Wood5tock's Frog build

[wood5tock 864]

The best laid plans of Mice and Tamiyaholics...

I did my best to keep the shrink wrap on this until other stuff was finished, but with the Super Hornet on hold (waiting on news about the decals) and at this point (Monday) waiting on all my Bommerang parts orders (which have arrived far quicker than expected) I decided I wanted to do something else so i grabbed my Re-re Frog kit which arrived back at the very end of January and started it (I don't think I did too bad hanging on to a new kit for that long)

Right here we go

Parts bags in their drawers

The other parts bags put into misc drawers ready for the build

Now on to the build

[wood5tock 864]

The Chassis

A little squirt of grease makes the self tappers cut easier

A drop of blue thread lock as I am screwing into metal

On goes some foam tape to grip the battery pack better as per instructions, got it straight as well

One assembled chassis

[wood5tock 864]

Front Arms

[bigoggy 203]

Looking good.

[wood5tock 864]

Front suspension

I came up with a cunning way to precisely drip the wax lube on my parts, Oh err

[Fruitfly01 596]

The Frog/ORV chassis was around a little bit before my proper intro to Tamiya so it'll be interesting to see one being assembled.

[wood5tock 864]

Attaching suspension stays

My first introduction to anti wear grease, my first impression is it's a little like silver copper slip but the binding agent has a much stickier property.

I found a nice way to apply it was with a cotton wool bud, seemed to do the trick

I have always been intrigued by the ORV front suspension. I knew roughly how it worked but it's nice to have it actually in my hands for once

[wood5tock 864]

Attaching front suspension

[wood5tock 864]

Attaching fron bumper etc

Once again giving the hole a quick squirt to aid threading

I decided to seal the edges of the reinforcing plate with Gorilla Super Glue to prevent any fraying etc

[wood5tock 864]

More updates coming soon

[bromvw 744]

I bought my first ORV recently from Percymon - a used but excellent condition Frog . I have to say that i'am impressed with it . Such a well thought out design - simple but effective . Strong too . I now understand why Tamiya have used this chassis on so many releases . IMO its a bit of a classic .

Nice build and great attention to detail using the correct lubes and thread lock .

[kaylon 235]

I LOVE your build threads Wood.... BUT for the love of all things Tamiya and in the name of Zeus's ball bearings finish the other ones

DO I need to phone Jeremy about the Decals ?

K

[wood5tock 864]

Mate if you want to, I seem to be having no luck emailed him on Monday but still not heard anything

As far as not finishing stuff, I do only have two projects on the bubble the SHII has stalled because I am waiting on news regarding the decals and I thought I would be waiting on my Boomer parts for a week+ so figured I would get on with the Frog, Then a load of Boomer parts kicked down the door two days later

I need to keep myself out of mischief you see, otherwise armageddon will ensue

[nascar24jd 34]

The Frog is a fun build.

[Grastens 2795]

I like the build thread! I too was fascinated by the O.R.V. front suspension when I built one.

And yes, I laughed at the wax lubrication bit

A great call with the foam tape on the battery door - I should add that to my runner, too.

[Tamiya Era 778]

another great build...Awesome!!!

[IBIFTKH 1369]

The Frog isn't one of my favourites but I'll be following this anyway because I always enjoy your builds.

[zakspeed 187]

Enjoy the build. I've built loads of em and can build them in my sleep. Don't be tempted to go silly power. These are one of the fastest out of box tamiya with the standard can. I've tried all gear options and always go back to the middle gear option. I have managed to find another vintage frog which I am really looking forward to building. Do enjoy your builds and detail.

[wood5tock 864]

Thanks for all the comments guys

On with the build

Spur gear

Gearbox part 1

[wood5tock 864]

Gearbox part 2

Once again where possible I have swapped out the original fasteners for stainless items

[wood5tock 864]

10 Installing the gearbox

Drive shaft assembly

A good dob of AW grease with a cotton wool bud

[wood5tock 864]

Rear arm assembly

Standard plastic bushing swapped out for metal ball races

[wood5tock 864]

Attaching rear arms

[wood5tock 864]

Rear dampers

Still had some damper oil left over from my Novafox

[wood5tock 864]

Damper oil