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kontemax

Frog, one of the ugliest.

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I own a rerelease Frog kit, still NIB.
It will be assembled and will become a shelf queen.
I believe the Frog as one of the ugliest vintage Tamiya buggies.
I don't like the chassis, the missing front dampers, the shape of the body, the horizontally splitted windshield, the small rear wing, the humps on the bonnet, the thin side windows, the color choice.
I planned to paint the chassis black, to replace wheels and tires, to add front dampers and change the body colors, maybe with a fully open front windshield but I'm not convinced and still not sure how make it better than original.
Any ideas?

Max

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Maybe sell it and use the money to get something you actually like?

Why did you buy it if you hate it so much?

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5 hours ago, El Gecko said:

Maybe sell it and use the money to get something you actually like?

Why did you buy it if you hate it so much?

You beat me to it . I guess people have different tastes , I like the Frog,  but I wouldn't buy a model I didn't like

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What the others have said, I have a very different view and think given when this was first released its an amazing package. We have to remember what they had to work with back then.. For example the humps in the 'bonnet' were to allow the servo horn to move for the msc... I'm with the others and would suggest selling it.. Or look through the showrooms for inspiration.. 

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Just sell it on- I agree with some others, why build a buggy you just don’t like and any variation is not going to change your feeling too much? Save your time for something else that gives you the right feeling.

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11 hours ago, kontemax said:

I own a rerelease Frog kit, still NIB.
It will be assembled and will become a shelf queen.
I believe the Frog as one of the ugliest vintage Tamiya buggies.
I don't like the chassis, the missing front dampers, the shape of the body, the horizontally splitted windshield, the small rear wing, the humps on the bonnet, the thin side windows, the color choice.
I planned to paint the chassis black, to replace wheels and tires, to add front dampers and change the body colors, maybe with a fully open front windshield but I'm not convinced and still not sure how make it better than original.
Any ideas?

Max

I’m with you on this Kontemax, I think the box art picture is really good but in reality it’s a pretty unattractive buggy in stock form.

I think the nicest looking older budget buggy is the Super Hornet 👍

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Kontemax sounds like someone who bought a Gremlin (car wearing a diaper look) back in the day.  :lol:  ;) JK

I personally thought the Frog was a very cool looking buggy back in the 80's when I owned one.  

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I ended up kinda liking the Frog.  In the 80s, I did not. 

Then again, that's why it's called the Frog. Because actual frogs are not the prettiest creatures in the animal kingdom. Even a pink one is far from dashing. It's a slimy reptile after all.  

drdb7vG.jpg

I get the feeling that Tamiya wanted slap on a sleek light weight buggy shell on the Subaru Brat chassis. But it came out sort of fat. So somebody in Tamiya decided to name it "the Frog." They decided to use a pink line to distract us from the humpy shape. Just a wild guess... but that's why I couldn't find a better color for it.  It rather needs unexpected pink in my personal opinion.  

 

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39 minutes ago, Juggular said:

frogs are not the prettiest creatures

Yes , but some Frogs are ugly cool ,  in the motor world at least  :-

ROAD TEST – 1959 AUSTIN HEALEY FROGEYE SPRITE | Classics World

 

 

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5 minutes ago, KEV THE REV said:

Yes , but some Frogs are ugly cool ,  in the motor world at least  :-

ROAD TEST – 1959 AUSTIN HEALEY FROGEYE SPRITE | Classics World

 

 

Only in Britain (and other RHD countries)... over here we call that a Bugeye :P

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1 hour ago, Juggular said:

They decided to use a pink line to distract us from the humpy shape. Just a wild guess... but that's why I couldn't find a better color for it.  It rather needs unexpected pink in my personal opinion.  

 

I think @Mokei Kagaku found the answer to this age old question. At one time there were 3 wheeled delivery vehicles prevalent in Japan (Mazda K360) often painted pink/white and nicknamed the "Frog Express". Personally, I think Tamiya subtly inserted the animal queues  into the Frog's appearance pretty well, just like the Grasshopper Hornet, Fox, etc.

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16 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

I think @Mokei Kagaku found the answer to this age old question. At one time there were 3 wheeled delivery vehicles prevalent in Japan (Mazda K360) often painted pink/white and nicknamed the "Frog Express". Personally, I think Tamiya subtly inserted the animal queues  into the Frog's appearance pretty well, just like the Grasshopper Hornet, Fox, etc.

