Vintage Grasshopper Restoration Project

[rally1998]

Hi All,

I have 3 Vintage Tamiya RC Models that I'm going to try and fully restore.

This has a lovely back story and I got this when I was either 6 or 7 years old. 20 Years later I want to restore it to it's former glory.

It was probably 10 years old when I got it so was already in poor condition and the shell was already broken.

I'll let the pictures speak for me. I'm going to need advice on the best way of restoring something like this...

Here she is, the green paint on the side was the original colour when I got it, was green with bumpy bits of light green...over the following few years and with a young and innocent mind I painted over bits that flaked off etc...

As you can see from this shot, the body is completely shot.

One thing to note though, I was always told it was a Grasshopper but isn't that shell a Hornet shell?

This brings me onto my first dilemma. I know this car and what it looks like and to ME it's a Grasshopper with that shell, I only discovered it was a hornet shell when looking into it.

1.) Would you replace the shell with a hornet one to preserve the childhood memory

or

2.) Be a strict original resto and put a Grasshopper body on it? (and perhaps paint it the green it was?)

I'm assuming this IS even a Grasshopper and not a Hornet...I had a look at pictures and by looking at the circular part where the back assembly goes in, this is a Grasshopper, perhaps one of you could clarify for me?

When this was last used, I was still young and there were just no spare parts around, well before the re-release.

Either the plastic gear or metal pinion had worn down so much they didn't make contact with one another, so I wedged this in to create an angle so they would contact and work...(Also notice the sharp self tapping screws for the shocks!!)

Seems to be some servere twisting going on at the back there?:

This chassis is shot to pieces, It's been glued, bits missing, I even electrical taped over cracks and pieces to keep it together at the front..this is in such a poor state

A spring went missing somehow, I cannot recall but this is how in my pre-teen years I solved that problem..

The hornet body again, shot to pieces. The supports on the chassis are gone to even hold it down, the wing just comes off and it's cracked in numerous places...

What would you guys do in this situation?

All of my cars were working things for me to use and have fun with. I want this one, out of all of them to be able to be used now and again just for memories sake but I do want this to be fully restored.

Should I just buy NEW Re-release parts or should I do all I can to source Vintage parts for it?

And the body thing, shall I get a re-release body as I'm assuming this is all far too gone, and then...the dilemma about what body to put on it.

The servos work fine, that motor works fine and the gearbox works but I have that issue with the gears/pinion, The speed controller and resistor is in a Wild Dagger at the moment (which is going to be another thread as soon as I finish posting this one) which will go back in this as it's the original for the car.

Any thoughts, ideas are very very welcome!

Jamie

[Butler]

Its a hornet shell, hornet motor and hornet shocks, so it is a Hornet as I can't think what else the grasshopper has that seperates them as the wheels and tyres or non standard.

If that were mine I would strip it down and see if the paint will come off. Then evaluate the condition the parts are in before ordering replacement. I personally don't see the point of using vintage parts unless you a collector.

If nothing else I'd probably order a set of ball bearings for it.

I am sure someone will give some suggestions on paint stripping.

Cheers,

[rally1998]

Its a hornet shell, hornet motor and hornet shocks, so it is a Hornet as I can't think what else the grasshopper has that seperates them as the wheels and tyres or non standard.

If that were mine I would strip it down and see if the paint will come off. Then evaluate the condition the parts are in before ordering replacement. I personally don't see the point of using vintage parts unless you a collector.

If nothing else I'd probably order a set of ball bearings for it.

I am sure someone will give some suggestions on paint stripping.

Cheers,

Hi thanks for the reply.

Have a look at this.....it was known that hornet parts were used to hop up a grasshopper at the time...

on mine I have this: (where the gearbox locates locked in place)

On the hornet, there is a slot there for it to articulate a bit, like this: (which mine doesn't have)

So with that in mind...those gearbox supports can be changed... do you think mine was originally a grasshopper but in it's 10 year life before me was hopped up to Hornet spec?

Or was it always a hornet and it had the gearbox mounts changed as reading other forums, the hornets articulation mounts would sometimes make the back of the car skip??

