Author Archives: dunebuggy

The Grasshopper II (2017) – Successor of an icon


While waiting for the release of the 47438 Tamiya Super Storm Dragon, based on the classic Tamiya Hornet chassis, another too long ongoing project was waiting to be finished.

The Grasshopper II. Back in the days, the Grasshopper II was not really my cup of tea. But today i see it from another point of view. Especially the “Super G” version, which was available on some markets is a really cool car.  So, the plan was to re-create that version. The “Super G” came with a 540er motor instead of the stock 380 motor. Friction shocks were also changed to the cool C.V.A. ones. Yellow Fox/Wild One style wheels and Avante/Supershot Spike tires for the rear and Super Hornet style front pin spike tires. The tires, shocks, and motor (we used a 540 Black Sport Tuned) weren´t really a problem. But the yellow wheels aren´t impossible to find nowadays. So we made our own using the classic Tamiya Nylon Parts Coloring Set No. 53130. The wheels came out very well. Tamiya TS-76 Mica Silver was used for the body, to give the buggy a more professional look. With the modern ESC, Sport Tuned motor, and digital servo, the “Super G” is a really good performer for such an basic entry level car.

Enjoy !

Honey, I shrunk the Tamiya Lunch Box – Customizing the SW-01 Chassis

 

While waiting for the new Tamiya SW-01 MudMad, we thought about building a little companion for our big classic lime green Lunch Box. Now this is easy, while using the new SW-01 Lunch Box clear body set No. 54927.

As candy lime green isn´t available in the Tamiya Series of PS Paints, we used Proline Airbrush paint number 6325-05 pearl lime green. It comes very close to the Tamiya paint, and looks incredible in the sun.

These cars are ideal to customize them in so many ways. Enjoy the line of Tamiya Comical RC, and with the new clear body set, which will also be available in the future for the upcoming MudMad, you can customize your SW-01, as you like.

Enjoy !

 

A classic renewed – The Tamiya Lunch Box Mini SW-01

Tamiya does not stop to surprise us with innovative products. And we like that very much. The best example for this constant line of news is the Lunch Box Mini SW-01. A really remarkable model that proves that you can have a lot of fun even with small and beautiful looking RC models. Following the success of the T3-01 chassis (Dancing Rider / Dual Rider), Tamiya now continues with a small scale vehicle on four wheels. For this purpose, a classic was reinterpreted. The Lunch Box, a true Tamiya classic we all love. And that surprisingly with 4WD drive. As already known from the T3-01 chassis, the design of the SW-01 is very simple. Even the body is already pre-painted in the familiar yellow, and only needs to be decorated with the well know Lunch Box stickers. As already known from the T3-01, a type 370 engine is also used in the new SW-01 Lunch Box. Also, steering servo and ESC can be used in standard size. No special components are needed. A big advantage. We choose a small Lipo capable Hobbywing ESC, combined with compact size Softcase 3000mAh Lipo for a very long run times.
The new Tamiya Lunch Box Mini offers pure driving pleasure. As known from the T3-01, the vehicle literally lays in the corners. And we also strongly recommend to install the 54898 “Connector Set”, available as a Hop Up part. In order to make the car even more manoeuvrable, the car can be steered even during wheelies.
During the building of our car, all standard plastic bushes were exchanged against ball bearings. A complete set for the SW-01 is already available from Tamiya as Hop Up part number 54900.
We are very happy about this great new chassis. By the way, an unpainted bodyset will soon be available as a Hop Up part, to realize your own creative paintjobs. We will do so. Enjoy the new Tamiya Lunch Box Mini, a new Tamiya classic. Don´t miss it !

