[Chrislong]

Well I hope our info is helping you here. As for the quality of the Academy, Steve (DCM) can give the best first hand advice as he was the most patient for longest.

If you was to go for this kit as a base. Start by fixing the faults:

1, Quality of plastic, very flexible
2, Quality of metals - the diff outdrives and driveshafts wear fast
3, Quality of gears - They seemed to flex and slip
4, Iinternal Ratio very high, which meant it span like crazy to go a normal speed

If you could remould parts, and adjust the chassis to fit AE/Pred transmission throughout.

To go for the BJ4 would give you an instantly relaible car to start on, but I fear that you wouldn't tempt any already satisfied BJ4 owners. We'd all like to see you succeed!

Or how about a complete new car? How about something new? (from top of my head) a tranverse motored shaft drive car? (i.e. motor 90degree turned compared to current shaft drives)