Hibernaculum

I am checking the videos as I go, based on the decent copies I had vs all the other copies on Youtube (or that I had download from other sites years ago. On a couple of occasions, I have swapped better audio in from a different copy. In some cases though, as far as video quality is concerned, it's a judgement call between a copy which is smooth - but blurry. Versus another which is cleaner - but may have a glitch or two. I tend to prefer the cleaner, larger res copies - even if there's the odd VHS tape glitch in the footage. FYI - I am using Adobe Premiere Pro 9 for all of this, and I have some video editing experience - so the resulting copies have zero additional degradation, relative to the source files I am using. Which is the best anyone can hope for. I have experimented with many sharpening, denoise, and other tools - but the results are mixed, so I have not applied any of that filtering to the files at this stage. Just fixed obvious major problems - like audio that was out of sync. And did a custom edit on the aforementioned "distorted" Sand Scorcher & Rough Rider video - because the final minute was utterly terrible in every copy I have seen! And yes, re: sharing - we could do a torrent, or else I see no reason why I can't just offer them from my website at this point in time. They have been all over Youtube for years, just in mixed quality. One more note - I would like the final set of videos to feature no "watermarks". Some of the copies around the web have "lunchrocs", "www.tamiyabase.com", and "divx" among other watermarks. My hope is to put together the full set, in the best quality we can find, from copies of the videos that do not have watermarks. Whether this will be possible, remains to be seen as I work my way through the whole sequence.... Cool Not sure if these copies are really known, as I have never heard a narrator on the early (or mid 80s) videos other than the US narrator (whose name escapes me, but I believe we had ID'd it on these forums at one stage). Based on my list above, I am just now studying the videos from the mid-1980s to see what all the copies are like. And so far, it seems as though in my 20 years of looking for these videos online and sourcing other copies.... nobody seems to have a clean, decent resolution, watermark free copy of the Supershot video? Mokei Kagaku, I would be very interested to hear a full list of what your VHS contains. I have everything ready to go here also, in terms of safe importing of VHS video, and digital encoding. And would be happy to help (and return the tape) if that's an option for you. I usually import from VHS direct to uncompressed MPEG2. Then convert to MP4 using h264 - but with maximum rendering quality and minimal compression - to keep the original quality. Anyway, first things first - if you or anyone knows of a bigger, clearer, watermark free copy of the Supershot video in particular - please let me know! Right now on Youtube, there are 3 poor quality, low res copies, some with watermarking - one, two and three. And that's it. My higher res source copies do not appear to include the Supershot. The same thing may apply to the Hotshot II. It's possible there is one entire "showreel" from 1986/1987 that I am missing (in reasonable quality)... so I wonder if anyone has it.