 

Back To The Future – The Tamiya Comical Grasshopper

We, the TamiyaBlog Team, love the Tamiya Fun Cars. And so also the genius Comical models. What a wonderful idea to revive the famous RC classics of the 80s with the Comical models. This year, after the Grasshopper and Hornet, with the Tamiya Comical Frog already the third model from this series will appear. We all like them, but our favorite is clearly the Grasshopper. These models are great fun “out of the box”, with nice oil filled CVA shocks as standard which we appreciate a lot, but are actually predestined for customizing. And Tamiya helps with a large number of optical as well as technical Hop Up Parts. When the yellow / green L / N and M parts were announced, we had the idea for our little silver / green comical rocket. The WR-02 chassis, further developed for the Comical models, is now called WR-02CB and is a real pleasure to build. We particularly liked the slightly wider wishbones, which give the chassis in connection with the great new wheels and tires a fantastic roadholding for this kind of models. But we pimped our little funny Grasshopper even further technically.

Here is a small list of the used genuine Tamiya parts:

47407 L/N Parts Yellow Parts

47408 M Parts Bumper Yellow Green

47416 WR02CB S-Parts  Spokes (Green Plated)

47411 WR02CB T-Parts Wheel Rims (Chrome Plated)

54867 One Piece Aluminium Skid Guard

54865 Ribbed Front Bubble Tires Soft

54866 Round Block RR Bubble Tires Soft

54587 Aluminium Servo Stay

54695 Stainless Steel Suspension Shaft Aluminium Support Bridge

53847 TA05 46mm Assembly Universal Shaft

54817 Aluminium Motor Guard for WR-02 and GF-01

54473 Aluminium Wheelie Roller Set for WR-02

54670 Aluminium Oil Damper

53974 TRF 501X Front Spring Set

51000 High Torque Servo Saver (Black)

54358 RS-540 Torque Tuned Motor

54579 1150 Bearing

 

As this car will probably participate in Fun Races, we´ve installed a Torque Tuned motor in combination with 20T pinion for this little bit of “extra power”. We love this litte pocket racer. It turned out amazing. Using the wide range of Tamiya special coloured chassis parts and wheels, you can individualize your WR-02CB perfectly as you want. So colourful starting grids in fun races are guaranted.

Now we will wait for our next FUN project to arrive. The Tamiya SW-01 Mini Lunch Box.

Stay Tuned !!

 

 

Triple Wheel Fun – The Tamiya T3-01 Dancing Rider

When Tamiya presented the new T3-01 platform, with it´s first model of the series, the Dancing Rider, we almost couldn´t believe, that there´s still a company, who has still the courage to bring such a nice and well designed fun model into the sometimes more and more boring world of RC-Cars. But Tamiya did it. The T3-01 seems to be very successful, especially in Japan, which you can also see on the wide range of Hop Ups which are available now from Tamiya and other well known aftermarket parts manufacturers.

The T3-01 is such a cool and innovative vehicle. One, who is also able to bring more people of allo ages again to this beautiful hobby. The “Dancing Rider” replicates a delivery trike, widely seen, making deliveries in Japan.

Another version of the “Dancing Rider” is also on the market for a while. The “Dual Rider”, which comes with a very nice, more futuristic body, beautifully designed by the well known “pdc designworks” studio. In the past, they also did the Tamiya “Dual Ridge” and “Dynahead” body.

A great new feature of the new “Dual Rider”, is the completely new designed driver figure (also designed by “pdc designworks”), which we appreciate a lot. We love the “Wild Willy” style driver very much. But over the years, something new is very welcome here. This figure can be built in 3 very cool Helmet versions, and looks very “japanese”. It can also be found in the “Comical Hornet” WR-02CB kit, and is also available as a separate kit. We choose this new figure for our little “Dancing Rider”. We also modified the chassis with some new available Hop Up Parts. The chrome plated B-Parts, from which we only use the front fork, or the new “caramel block” front tire, which we combined with the M-chassis rally block tires. A full set of ball bearings, and a rear FRP sway arm.

The body is painted, using a bright “copper” tone, which looks incredible in the sun. Grab yourself a T3-01. It´s more fun, than you can imagine. Especially, when racing with your friends. We will wait now for the newly presented Tamiya SW-01 Mini Lunch Box. Another nice and new innovative concept.

