[frizzen]

Instead of 2/3AA cells, Have you tried looking for 2/3A cells, they're usually good for 1500-1600 mah. They're about 0.650" diameter by 1.150" long.

Nice Rustler, or is that a Rusteeze now? I've got an old randomly upgraded ancient MSC version of it, you'll have fun.

Don't get overwhelmed, use the Elephant Method.
With the Ladder start with the basics: steer, drive, flashy lights, maybe some noise. Then later on when that's not enough, get a couple cheap esc to run the ladder up/down, right/left, in/out.
If after all that, you STILL have some insanity and the room to do it, maybe look into nitro fueltanks, fuel tube and fountain pumps or windshield washer sprayers. Water cool, but its a gimmic you can't do all the time and can easily trash your electronics.

Make conversions run and drive as soon as possible because it gives momentum to keep you from getting burned out because you already see the light at the end of tunnel.

I didn't know they did cable control tractors, that's pretty cool. I wonder how well it will be able to pull?

Nice progress on the daycab.