Over the years, some of you may have noticed that the original Tamiya promo videos vary in quality on the internet, and also, that there are actually multiple different promo clips for certain early Tamiya models. Plus some copies online are cut short, or the audio is out of sync, etc etc. It's all a bit of a mess out there. I decided recently to research and organize the videos for my own cataloguing purposes. So that each different car has it's own distinct clip. And that all the clips are sorted in chronological order - from oldest, to newest. So I can work out which is which. Yeah, this is what I do for fun sometimes As most of you already know... what Tamiya tended to do with their promo videos was to put together a 10-15min "showreel" roughly once a year, highlighting certain models. Each showreel tape tended to begin with an intro card, something like this: Followed by a series of models. Before finishing with some sort of "ending sequence" summing up the company. The very earliest video released, I believe, is the one featuring no narration at all, in which the sequence of videos features the following: Rough Rider & Sand Scorcher B2B Racing Sidecar Rough Rider & Sand Scorcher All of those cars were released in late 1979, and since no other cars are featured and there is no American narration, I think it's safe to assume this was the earliest video - i.e. showreel number 1. The next video set after that, is the one that features the Can-Am Lola and Datsun 280ZX (both from 1980). But there is also a new video of the Rough Rider & Sand Scorcher which is probably from the same video or at least the same year (1980), as it also profiles the cars in a way that suggests they are fairly new releases. The Rough Rider & Sand Scorcher are also narrated this time. And this is the video I wanted to say something new about... All the copies of this video online seem to be sourced from the same terrible tape. And they are either cut short like this one... Or they are full length, but feature heavily distorted audio during the final minute like this one.... So (using the same copy, but in the largest resolution I am aware of)... I have edited this clip slightly now to crop the weird edge distortion off when it starts. And also add back a bit of the key music used in the clip, to fill that final minute. It's not perfect, but it might be better than what you currently have - and less annoying than the heavily distorted one. It's not a huge change, but better. So feel free to grab it here For the record, my historical list of the videos (with each distinct showreel named liked a "Season" of a TV show - S01, S02 etc, and with each different product clip named as an "episode" hence "E01", "E02" etc), ends up looking like this as far as my research goes... etc.... (I am still working through it). Since we now live in an age where everybody just uploads stuff to Youtube, in low res, and calls it "promo", and it's all random and nothing is organized... some people are probably confused about the original videos. Which ones there were, how many there were, etc... So I will probably document all of the above on my website in the future. So that at least there is one full record of the sequence of vintage videos. Coz we all love them. But it's also nice to understand the full, exact collection of them. Otherwise you may find you are missing certain ones. Rob. PS - I have personally stopped uploading anything to Youtube anymore. I am tired of Google (and users) deleting videos over the years, and having them disappear from my articles after I've referenced them. Plus, Google is just another privacy-averse corporation. As much as there's plenty of useful stuff on Youtube, I don't like letting them dictate and track every video that people share online. From now on, I am self-hosting any clips I share, so that they are consistently available on my terms... and not likely to disappear. PPS - If I'm missing a video from the list so far, let me know!

I too miss those early days of eBay. The bargains, and the first discovery that new in box vintage Tamiya items still actually existed... Whole kits even. And then it began. The late night sniping on my early Pentium PC. The sending of money orders overseas, by mail. It has been 20yrs now, since I joined eBay and began buying Tamiya stuff. I watched Tamiyaclub before it became Tamiyaclub, lurking for several years and wondering if I should join in. My first posts came when I finally decided to defend Nikko and the like... a lot of the “tone” back in those days, was a bit dismissive of non-hobby grade RC. And I wanted to “out” everyone as having originally started their RC interest with very basic cars. These days, many of those cars are now proudly catalogued in showrooms. And some are even more collectable than the hobby grade models. When my father (who was a great fan of Tamiya also) died, I also posted about him. I was so gratified by the replies, I printed them all and still keep them inside an album of photos of my dad. That was nearly 14 years ago. Would be great to catch up if you’re ever visiting Australia, Chris. Although Wandy is also a nearby target, so it would be good to see how many Mk1 Hotshots he is hiding Rob. (And that’s probably the first time I’ve signed off as Rob in 14yrs too)

Well I enjoyed that a lot. @netsmithUK You're a deft hand at this actually, and struck just the right kind of documentary feel. Right down to the camera angles, and the time spent reflecting - then showcasing specific cars with a gentle pan. It works. @Wireless great sentiments and stories...and it's always nice to see the early, non-hobby cars appreciated too. It was great to hear your story. The loft looks like a brilliant mess filled with goodies as well. And if your girlfriend still has the Taiyo Jeep and wants to sell it, let me know... (I'm curious to see if it's the early, non Radio Shack edition that took 5 'C' cells instead of 4...) As old Mr Grace used to say, "You've all done very well!"

I love a good time capsule story. As I am lucky enough to have kept almost every Tamiya item I've owned (including childhood items) that meant something to me, the idea of forgetting you had all that stuff (or thinking it was long gone) - only to have it turn up again, must have felt like Christmas @S-PCS ? And I feel sorry for those whose parents split, or whose parents tossed all their RC stuff... My parents were always fairly sentimental. My Dad was the type who had a large garage full of workshop tools and materials, and he rarely threw anything away. Some time in the early 1990s, I discovered to my amazement, that he had even kept every Tandy Electronics or Dick Smith electronics catalogue he had ever had. These were just free annual or sale catalogues... but he kept them all. Today many of them are unobtainium (nobody kept that stuff!)... but having them, later helped kick off my research into vintage/retro R/C cars and toys. .:. It's great when parents are sentimental and keep stuff you didn't expect. It's terrible when they throw stuff away.

