The TXT-1 is more of a crawler truck than a monster truck. I would reccomend you look into something like the e savage or the emaxx instead. For one the TXT includes only a mechanical speed controller which is very low end and should be immediately replaced. That adds a good chunk of money to the price. Also is must be built and isn't exactly fast or well handling as other monster trucks are. It is built to crawl over things and can be built into an all around monster truck but that requires a lot of money!

The esavage or ezilla: both the ezilla and esavage are pretty much identical. One comes with a truck body and carries the savage name, the other a buggy body and the zilla name. Both a good trucks though they are not very much like the savage. For one they are 1/10th scale, not 1/8th like the nitro savage. I can't tell you much about the trucks as I do not own one, but they seem to be decent and pretty speedy too. I'm sure you can find scores of threads on the emaxx and ezilla.

The emaxx: I personally own an emaxx so I can tell you lots about it! The chassis design itself is somewhat outdated but with a few hop up parts it can be quite robust. First lets start with the basic requirements though.

The emaxx needs a 2 battery packs and a charger to run. You can choose a single charger which will require you to remove one battery from the charger after it is full and put the other battery on. Or you could opt to buy a dual charger which will cut charging time in half. A few examples of a single charger:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCLD5&P=ML
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXAVN1&P=ML
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXUF43&P=ML

These are all peak chargers which means that they will top off a battery to its absolute full. After a battery reaches its maximum capacity the voltage will take a slight dip. The charger will detect this dip and then stop charging, leaving you battery at its peak capacity. A timed charger is something you want to stay away from though. This type of charger requires you to set a timer every 15 minutes and can severly damage your battery packs by overcharging them. The extra $15-20 that a peak charger costs more than a timed charger is definitely worth it! I can reccomend the MRC 959 as I own one and it is a decent charger. It can charger up to 4.5 amps and overall does its job well. Some higher end chargers that I can reccomend are as follows:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJXJ0&P=7
This charger is very capable and also includes a discharger function which is good for maintaining pack voltage or reviving a dying pack. One thing it does not include is an LCD but it instead has LED indicator lights.

my second reccomendation is this charger: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXUF46&P=7
It is a good all around charger and is very capable, it includes an LCD display and has several more functions over the other charger. I own this charger and it is very nicely made with an aluminum case and is of high quality. It also includes a 5 year warranty!

Dual chargers: Dual chargers aren't as common on the market but here is an example of a good dual charger:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXXG87&P=7
standard features, nothing too exciting. It's very similiar to the cheap peak chargers except for that it has dual charging outputs.

Batteries: as I said before the emaxx requires dual battery packs to function. These are some packs that I can highly reccomend: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCUH3&P=ML
I own 6 of these packs. They are a great balance between cost, performance, and capacity. There are high performance packs on the market for the emaxx but for a single pair of those packs you can expect to pay over $120 so I think these packs are the best option for a basher. I would buy 2-3 of these sets so that you can run for a while without having to charge again and again.

The emaxx has decent servos and radio so there is no need to replace either of those. The few things I would replace are listed below:

motors
shock towers
bulkhead braces
bulkheads
shock caps
hinge pins
electrical plugs

While this may be a little big of a list the parts are well worth it, and I presume that since you live in Africa you don't want to be buying parts that break every other week and have to pay huge shipping fees. For motors I reccomend the s-600 motors: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJ766&P=ML
You can find many posts by me on these motors. They are great performers. The stock speed is around 25 mph on 12 cells. With these motors you can expect to see speeds touching 35 mph! You will need to drop 2-3 teeth on the pinion gear though as not to overgear the motors. Another suggestion I'll make while we are on the subject of motors is a heatsink. This will aid in cooling and extend motor life, here is a cheap option that I have on my s-600 motors in my emaxx: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXJD62

The next part is the shock towers. These break quite easily with any jumping you might do with your emaxx. RPM makes some nice shock towers that I have on both the front and rear end of my emaxx, they offer a warranty that if you break the part they will replace it for free! They come in 3 colors, black, blue, and purple. Here's the black tower: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXBBB7&P=7

The next part is bulkhead braces. The stock part is not very strong and will cause your bulkhead to break prematurely. Here's what I suggest: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXXJ84&P=7
This part also comes in 3 colors and with the warranty.

The next part is the bulkhead inself. This part can break easily in a head on crash or a forcefull blow to the wheel. An aluminum upgrade is in order for this part. The cheapest option is this one for the front: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKVH0&P=7
and this for the rear: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKVH2&P=7

The stock plastic shock caps break easily so you should order a set of aluminum caps: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJG94&P=ML

The hinge pins which hold the a arm to the bulkhead bend quite easily on the emaxx so a titanium upgrade is fit. Lunsford makes a nice set for pretty cheap: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEMC9&P=7

The emaxx uses high resistance plugs to connect the batteries to the ESC and to connect the ESC to the motors. These should be replaced with a lower resistance plug such as the deans plugs: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKX39&P=ML

Your emaxx will bring you a huge grin on your face with these few hopups! I love my emaxx and with these couple items I guarantee that you will have a great time with your emaxx.

I'll continue on the T4 next post.