Static Age

I have 9 rc cars 7 of which are Tamiyas. Its still loads cheaper to maintain than my 3 1:1 cars.

I've no experience with frog tape but I have always found the 3M blue masking tape to be very good. If only I could remember where I put my roll.

Put a hotter motor in & it wheelies fine, as long as it can get grip. The wheelie bar could do with a slight adjustment to get longer wheelies. Other than that its really good now, Thanks for all the positive comments.

Thanks. Been running it today. Not quite enough power to wheelie on the tarmac. I tried the Pajero/Hornet gear ration with the 18 tooth pinion but all I gained was more top speed. Just carried out the third shock mod, lots of the rear axle bounce has gone & I now get more grip. Time to go back to the lunchbox/punmpkin pinion & a hotter motor. Its a nice evening so I'll have a go now.

I got around to painting it last night. I think all it will require now is the third shock mod.

Nice collection.

Radio gear in & a quick test in the house confirmed that it does wheelie.

I've done all of those mods on my lunchbox & it really helps, like you say it still wants to flip over the wheelie bar. If the old yokomo motor isn't enough then I have few others that can make it more lively.

That hopper looks great fun. I cant imagine that the pumpkin chassis will be too stable at that kind of speed.

The difference between this & the original Pajero is the slight addition to the wheelbase & the battery location. I'm using the pumpkin/lunchbox motor adaptor & pinion so I'm expecting wheelies. The oil filled shocks are an attempt to improve what I predict to be terrible handling but it should be a fun stunt truck rather than a racer.

Cheers guys. I guessed someone else must have done a pumpkin or lunchbox like this before. I think I'm going to go for a mat grey primer paint job, though I'm not 100% sure. At least if I don't like it it's ready to receive a colour coat. Should be able to paint it some time this week & post pics.

Having owned a Lunchbox since the 80's and having had a few Hornets I have always fancied the old Pajero. Rather than go to the expense of buying a good one or restoring one & having the fear of running it I thought I would build something similar. I have a stack of Lunchbox spares so I bought a tatty looking Midnight Pumpkin on ebay very cheaply. Turned out to be a bit of a bargain as it only looked tatty but had no broken parts what so ever & came with a set of Futaba radio gear. I pulled all of the parts off of the pumpkin that give it the monster truck lift, fitted some short oil dampers & spare set of brat wheels & tyres. I offered up the body & it looked good. I then put it away in the cupboard to work on another day. over a year later I drag it out to have a go at finishing it. The body looks bad but its just dirt & remains of sticker glue. The fact that It has been brush painted doesn't help. I had to lengthen the wheel base slightly. Pulled the gearbox pivot mount out of the chassis by 15mm & added extra strength via a alloy plate. Cut away the insides of the chassis & made holes on the outsides to accommodate a stick pack. Stripped the gearbox to fit bearings, I found that the gears were in superb condition. I'm guessing that it was only run a few times & in mud hence the vehicles appearance. I fitted a vintage yokomo motor which is similar in performance to a sport tuned. I kept the pumpkin pinion to guarantee wheelies & hopefully a good run time. Next step is to clean & paint the body & fit some radio gear. I want it to look like a well used old truck so will probably go for a flat paint finish & keep the cracked windscreen. I'll post more progress pics as I go.

As mentioned the load is the crucial factor on the Tamiya ESC. I had one thermal & never recover running a sport tuned in a drift car, 4wd & locked diffs, so lots of load & low speeds so little air flow over the motor or ESC. Why take the gamble when an ESC that can handle a much wider range of motors can be purchased so cheaply? Save the Tamiya ESC for something running a silver can.

Thanks. The wheels came from ebay UK, same as the tyres. Try searching with the info I posted above. I'm running a slightly slower motor now as the RZ was just too much for the short course I was racing on. I don't get the wheelies any more but I get around the track with far less crashing. Going to have to run the WO again soon, tinkering with one of my 1.1 cars has taken up a lot of my time.

Looking cool. I got those high clearance links too, thanks for sending me the link to the supplier. I have been running a kamtec landrover shell on mine since day one, I prefer a proper looking truck body over the stock maverick item & your jeep body looks just the job. What brand is it, might get one when the landy gets too beat up? I also tried having the battery in the same position as that, I found it was affecting front axle articulation. I have a couple of old stick packs that I might re arrange into the cells either side of the front axle style.

Looking good!

The tamiya alloy is very soft, I can see how steel would be better for running.

^good advice^ Some times we can all get a bit carried away with speed. My Wild One has a Super Stock RZ in it, its too much for the small track I hve been using it on. I only hit full throttle for a second, if i tone it down a bit I know the car will be much more controlable & i'll get quicker laps in. I then have the option of going back to the RZ for much bigger tracks.

The Frog is very light, even more so with modern electrics. With a decent battery & any motor hotter than a silver can it becomes a handful.

Thanks, I'll look them up.

Thanks. The rear rims are Ansmann & come with the tarmac tyres pre glued. The front rims are Kyosho Ultima & have Losi tyres.

Snapped a brand new rear trailing arm on the first run. Just from cornering hard, the platic must have been so brittle. Its a real pain as you have to buy a whole E parts tree just to get one right arm. Anyone know of a alternative?

Thats a shame about the diff, you will no doubt get it right. If only someone would release a FAV, Wild One, Frog, Hotshot ball diff. I look forward to your pictures.

Do you mean the rear drive shaft?

Thats typical of a Frog with a hotter motor, you are experiencing the "vintage" handling. Its has a short & narrow wheel base compared to modern buggies, its never going to handle as well or get the same level of traction. Its even worse with the stock 1.5 inch front wheels. I have pretty much every mod possible on my frog & the handling is better but still comical, it also is very difficult to keep in a straight line. With such a open rear diff its very easy for the wheel with the least grip to spin up like crazy. A ball diff would help but they are as rare as hens teeth. You could lock the diff if you only drive on loose surfaces. I have been thinking about a locked diff for beach running.