Nice. I have seen this one before actually. So obscure that it has no real brand to speak of. The Digital Proportional transmitter it uses has appeared on a number of other models over the years... most of them nondescript, in terms of branding. I suspect this one is not Japanese. Possibly Taiwanese. But correct me if I'm wrong.

We sound a lot alike. You should see my filing cabinet of catalogue, pamplets, magazines and other research material collected over many years Is there any chance the Baja Bug was sold simply under plain Kyosho branding in Germany? Agree that it's very hard to be certain about all this, and the only chance we have now is if the model appears listed for sale in any old German R/C magazines from that era. It's funny, I sort of see them both as interesting attempts by Kyosho to snag some of the Sand Scorcher market. Yet both attempts were a little less realistic...nevertheless, as I love Beetles almost as much as you MK, I found both their designs utterly irresistible from the moment I knew about them. Perhaps Graupner, who did market the Kyosho Beetle, actually just decided one Graupner R/C Beetle was enough? As both came out near 1982. Again though, just another guess. Ah I see what you mean about these bumpers now (sorry, I thought at first it might have been a variant within the Baja Bug's release itself). To my knowledge, the Baja Bug was released third in the line - the kit for it even comes with a separate single page leaflet sheet to show how to trim and decorate the Bug body. And I went looking through all my documentation, and every image and illustration of the Bug always shows the newer, stamped bumper. My guess is the Bug came with the newer bumper, and this was also rolled out to all Hiluxes and Sand Skippers at that time. Traditionally, foreign importer/resellers like Graupner or Robbe would have been slower to release models like these, than back home in native Japan - hence the stamped bumper is more common as you say, on those foreign examples, because they were being sold a bit later in the production run. You are right about the brittle molded bumper - I forgot, but I actually have a broken example of it also. When I tried to flex it just now, ever so gently, it snapped even further . My advice to anyone with this part - do not flex it at all, ever. And do not run your car into any object. It is clearly a deeply flawed plastic part, and the same must apply to the roll cage piece. So if you have those original pieces, handle them with extreme care. It's interesting... As far as I know, all Hiluxes from Kyosho came with the roll cage too. This appears in all the paperwork and kits I have seen anyway. And as far as I know, all Hiluxes were genuine Kyosho product at the beginning. But I will add this - Kyosho seemed to have a more "liberal" view toward how its products appeared in foreign markets. Consider the fact that MRC (the US Tamiya distributor) was never the sole branding on a Tamiya product. Tamiya always retained their branding. Yet for Kyosho - Graupner, Robbe, and Cox were the prominent branding on Kyosho products sold in Europe and USA. In the case of Cox, the Scorpion was not only sold as the Cox Scorpion, but it was also sold preassembled in a box - you only had to paint the body. And all the boxes of these foreign Kyoshos were different, to the Kyoshos sold in Japan. The idea of Tamiya selling their kits overseas, under another name, and in a totally different kit form and kit box (e.g. pre-built) - is something that did not happen (and to my knowledge, has never happened). So my guess is this "liberal" handling of Kyosho's products also extended as far as pre-painting some cars, or maybe even dropping the fragile roll cage part when it proved to be a hassle in those markets. The way these companies did these foreign releases, also inspired me to try to define "release" in relation to model and variant. i.e. Kyosho = original release. Graupner = separate release. But all stem from the same "model". This is something I have never seen actually, so would be interested to see the photo. It may fall into the "prototype" area... as we have both experienced, quite a lot of early photos showed prototypes. Some Kyosho prototypes even made it to the box photo of the kit! e.g. it is impossible to reproduce, exactly, the original box photo car of the Kyosho Scorpion as the roll bar is different, and maybe one or two other things. I am convinced though, that all decals used on Kyosho box photo cars can be tracked down - you just have to look at decals across different kits from Kyosho, from the same era, to find the exact ones that were used. Great discussion. Sorry we have hijacked the ATC aspect, but these cars are related at least (all use the same tyres, with pump!)

