I just received mine a few days ago. The details are crisp, the paint is beautifully applied and almost looks like polished aluminum. The details are fine yet the steps, etc. are thick enough to where they aren't going to be easily broken. It came with a bag of optional parts including a front coupler. And to Kato's credit the front pilot even has a removable blanking plate pre-installed if you wish to not use the front coupler. The mechanism is whisper quiet and the headlights are beautiful warm golden white. This has quickly become one of my favorite locomotives. I believe, by researching on Kato's website, that this unit is DCC ready. If that is the case i'll be adding a sound decoder very soon. This unit is the excellent Kato quality that we've come to expect over the years. It's most certainly worth the great price that HobbyLinc has them listed for here. Kato's MSRP on these is almost $25 higher.