Oh, this was the inspiration?  I tell you Mokei has a spy drone in the shape of a fly on Tamiya's walls!  

YtLX3ud.jpg

I thought this was the inspiration, but I don't know if Japanese drink the same stuff after Taco Bell.  

71ZJ0Ne.jpg

 

 

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The surprising thing about the Frog is how well it performs compared to other Tamiya buggies of the time.   I don't really like anything about the design, but the handling is better than I expected.

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I loved my Frog until the day my friend got a Fox for his birthday and left me in the dust in all conditions.  I was so mad because I was kind of known to have a fast car and decent driver in my neighborhood back in the day.

I was traumatized after that and hid under a rock due to shame.   Those were rough times.. Frog failed me so many times running a hot Lemans motor too.. diff and drive axle could not handle it.  I remember I was determined to kill that Fox. :angry: :lol:

.. and came back with a HotShot.. and regained my neighborhood title.  4WD is just awesome.  

So sell your Frog and get a HotShot.  ;) 

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4 hours ago, Juggular said:

I ended up kinda liking the Frog.  In the 80s, I did not. 

Then again, that's why it's called the Frog. Because actual frogs are not the prettiest creatures in the animal kingdom. Even a pink one is far from dashing. It's a slimy reptile after all.  

drdb7vG.jpg

I get the feeling that Tamiya wanted slap on a sleek light weight buggy shell on the Subaru Brat chassis. But it came out sort of fat. So somebody in Tamiya decided to name it "the Frog." They decided to use a pink line to distract us from the humpy shape. Just a wild guess... but that's why I couldn't find a better color for it.  It rather needs unexpected pink in my personal opinion.  

 

Slimy amphibian.

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You definitely don't like the car. And while I am not going to call it pretty, the Frog can be made to look better -just like you said.

I did not wanted to mess the original chassis, but I changed tires and found some fantastic paintscheme to make the car look more like my type of buggy. I know you can certainly work the car to meet your tastes, Max!

IMG_9363_zps1vzumhbg.jpg

And if for any reason your customizing work doesn't do, then you can always put your Frog beside a Falcon on your car shelf -you'll see there is no easier way to make the car look gorgeous! ;) :D

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On 12/20/2021 at 6:04 AM, El Gecko said:

Maybe sell it and use the money to get something you actually like?

Why did you buy it if you hate it so much?

Because a collection is a collection and I collect also the models I don't really like, like the Sonic Fighter and the Striker for example.
I had been able to make the Striker better than original keeping its look but with the Frog is more difficult.

Max

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On 12/20/2021 at 4:52 AM, Sir Crashalot said:

s-l400.jpg.e663fd6ada569685d5af7aa957a68375.jpg

This is no more a Frog, at the end.

Max

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16 hours ago, catman79 said:

i have to disagree... the ugliest buggy tamiya have ever produced is the new td2. awful!

I was speaking about the vintage models.
Concerning TD4 and TD2 I agree with you.
The worst ones.

Max

 

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5 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I loved my Frog until the day my friend got a Fox for his birthday and left me in the dust in all conditions.  I was so mad because I was kind of known to have a fast car and decent driver in my neighborhood back in the day.

I was traumatized after that and hid under a rock due to shame.   Those were rough times.. Frog failed me so many times running a hot Lemans motor too.. diff and drive axle could not handle it.  I remember I was determined to kill that Fox. :angry: :lol:

.. and came back with a HotShot.. and regained my neighborhood title.  4WD is just awesome.  

So sell your Frog and get a HotShot.  ;) 

Have you an idea about how many Hot Shot series models I have?
This Frog is for the shelf only.

Max

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4 minutes ago, kontemax said:

Have you an idea about how many Hot Shot series models I have?
This Frog is for the shelf only.

Max

Enjoy your car.

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Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I personally don't think the Frog looks that good, however it is special for me. Back in the days, on the track, 9 out of 10 were Frogs. It was the buggy that I dreamed of having (didn't have the money for RC). Had to wait 30 years, and now I have 3. A re-release runner, a NIB original early version 5841, and another original that is partially built, with some cool You-G options, waiting to become a tricked-out shelf queen. :)

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