So, we really need to look at photos of NIB kits to get the proper answer for this. Here is the page of all NIB examples listed on TC... https://www.tamiyaclub.com/userridescat.asp?id=86&cat=1&cn=NIB From the photos, to me the motor which appears in this kit is always the late 1980s style Mabuchi 540 - with the recessed, black endbell. The earlier examples of this motor are the ones with green/yellow wires and a sticker on them that says "RS 540SH". This motor was revised however, and by the early 1990s it seemed to still have the same recessed black endbell. But the sticker was no longer on it. Also the ventilation holes on the silver can became smaller. While the recessed black endbell was revised also - the connection points around the wires were light-coloured plastic, and the general appearance of the endbell was different. I think this motor was still technically an "RS 540SH" though. Correct me if wrong. Here is the closest photo I could find of the motor in the Hilux kit. Based on this photo, the motor is the slightly revised version I described above. However, it was not uncommon for NIB kits to experience a couple of variants in the motor they came with, during their production runs (especially if they were long production runs). Still, it's nice to be able to say your car has one of the original kit motor types in it. Good on you superted, for your effort to find the original kit motor type H.

True, the Sand Skipper (Coyote) and Hilux were sold under Robbe and Graupner. Incidentally, has anyone ever seen the Volkswagen Baja Bug sold under Robbe or Graupner? I don't think I have. And it's rather strange, considering this was the only German vehicle of the three. Though it was also the third in the series. So perhaps the other two had not sold enough in Germany to justify also rebranding and selling the third in the line. Just a guess though. I'd like to learn what you mean Mokei, about the "early molded bumper" vs "later stamped", and the brittle factor. I don't think I'm across these issues. Yes, I sold a Volkswagen Baja Bug a few years back. That had been a restoration (which I had just started) with a cut (but unpainted) body. I sold it mainly because I had the chance at that time, to buy a new in box Volkswagen Baja Bug. For which I paid a high price To date, in the years before or since, it is the only new one I have seen. I do not have the heart to complete (paint) the kit, in case it's the last new one in existence Once many years ago, while visiting @RETRO R/C to see his collection, we talked for hours as we often used to do. This was long before I had even tried to find the Baja Bug. Since he is a major Kyosho fan and collector, I asked what the chances were of ever finding one NIB. I always remember he replied, "Good luck with that. Can't get it.". He has many NIB cars I still don't have, and will probably never have. So it was pretty daunting to consider that challenge. When I suddenly had the unexpected chance one day, some years later, to buy the Bug... my hands were actually a bit shaky as I sent the Paypal payment Both due to what it was (and the price). Today, it just rests in a display cabinet. The box is old, but will never get worse. I promise to look after it, just in case its the last NIB. This is very much the right approach and attitude to have - so it's nice to see a comment like this If you are into rare, vintage R/C cars like these - the name of the game is patience (and vigilance!). Keep watching the markets always. But try to have a zen-like patience, and be prepared to wait as long as it takes. It's exactly the same as the people restoring 1:1 scale cars - and taking many years to find the right pieces to restore them to original condition.

Made in Japan or China?

Yes, it’s that rare It’s far more rare than the Trike, Sand Skipper, Baja Bug, or Hilux that all came with it. See how many used examples of these cars include the pump... 😉. Even some NIB examples don’t include it.

Does this mean you are not missing the tyre pump? As that is maybe the rarest vintage R/C item on earth I am unsure of spare parts codes as I don't have this kit, but hopefully @RETRO R/C can help one day.

