Another way to spend money off-roading

The Kyosho Rock Force is set up for serious off-roading ...

... while this one's more of an off-road racer, but is still pretty good in the serious stuff.

A colleague recently brought along two wonderful toys on a 4WD trip and I was sort-of hooked. His RC models, particularly the Kyosho Rock Force (top photo), have everything it takes for hard off-roading with the great advantage that, if you roll or smash into a tree, you simply pick it up and start all over again! Wish I could do that with the Jeep. The worm-geared Kyosho is an amazing low-ratio crawler and has all kinds of heavy-duty stuff that are hallmarks of a good RC kit. Neither of these models is cheap, and they have to be built up – but that also allows lots of opportunity to do mods if you know what you're doing.

Hint: Don't lend to young boys or you'll never get them back! Well, most older boys, too, if it comes to that.