Yes they are plastic...typical Tamiya. I have the DF03 Dark Impact which I converted to brushless Sidewinder/5700 combo & on 2s it seems to have no problems. I did however do a lot of upgrades to it including a carbon fiber chassis. I put it up on Ebay as I don't use it at all. Here's some pics.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_946wt_1141
As far as the IGT, you might be able to find one on Ebay cheap since the IGT2 is out. Plus they're built like a tank so it can take a beating. Thanks for the compliment!