I avoided those too, so we have the exact same ones in fact. Re: proprietary - that is actually one of the reasons I quite liked the Tamtech-Gear buggies. They were a totally new line that didn't re-use anything from before, other than the car themes and colours. Even the packaging was totally new. They produced 3 chassis across just a tiny handful of buggies. And they also reintroduced some of Tamiya's earlier (1980s) philosophy/behaviour whereby they produced some odd parts quite specific to particular cars in the line (e.g. all the pink parts for Tamtech Gear Frog - yes they also fit others in the series, but clearly they were intended for the Frog). This fussy and specialized approach was no good for people who just want broad, generic, standardized stuff... but great for those who like the "uniqueness" and quirkiness of Tamiya's older models. I actually enjoyed working on them. Pulling apart the Tamtech-Gear Frog's gearbox, and fine tuning it to run smoothly with the optional pink anodized gearbox parts, was actually good fun I found. To this day, I still think about buying more spares and things for them. Tamiya even went and did things like produce special carry bags, just for the Tamtech Gear buggies. Also, semi-related rant ... Just the very fact we all have to refer to Tamiyas post-1990s, in terms of "chassis IDs" instead of car names - that concept alone - I find a bit sad It's the opposite of the more specialized, less organized, but more personal way in which Tamiya originally approached its products. And yes, I know that even in 1976 Tamiya re-used some chassis with different bodies. And yes, I know those old kits were less convenient for people who only care about modding and performance... But the fact the earlier kits had more unique parts per kit, than today, was more interesting. It felt less cookie-cutter, and each model felt more special. And it wasn't until the 1990s that things started to go really mass-market "generic", with endless slapping of plain body shell variants across the same chassis, up to 10 or 20 times per chassis. I prefer it when Tamiya produces things that feel just a little unique, and less of a rehash. It lends itself better to collecting, nostalgia, and enthusiasm. People obsess over the Porsche 959 for many reasons, but one of them is it was almost a completely one-off unique kit. Sure the Celica GrB shared the chassis, but the Celica GrB still differed in additional ways (extra differential). Step back for a moment, and consider why those vintage cars (even the ones nobody could afford back in the day - like the Porsche!) are so revered and collected now. Part of the reason is because they were a bit special, per kit. And when it comes to buggies and rally cars, Tamiya simply doesn't take that approach any more. Everything feels more generic, for sheer cost-effectiveness. .:. Sorry I digress And I write too much off-topic rubbish... In short, the Comical buggies line is... less unique than the Tamtech Gear line was. But I will watch the Comicals with curiosity. And I kinda like the kit boxes. And at the end of the day, I always hope Tamiya survives and succeeds. And I remain a supporter. But the collector in me, can never quite get what he wants. (And I won't be buying the new QD-bodied rehash of the Monster Beetle, as that really does seem lazy) H.

Willy's Wheeler wasn't as distorted as the Comical buggies, I don't think. That, plus the fact these are called "Comical"... feels a bit over-emphasized. And I know I'm making a fine point about aesthetics. But design is everything. Without clever and long-lasting design, aesthetics, marketing and appeal... this website (TC) wouldn't be here. And neither would we, discussing Indeed it is, and I don't mean to sound negative. Perhaps I'll end up buying these Comicals one day. I liked the Tamtech-Gear buggy line more though... it was cute, theme-driven, miniature, appealing to kids, but with a bit more purpose. And lots of spares and parts and hop-ups...even accessories. Imagine a Tamtech-Gear scale Sand Scorcher. That would have been an instant buy for me.

Re: Grasshopper At this point in time, I am still unconvinced of narrow bumper being included in early Grasshopper kit. But... everything else you said about Grasshopper, is true based on kits I have seen. Re: Frog. Yes, it seems we can agree/confirm once and for all I think, that the early vintage Frog did have the narrow bumper. My NIB kit here (narrow bumper, black resistor plate, black ball connectors) is the first time I have found a kit that truly backs up the theory. I guess the Frog in the picture is another case of "Prototype" variant... which (like so many others early photographs of prototypes) was not actually obtained by the public. Same goes for Kyosho Scorpion box photo car, Tamiya Super Champ early catalogue photo, and others...

