first i will say welcome to the hobby ...as for drivers figures there is a brand of kids toys called Bruder.they are based in germany and they have different guy figures in 1/16 scale which is as close to the 1/14 that is availible so far.Bruder is sold all over the world in toy stores and i think you might be able to buy it online,i am not sure about that as i get my Bruder stuff from a local toy store.the figures are mostly construction guys but they look like drivers and dock workers in the trucking industry,the gear reduction is good for some guys and gals as it slows the truck drastically down to a more scale speed as for some the 3 speed high gear is way too fast for them to drive or back up with.i personally don't have a gear reduction on any of my trucks because i just try to drive accordingly(only one mishap so far
)...see bad crash with zeus thread..
it is a great investment if you are learning to drive one or you are just not comfortable driving at high speeds.you can also lock the tranny in any gear you want with the little round pins that come in the kits.and last but not least whether to do a kw or pete.i would think they are pretty much equal with the work involved depending on the year of the truck you want to model.there is several build threads on here with how both could be done to the tamiya globeliner .hope this helps you out and by all means ask as many questions as you like all of us here will be happy to answer and help out any way we can
