. Most of it was thankfully learned on my first Shogun (god rest its soul) and not my nitro's. Good luck again, and have fun.