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toyolien

WR-02CB Comical Grasshopper For Some Fun!

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I've been collecting a few bits for this build since just after Christmas. Now seems like a good time to make a start on it.

When I first saw the Comical Grasshopper I thought that it was just what the WR-02 chassis needed. Slight smaller wheels and a lightweight, low lexan body. My plan is to try to make it a good handling, fun wheelie machine. Time will tell....

Anyway, here's the obligatory box.

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As most people seem to do, I opened up the gearbox to add bearings and some AW grease in the diff. I also added the lightweight gear shafts too.

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The first thing I wanted to do to try to improve the handling was add some toe in to the rear wheels.

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The next thing on the list was to replace the upper fixed length links for some adjustable ones. I drilled the chassis mounting points out to 4mm and added some 50593 flanged tubes to install some 5mm balls.

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Also added some universals to the rear.

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Next job is the servo install.

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On to the front. Now, I really didn't like that Tamiya used a 4wd shaft for the front wheels when they already produce something much more suitable, and neater looking. The axle shaft from the M-Chassis cars. Fits perfectly and looks so much better.

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Here's the difference between the kit part and the M-Chassis part.

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And here's where I'm up to as of tonight. More coming soon...

 

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I like your build threads, they’re consistent & the garage makes a great backdrop. 
 

Why put the axle with the drive cup on it? I feel I missed the point. Doesn’t it just add unnecessary weight?

 

More photos with dirty Richard doing his Shakespeare impression please :lol:

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2 hours ago, J@mes said:

I like your build threads, they’re consistent & the garage makes a great backdrop. 
 

Why put the axle with the drive cup on it? I feel I missed the point. Doesn’t it just add unnecessary weight?

 

More photos with dirty Richard doing his Shakespeare impression please :lol:

Thank you 👍

The axle with the drive cup is the one that came with the kit. It's that part I've taken out and replaced with the m-chassis part without the drive cup on.

I've had a move around in the garage and Richard has moved to the other side which rarely gets photographed. I'll see if I can stick him in a few pics to come 👌

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I had chance to do some more work on this little fella this afternoon.

Shocks are on.

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I've used some Schumacher truck foams for the rear but was struggling to find some for the front. In my spares box I found a pair of foams from some RC4WD 1.55 tires that were spot on.

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Toying between brushed and brushless I decided on brushless. A 13.5t Justock with a 10BL60 esc (with the fan removed).

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Not decided on a body colour yet, so just put these wheels on to get it as a roller for now.

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And finally all wired up. I like neat wiring and look forward to doing in on any build. But, this was certainly the most challenging one I've ever done. Especially to get it looking good in such a small amount of space, and avoiding the driver figure.

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And that's all for tonight.

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I did just pop the wheels from my Konghead on to see how it looks. I was thinking about using the Jimny body I have for the WR-02 instead of the Grasshopper, but decided to leave it for a future build... maybe...

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2 minutes ago, Problemchild said:

I loved my comical hornet build 

love the comicals

 

JJ

Do you use it much?

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Never been driven 

apart from my neoscorcher and my monster beetle, all my cars are for display ;)

 

JJ

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Aah i see. I'm the opposite. All my cars get driven as much as possible. :D

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The neo is brushless and rubbing LiPo and the beetle just brushless 

I don’t need anything else ;)

I loved the comical build and painting the driver 

 

JJ

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Managed a little more work on the Comical Buggy this afternoon.

 

First job; the bumper. I've never liked the look of the big spring loaded bumpers on these WR-02's, so decided to remove the springs and chop up the kit bumper. Much happier.

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Next up, painting the driver. I'm not great at painting figures. I always seem to end up rushing it and then wishing I hadn't. I've tried to take my time on this one, a little, anyway.

 

First thing was to fill in the hole in his arm. I just used some styrene bar I had.

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On to the head. I screwed and glued it together, then filled in the hole in the back of his head, and sanded the joint. On to a couple of coats of plastic primer.

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Followed by masking off the face using some Tamiya masking tape for curves... I love this tape.

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And fast forward (because I got too engrossed to take any more pics) to the finished fella.

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Next up, the body.

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I decided to paint the roll cage rather than using the supplied decals. Kind of regretted it at first purely because of the amount if time it took to mask up. About 2 hours in total! I used some of the masking tape for curves again, amazing stuff.

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Really pleased with the results. Well worth the time and effort.

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Next up will be the final body colour. It won't be box art. Either silver or green. I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking.