[dutch_rc]

Not much (or possibly anything) that'll tell if it was a Grasshopper or Hornet originally.

One clue could be the rear shaft. The Hornet's has flatted ends...

If it has those, you can be quite sure it was a Hornet from the start.

My guess would be it's a hopped up Hopper though.

It's probably a lot cheaper to just buy a rereleased model (they still make them).

Then again, there's something about bringing back an oldie from near oblivion...

Mix and match to get the surviving bits :

Many hours later :

Some alternative rear axle dampening :

Gotta love these icons. If money's not much of a factor, I'd go for it!

[rally1998]

Thanks

The shaft you mention, is that the rear drive shafts that go through the wheels, the metal threaded end?

Also how would I go about removing all the paint from the chassis?

Is that your work above? Did you cut pieces and then glue back? How did you do this?

I've never restored anything like this before so this is going to involve lots of learning for me

[dutch_rc]

My bad about the rear axle, I meant the one that keeps the gearbox in place on the chassis...

But if they replaced the gearbox mounts they would have removed the axle along with it.

It's my handywork indeed. I used epoxy (steel hardened) to glue the chassis back together.

Alloy reinforcements on top and small FRP plates (cut from a Group C bit) on the bottom :

Here's the whole build thread (body has yet to be finished) :

Grasshopper resurrection

Much of this was a learning process for me as well! But that's most of the fun.

You could try some DOT3 brake fluid to clean up the chassis, I think.

If it's still sticking, DOT4 would be the next step.

Graffiti remover works for some people as well. Or a low solution of caustic soda.

No guarantees there though, as it might effect the structure of the plastic.

Savest way is elbow grease - sanding. And then respray it.

But in that case, picking up a new chassis might be the better option (shouldn't hurt the wallet much).

Would be great to see this one revived!

[XV Pilot]

Methinks what you have there is a Hornet with Grasshopper gearbox pivots.

The standard Hornet arrangement uses slotted pivot mounts that allow the gearbox pod to twist slightly relative to the chassis. While this allows better suspension articulation, it also allows the frnt of the gearbox to move up and down, which it does every time you accelerate, making a loud clacking noise.

Some people stop it from doing this by fitting an extra shock absorber to the front of the gearbox, while others simply fit a pair of non-slotted gearbox pivots from a Grasshopper sprue. While this limits suspension articulation a bit, it stops the clacking, and is simpler and lighter than the extra shock mod. It looks like this was done to your car.

As for the resto, it depends on what makes the car special to you. To me, the most outstanding aspect of it is the unique colour scheme. So if it were my project, I would get a new re-re chassis tub and Hornet bodyshell, as well as replacements for worn or damaged parts. I would then rebuild it, using as many original undamaged parts as possible, along with the new ones, and I would add a bearing kit so that it is a smooth and reliable runner.

However I would replicate the original body's unique colour scheme on the new shell, painted on the inside with proper PS paint. I would also consider painting the new chassis tub with TS paint to match the original. You would then have a car that is a safe and usable runner, with components of the original car, and a unique colour scheme with a personal back-story.

[rally1998]

Thanks Guys for all the help and pointers so far ,

I guess it's one of those situations whereby we'll never know really what it was originally bought as, although we now have a very good idea. One thing that is bugging me, is long story short, mum and dad bought this for me off another family whilst we were on holiday in Newquay, we all become good friends and always ended up being on holiday here the same weeks etc, when they bought it the axles were just spinning in the wheels so they fitted those after market ones before my parents bought it off them (I think mum and dad paid £20 for the whole thing) and I cannot remember what style those original wheels were, that would have given us a good indication of what it is!

I'm leaning towards it being a Hornet also but to me it'll always be known as a Grasshopper.

What I'm going to do is get a new shell, as that is cracked and broken in quite a few places (keep this original obviously), I'm going to try and replicate the original colour it was when I got it, not what it looks like above.

So I need to create a green shell with lighter green speckles in it, as if grass has been kicked up by the wheels all over it. Then the part around the windows will be red, that is how I remember it from when I first got it

For the actual chassis etc, I think I'm going to rebuild with new parts that need changing but keep as many of the old parts as possible. I'm sure I have the original front bumper for it somewhere.