I have lots of spare vintage original Tamiya resistors, and since I'm often banging-on about how I still use MSCs on all restorations (and restored runners), I am happy to help out a fellow restorer. Drop me a note here - https://rctoymemories.com/contact/ then we can use email.

I do agree with that. And totally support good times and novelty releases, as you say. As opposed to boring stuff. Just wonder at the level of "cute" though. Is it possible to take cute, too far in R/C? Because Tamiya appears to be testing the limits. The golden era Tamiya releases seemed to balance cute with realism. Most classic buggies had cute logos, colours, graphics, slogans etc (see: Frog logo, Hornet logo etc). But that was balanced with significant adult appeal and realism as well. Most of us were 10 year olds back then. And we didn't have "comical" cars tailored to us, to help attract us. We were drawn to the fun side of Tamiya because they seemed to have friendly colourful products that were also exciting and real looking. We aspired to them.

I think I like the nice green box of the Comical Grasshopper, more than the Comical Grasshopper itself... The completist in me is drawn to the packaging... Frog will no doubt be cute also. But the problem is they are over-egging the "comical" aesthetic with these, both in proportions and naming. "Wild Willy" was inspired by anime cartoons (Tamiya even consulted an animation designer for it) and had exaggeration of proportions, but in a seriously heavy and intricate modeller's-model - collected by everyone, including Jeep fanatics. Now the "Comical" series just seems next-level cartoony. It reminds me a bit of when soft toys have disproportionately large legs, or large heads. I'm sympathetic to a new chassis or idea from Tamiya. But I almost feel dumb commenting on these things because I'm in my 40s and the target market really does feel like it's "Fisher Price" level here. This was all OK when Tamiya sold these types of things as tiny little R/C souvenirs called "Q Steers" 10 years ago, which I collected. Because they were just cheap table-top novelties. But full 1/10 scale, exaggerated, cutesie R/C cars just aren't doing it for me so far...

As with all vintage parts, you just have to be patient and they will come up eventually. Not every vintage part is available all the time - that's part of life of when restoring vintage cars. (Some parts only come up for sale once every few months. Some rare parts for other cars can even only appear once every few years ) Fortunately for you, the D parts for Hotshot II does come up now and then. Some sold on eBay pretty recently. It is marked "RCC Hotshot II 1987" and "Made in Japan" on the sprue, and typically sells for about US$50-$60.

Numbered for convenience 1. Kind of yes, with a few differences. The Tomahawk was released in 1983 and had a differential included and a better speed control with electronic transistor, the other two didn't have these (they were released in 1982, and the diff was optional at that time). So there are definitely a few differences in the kits, but they are based on the same platform - these cars were effectively Kyosho's answer to Tamiya's SRBs, but were lighter and faster and they redefined 1/10 racing when they came out. Tyres in these kits started out as: Block pattern "Goodyear". Then changed to Block pattern "Sand Super". Later, the Tomahawk kit also received the Spike pattern "Sand Super' tyres, which were standard in the Turbo Scorpion (1985). There were other variants in the kits also, mainly concerning the Scorpion kit. - e.g. earlier ones had disc style wheels without holes. I am not aware of variants in the Beetle kit other than the tyre wording issue (mentioned above). But the kit did have 3 different releases: Kyosho (original), Cox (USA), and Graupner (Germany). 2. When Kyosho released remakes of these models, they largely did not use the original molds because they had been lost. So Kyosho had to redesign the models from scratch. I don't own any of the remakes currently, but from what I have seen (and heard from others) they are entirely different and very few parts are even interchangeable due to size/fit issues. 3. Interesting. Those decals are not the ones from the Kyosho remake (which are very different to the original). They resemble the originals a bit... but while they contain most of the same logos from original decal sheet I have, the decals are configured differently. Perhaps these are related to the TBG body and maybe they are reproduction decals? I am not familiar with the reproductions. Additionally - it's worth mentioning that the original decals supplied in the original Kyosho kit were not enough to create the appearance of the box art photo car. Some decals were used from other Kyosho kits for the photo (I have researched this extensively and sourced most of them). And the stripes were not produced by Kyosho at all - they would have needed to be painted.:o And this brings me to one of the very few occasions where I would ever personally mix vintage with remake - the remake Beetle kit came with a second set of decals containing the stripes etc Since this was the first time Kyosho had ever produced those stripes and no original stripe decals exist, I'd be ok using the new stripes on a vintage model (since painting the stripes is going to be a massively tricky task and probably end up looking rubbish with my skillz ).

