Where Ideas Come From

[markbt73]

The other day, there was the thread on here about "what's your favorite car to abuse," which got me remembering all the cruel, fun things I did to my Grasshopper on its last outing. But I was annoyed by how badly the shell got scratched up, and how many cracks appeared in the spoiler. I also had to super-glue a headlight back on. The chassis can take plenty of abuse, but the body can't.

So I started thinking about a Lexan shell for it, to bounce back instead of breaking, and also give the shock towers and other pointy parts a little extra protection. But what style? Truck? Brat? Baja bug?

And then, the other night, I watched "Death Proof."

Aha! Muscle car! Solid axle, bad handling, way too much power, why not?

I checked the wheelbase; i's just a hair shorter than a standard touring car shell at 251mm. It's 197mm wide in front, and 222mm wide in the rear. Close enough to fudge it, especially for a shell destined to be abused.

Now I just have to pick a shell. I've narrowed the list down to a few choices; opinions are welcome: HPI 1970 Cuda, 1966 Mustang, or 1968 Camaro, or Parma 1970 Boss Mustang or 1969 Camaro. The HPI shells have a little bit more detail to them, but the Parma shells might be a bit tougher. I'll reinforce it with foam rubber and Shoe Goo and make sure it's well-supported, and then I can recreate all those great stunt-driving moves in my backyard.

Funny how those ideas come together, isn't it? Anybody else had an good "Eureka" moments recently?

[Mad Ax]

Pretty neat idea. Lexan shells are so much better at taking abuse than ABS shells! Although if you want to keep the Grasshopper looks, Parma make a lexan Grassy shell.

I think a Grasshopper with a musclecar shell will look quite similar to those old Kyosho nitro cars - they were always keen on narrow fronts, balloon spiky rears and innaccurate wheelbases on their nitro street cars.