Hobbico likely won't help you...they've provided minimal support for years. They've turned me to Toyeast in the past.

You're correct on the controller/picture thing - everyone mixes and matches different images with different years stock, so you need to be careful with what you order, and from who. Bananahobby is not on my good list.

Old boards and new drives are not compatable - the transmission functions differently. There are 2 speed reverse Leos and Abrams out, they're just rare stateside. I'll have a Leo next week...equiped with a prototpye laser, but thats another story. It was going to be a Tiger, but Steve ran out.