I have the 18ss and its the first nitro vehicle I've owned and the first RC car in 10 years. I found the kit realatively easy to assemble and Im not the most mechanical guy in the world. I had mine together in about 4 nights and that was taking my time to make sure I did it right the first time. The only problem I had was getting the truck started for the initial break-in tank. I actually had to take it to my not so LHS and they were able to start it on a starter box. After that first tank though, it was easy street. I find it easy to maintain and easy to tune. I do some light bashing with mine but mainly run it at an old bmx track due to the fact that the closes RC track is over an hour away. It jumps well and really powers out of the corners. The only hop-up I've added so far are the threaded aluminum shocks and they would pop off the mounting screws on hard landings. A simple washer mounted in front of the shocks resolved that issues. Hop-ups are out there, but IMO it seems like you really have to look for them, unless you want aluminum GPM products.