At over 2 feet long and over 20 pounds, the 2WD FireHammer MT is simply overpowering. It'll overcome almost any off-road obstacle you care to name, yet is about as easy to get up and running as many smaller monsters. The reason: ready-to-run know-how. There's no building to do. The body is already painted, trimmed and mounted. It's fully equipped. There's no special engine break-in to do nor any special accessories to buy. All you need is regular unleaded gasoline, 2-cycle engine oil, 8 "AA" batteries — and the stamina to enjoy up to a half-hour of super-sized, super-powered R/C action at a time.

That's right: you can go up to 30 minutes on a single tank of fuel, and get started with nothing more than a pull (maybe two) on the recoil starter. The DTX 23cc engine has brute power for show, plus two features for safety. One is a kill switch; push a button and the engine dies now. The other is a micro fail-safe; if the FireHammer loses signal (or pack power drops too low), it cuts throttle back to an idle to prevent runaways. FM power and clarity make that unlikely, but still: a 4-mil chassis, steel turnbuckles, metal gears, hardened drive shafts and a protective roll cage make for one hard, tough truck. And with six body colors making a choice will be tough, too.

(File size 21.6MB) Requires Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player