This is going to be great fun, albeit a bit expensive in total with 2 other cars to go through and my current runner a baja 5b ss that needs an engine rebuild I've got RC parts turning up daily at the moment

[taliesin]

Just considering the price - it would be far cheaper to buy a new re-re kit. I know that isn't restoring an original, but ... restoration is expensive and I just saw a NIB Grasshopper for $89 the other day. Hard to beat a deal like that.

And you get to sniff the fresh tires and build a new kit!!! What's not to like?!

[mr crispy]

Got to say having brought an old GH back from the dead myself, taliesin is right. You'd be better off getting a new kit to run and then just cleaning up the old one and sticking it on a shelf for the memories. You could even give that old body and gentle clean and varnish to preserve the vintage "patina" as they do in the TV restoration shows.

[Scapelnz]

Got to say having brought an old GH back from the dead myself, taliesin is right. You'd be better off getting a new kit to run and then just cleaning up the old one and sticking it on a shelf for the memories. You could even give that old body and gentle clean and varnish to preserve the vintage "patina" as they do in the TV restoration shows.

Im with Mr Crispy, rather than buying individual parts which adds up really fast! buy the re re kit then you have the choice of using the parts from the kit to re build yours or (what I would do) keep yours as is on the shelf with all those memories and then build the re re and have some fun!

Good luck either way, have fun!

[tilstad1]

If you restore this thing, all those memories of the idividual and frankly ingenious repairs will be gone! Its easy to just swap in new parts if you have them, it's something else entirely to make something work again, with absolutely no resources or parts.

I think you should preserve it, untouched. Then create a Hornet 2, either a higher quality of the same, or how you would have liked to have it back then.

I'm leaning towards it being a hornet with some grasshopper bits, as you have a hornet front friction spring on the right side, with the little cup and an o ring inside it, plus the shorter rubber stopper inside it on the bottom, 3mm vs the 5mm prescribed in the grasshopper manual. Most would not even notice there being a difference, but of the ones who do, hardly anyone would go through the trouble of "upgrading" this, as the difference is too little.

Then again, the shocks seems attached in a manner consistent with someone getting the parts, but not mounting hardware. The bottom round shock pivots are both missing 1 screw. Also the body mounts for the grasshopper body have all 4 screws in the posts.

No build a new tribute model with this as s inspiration.

This old one would be the history behind it.

After a closer look look on the date of your post, I see it's now a while ago. Nevertheless, I think this could apply to other projects like it. Preserve the history, and build a new tribute model instead.

What did you decide to do in the end?

[Pintopower]

If you restore this thing, all those memories of the idividual and frankly ingenious repairs will be gone! Its easy to just swap in new parts if you have them, it's something else entirely to make something work again, with absolutely no resources or parts.

I think you should preserve it, untouched. Then create a Hornet 2, either a higher quality of the same, or how you would have liked to have it back then.

I'm leaning towards it being a hornet with some grasshopper bits, as you have a hornet front friction spring on the right side, with the little cup and an o ring inside it, plus the shorter rubber stopper inside it on the bottom, 3mm vs the 5mm prescribed in the grasshopper manual. Most would not even notice there being a difference, but of the ones who do, hardly anyone would go through the trouble of "upgrading" this, as the difference is too little.

Then again, the shocks seems attached in a manner consistent with someone getting the parts, but not mounting hardware. The bottom round shock pivots are both missing 1 screw. Also the body mounts for the grasshopper body have all 4 screws in the posts.

No build a new tribute model with this as s inspiration.

This old one would be the history behind it.

After a closer look look on the date of your post, I see it's now a while ago. Nevertheless, I think this could apply to other projects like it. Preserve the history, and build a new tribute model instead.

What did you decide to do in the end?

I agree. If you completely restore it, it's just some other hornet or grasshopper or what ever it is. Either way, it wont be YOUR car any longer. My 2 cents.

[Nobbi1977]

I would leave it 100% as is and buy a rere to build and use. Anything else is going to require almost 100% new parts anyway looking at it.

Build a rere as you would have loved to have it back in the day