The Tamiya Snowhopper. Ski patrol bug!

[Flat_Out]

The Ski Patrol Snowhopper is about done. I moved into a new house a few months back and have been busy with home projects, but the Snowhopper has been slowly coming along. I've been planning this for a while now- gathering up parts, designing and cutting parts. I actually started with a vintage grasshopper, but ended up replacing most of the parts. Looking back I should have just bought a re-re! Trying to stick with a vintage look/style for this car.

Here's the rough cut suspension parts, and some nerf bars I bent up-

Some of the front suspension parts, red crp parts, and the modded chassis. Here you can see the front suspension block pushed forward, and a matching red modded crp body mount-

Rear shot showing the waterjet cut shock extensions, and a center tab for the 3rd shock mod that mounts to what was originally the chassis resistor mount. I'm going to run a mechanical speed control (and vintage radio. I like old stuff like that!) and have an idea for where/how the new resistor will fit. Still sorting that out though...

Also, I had an odd You-G shock, so I used that for the rear 3rd shock mod. Was pretty happy having a set of 5 on this car!

A couple shots of the front suspension assembled. I've got to tweak a couple spots, and detail it a little better, but it's almost there.

It consists of lower CRP arms, custom cut upper arms, custom cut rockers, in-board You-G shocks, modded CRP front body mount, and you can see a bit of the nerf's mounted.

Chassis is almost complete here. Still need to add the rear body mounts on the sides of the chassis.

Rear chassis view shows the Super Hornet lower shock mounts and customs uppers.

Still working on the front bumper. Aluminum tube upper bar and waterjet cut plate to mount lights to.

And finally the body mocked up. Gotta clean and detail it a bit more, mount the roof rack, finish the rear body mounts, mount the lights and wire them, etc...

You get the idea...

front lights to be mounted-

And that's it for now! It's almost there. I'll be glad to get this wrapped up so I can finish up a couple other projects and add them to the showroom.

Cheers!

[leg0man]

neat project, nice work on that custom front suspension

[markbt73]

That is wild. Too bad it's springtime...

Front suspension is very clever. Nice work!

[njmlondon]

That looks great! Nice work. I see you live in Long Beach California... does not sound very snowy to me! I think you may have a long wait to try her out!

[IBIFTKH]

Great project, very nicely done.

[Skottoman]

That's great! I hope those double padla traks get grip in the snow!

Heck, maybe you should try it at the beach!

Cheers,

Skottoman

[Flat_Out]

Definitely the wrong season, and definitely the wrong city for snow! It doesn't snow too much on my display shelf either

[commiedoor]

looks tricky ! i want that suspension set up !!!

[Flat_Out]

It's done finally. Got the body mounted and detailed, added vintage electronics (my fav old school radio), and got the lights all wired up. There's an extra on/off switch on the side of the chassis for the lights.

[wolfdogstinkus]

That is a really cool coversion, nice work.

[DCLXVI]

Mindbogglingly awesome!

I've been thinking about cantilever suspension on a Hornet for awhile now, I don't have skills near yours though so I think I'll have to settle for something simpler...

[madmatt13]

Wow, awesome ride and nice job!

[Tamiya1/10]

You did a nice job and be sure to let us know how she runs in the powder stuff.

And you have a nice place too.

[backtomyroots]

This thing is awesome !

Great attention to detail, stunning paint work .

Just one question, those tires on the roof rack look a bit small for spares .

[lucasan]

Very Cool. But I don't see you getting much run time out of this where you're located. I live in LB too. Thought I was the only TC'er who lived in LB

[Flat_Out]

Very Cool. But I don't see you getting much run time out of this where you're located. I live in LB too. Thought I was the only TC'er who lived in LB

Cool! I've never seen anyone else from LB on here. I moved here from Costa Mesa late last year. This build was more about building something that I wanted as a kid. It doesn't snow much on my display shelf!

[lucasan]

You gotta be curious about how it handles in the powder though. So where do you typically run your cars?

[Flat_Out]

I had thought about trying it out in the sand, but I would never get it clean again! Maybe one day it will make a trip up to the mountains with me, but for now it'll be shelved.

The cars I run, I either run around work in Corona or down at Sunset Beach. There's lots of large industrial parking lots and dirt fields near work. At home it's all alley and street. The beach is fun if you've got some paddles and it's not a crowded area. Hit me up sometime if you want to go bash!

[lucasan]

I saw this guy running a brushless beetle with some big tires at the dog beach once. The dogs couldn't catch up to it and it was a riot seeing them chasing it around. If I can dig up the pics I'll post one. I found a spot down near 4th and Park near the Lagoon they're working on. That trail that I think used to be train tracks. It would be ideal after it rains because it sure is dusty when it's dry. My last run still has my car dirty from it.

[mongoose1983]

I understand you don't have snow in Long Beach, but haven't you had a chance to test it somewhere else yet? I know I'd love to see how that bug runs over snow!

[AndyjcClod]

That is a really neat project.

I would love to know how have you got such a reflective sheen on your paint work? As it looks awesome!