 

Tamiya NSU TT – the little rocket from Neckarsulm

 

Time for another TamiyaBlog build. We love the Tamiya M-Chassis series a lot. And over the years, I´ve collected myself nearly all of them. From M-01/02 to the actual M-05/06 and M-07. Especially the classic Tamiya M-chassis bodies are close to my heart. The NSU TT suits perfectly into the range like the Abarth 1000 TCR, Alfa Giulia GTA, Mini Cooper, Alpine A110, and Honda S800. Tamiya´s NSU TT “Jägermeister” Version is the one used by ” Willi Bergmeister” from 1974, the winning car of the 1974 “Bergmeister” Championship. Unfortunately, Willi´s name is not placed on the car, maybe due to licensing issues. The NSU was very succesfull in “Bergrennen”, during the 60´s und 70´s, and fought against Fiat Abarth, Alfas, and Alpine A110, only to name a few. And the scene is still alive. Some enthusiasts kept their cars, and you can still see them on smaller “Bergrennen” today.

The Tamiya body is, as always, a very well reproduction of the original car, but it sits on the M-05 chassis, which is front wheel drive. The original NSU Prinz and his TT and TTS versions where RWD cars. So we thought it would be much better to place the body on a nice M-06 Pro chassis, i had for a while. The body sits well on the M-06. There is enough space under the TT body for the M-06 rear motor. The wheels of the Tamiya NSU kit are “borrowed” from the Abarth 1000 TCR. They suit the car well, but i wished Tamiya would have made some new wheels for the NSU. The original “Spiess” wheels from the 1970´s, which were used on the original car, looked so cool.

Anyway, we took what we had, and put some nice “Pit Shimizu” racing tires on our Abarth wheels. They are of great quality, and i hope, with their soft compound, they will help to give the little NSU some great grip on the rear.

To add some more details to our cute little racer, we had the chance to build the body with the prototype of the new light bucket kit from well know german Tamiya dealer TAMICO, which is available from now on. In this kit, a front and rear LED holder is included. This will give the body the final touch, and looks really great.

We hope Tamiya will bring some more classic racing car bodies for the M-Chassis series in the future. We still hope for the classic Lotus Europe, which was available from Tamiya as an 1/24 static kit.

But for now on, enjoy the NSU TT !

 

Tamiya Porsche 934 RSR “Vaillant” TA-02SW – where it all began

Some day s ago, we reported about a very special model. A kit from german big Tamiya dealer Tamico to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this company.  The kit is based on the Tamiya Black Porsche 934 RSR kit, but the “black” stickers and black wing parts were changed here for the “Vaillant” parts, well known from the iconic 30th Anniversay  model No. 49400, which used a shortened TA-05 chassis. These parts were exclusively made from Tamiya  for Tamico. The kit is limited to 333 pieces. Each one is numbered.

The Porsche 934 RSR was Tamiya´s first RC Car back in the 70´s. So here we are, were it all began.

Tamiyablog had the chance to build the so called “prototype” of this very special car. This time, no alternate paintscheme. You can´t beat the Vaillant livery on a Porsche 934. Pure 70´s. There´s something about these old Porsches, and especially the old turbo 930/934 types. In one way, it looks brutal but also not agressive, in the other way, it looks like a sculpture, but not overdesigned, as you can see it on many modern cars. This car was drawn by hand. Not on a computer. And you can see this. These curves are living.

About the build.  Building a classic TA02SW chassis again was a joy, especially with the many Tamiya Hop Up parts which are included in this nice kit.

Doing the body is a challenge, and you should do it with patience. Nearly 100 stickers needs to be applied on the body. But you will rewarded with a phenomenal result, and the wide rear 30mm wheels and tires looks stunning on this car.

Enjoy !

Informations about an upcoming Tamiya 1/10 Vaillant Porsche 934 RSR – TA02SW release

We have some serious informations that TAMICO, one of the big european and german based Tamiya dealers will present a special version of the TA02SW chassis with Tamiya Porsche 934 RSR body in Vaillant livery. This body was used for the iconic 49400 Tamiya 30th Anniversary kit, which was based on a shortened TA05 chassis.

More informations, when they become available.