(may belong in Kyosho subforum) Hmm... I will need more pics. But what I can tell you... Scorpion/Parts Front and Rear tyres are vintage (they are also the ultra rare Goodyear ones, which came in only the earliest of the vintage kits of Scorpion, Beetle and Tomahawk) Front bumper is not related to either of these models. Body - I am unsure. Beetle Body does not seem original, and probably not Kyosho (therefore it is probably TBG) Front bumper is non-original/non-Kyosho? Rear tyres are Kyosho remake tyres (released with the remake Scorpion, Beetle and Tomahawk - I can tell because they have more knobs per row in the tread pattern) Feel free to contact me via website Grumpy, if you want to continue nerding out about what's original with these buggies Many years ago, I paid dearly to obtain a new in box original Kyosho Beetle. It cost me over $2000, and as far as I know its one of only a handful of NIB kits of the original Kyosho Beetle, left on Earth... or at least, I am only aware of one or two others. I will never, ever build it So at least it gives me/us/everyone a chance to learn precisely (from one kit) what parts an original Kyosho Beetle kit officially contained.

Yeah, IMHO - safer to make a pre-emptive strike, and pack all your bags and RC models in the car, before running the dishwasher Kamikaze-style.

Oh boy. I have never seen battery acid invade a circuit board that badly. @Malakite definitely have a look inside. Your radio is a later Acoms. I've been thinking of picking some of those up for projects. Vintage Acoms were always extremely reliable (same as any other of the early Japanese brands - super robust AM radio gear that lasts forever). And I don't think I've ever heard of them dying, unless invaded by water, acid, mice... Simple rule - never leave batteries in any device, when not in use. Especially RC cars and radios.

I just want to add that I think this is a definite, given all copies of the original Frog manual show the earlier, narrow bumper. It would have been pretty weird for Tamiya to use that narrow bumper right through the original catalogue pics and manual, without ever including it in the kit from Day 1. Most likely... 1983 Frogs (before the release of the Grasshopper) had the narrower bumper and black resistor plate. I am also seeing black ball connectors - is that something others are aware of? 1984 and onwards (after release of the Grasshopper), Frogs got the wider bumper, white resistor plate, off-white ball connectors. I have never seen a Grasshopper kit come with the narrow bumper. The Grasshopper was pictured with it in catalogue photo. But the Grasshopper manual always showed the wider bumper. Any objections to what I have written? (The pattern here is very similar to the early vintage Hotshot (with different bumper), versus mid or late vintage Hotshot.) The wider bumper had a further change also - later vintage versions of it have a wider central support. This later version became the basis for the remake kits also - the Remake era Frog also has the wider bumper with wider central support - but with a further change whereby the embossed writing on the remake era bumper is also different to all vintage versions.

Thread revival This brilliant thread contains lots of useful Frog info, that I have used and added to where I can. One person said earlier that their original Frog kit contained the narrow/earlier front bumper (as used by Audi Quattro), and a black resistor plate. Can anyone confirm whether they have seen other early vintage Frogs that contained the narrow bumper? The Frog had the narrow bumper in its catalogue photos. I would just like to settle once and for all whether the Frog officially came with the narrow bumper, early in its production run. I think it did. I have recently acquired a vintage NIB Frog kit with the earlier bumper. But I want to hear from others before I start claiming outright on my website that early Frogs really did come with those rarer, narrow bumpers. What do you guys think? @Frog Jumper @beefmuffin @mongoose1983 @gordb Or anyone else have thoughts on this?