Good to hear you're getting sorted !!!
Re the lipo's .. there's no issue using softcase, we checked with BRCA and doesn't affect insurance or anything ..
There's a link at the beginning of the thread to the one's we've been using and they work well, there's also cheap Floureon lipo's on ebay which some have used and they seem fine, you don't need massive run time ... 3000 plus is all you need for our sprint races, although more mah = more punch