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Excellent work 

I masked mine but did them bright orange - glad I did as the decals are so flakey 

how do you do the shading on the gloves

oh and what shocks are you using - you’ve not listed them

looking forward to the next bit of paint 

 

JJ

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21 hours ago, Problemchild said:

Excellent work 

I masked mine but did them bright orange - glad I did as the decals are so flakey 

how do you do the shading on the gloves

oh and what shocks are you using - you’ve not listed them

looking forward to the next bit of paint 

 

JJ

Thanks very much. Masking is a lot of work, but well worth it i think. For the shading on the gloves i used a simple wash made up of 1 drop of flat black and 2 drops of flat brown with some thinners. Lightly brush it into the creases etc, then wipe of lightly with a cloth. Repeat until you're happy.

The shocks are the GF-01 shocks. Part number #54670. They are super nice.

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This afternoon I finished off Willy. Painting isn't my strong point, but he didn't turn out too bad I don't think.

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I added a little bit of 'flesh wash' to his face.

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After some deliberation I decided to go with silver instead of green.

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And, as I usually do, backed the inside with a dark colour to hide the underneath a little when the body is on.

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While I was waiting for the paint to cure I made a start on the lights. I'm using 5mm reds for the rear and 5mm bright whites for the fronts. The fronts will need to be unplugged to remove the body, and I also wanted the rears to have the ability to be unplugged in case I ever need to replace them.

So, I started to make up some 2 into 1 plugs using some JST connectors.

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Taped together while I solder them together and then crimp them in to the plug pins.

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I've had this specific crimping tool for a year or so, and it's well worth the money (about £15 I think). Until then when ever I shortened receiver or servo wires I just crimped them with some pliers, with mixed results. This tool is perfect everytime.

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All nicely tucked away in this small electronics box.

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I bent up a small piece of black styrene at the front of the chassis to house it.

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Nice fit, and reasonably neat.

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And, lastly tonight I just wanted to see what the body looked like with the stripes on. More coming tomorrow.

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Apologies for the large amount of pics. I do like to take a lot of pics as I build. It's good to refer back to them in the future...

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That's beautiful! please keep the photos coming!

I might get back to you with questions :lol:, I'm also looking to build this one soon! 

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13 hours ago, toyolien said:

Thanks very much. Masking is a lot of work, but well worth it i think. For the shading on the gloves i used a simple wash made up of 1 drop of flat black and 2 drops of flat brown with some thinners. Lightly brush it into the creases etc, then wipe of lightly with a cloth. Repeat until you're happy.

The shocks are the GF-01 shocks. Part number #54670. They are super nice.

Brill - thank you 

not thought of making a more watery darker version before 

I’ve not done much painting at all 

 

Silver looks awesome !!

JJ

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4 hours ago, pesanze said:

That's beautiful! please keep the photos coming!

I might get back to you with questions :lol:, I'm also looking to build this one soon! 

Sure. If i can help i will :D

3 hours ago, Problemchild said:

Brill - thank you 

not thought of making a more watery darker version before 

I’ve not done much painting at all 

 

Silver looks awesome !!

JJ

You're welcome. It's only the second time I've tried it. I guess it'll get better the more I do it.

 

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It's all done. Finished off the front lights as neatly as I could.

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And here it is all done. I've not go overboard with the decals. I might add a few more, or maybe some racing numbers. No decided yet.

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That's all for now folks. Not sure what to do next. I've got a Wild Willy 2, and re-re Bigwig or a vintage Boomerang to restore. Quite fancy the Bigwig I think...

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Well done that man - I’m like you with decals. I add them in an order that allows me to stop before there are too many 

JJ

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6 hours ago, toyolien said:

 

betM5MA.jpg

 

 

 

 

Great job, looks fantastic.

Can you tell me what type of motor that is in the background the “UGT Tuned Motor” I’ve not seen one of those before?

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5 hours ago, Problemchild said:

Well done that man - I’m like you with decals. I add them in an order that allows me to stop before there are too many 

JJ

Thanks very much :D

15 minutes ago, mtbkym01 said:

Great job, looks fantastic.

Can you tell me what type of motor that is in the background the “UGT Tuned Motor” I’ve not seen one of those before?

Thank you. The UGT motor is a 24t 19,400 rpm motor with replaceable brushes. I bought it a while ago from PlazaJapan for a good price. It's destined for a Lunchbox build i have planned in the near future. It's this one:

https://www.rcmart.com/TAMIYA-UGT-TUNED-MOTOR-24T-54391_00058724

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I have set out to repair my son's Comical Hornet which he got for his 10th birthday in Jan (1st Tamiya RC build for both of us!) :wub:

I was inspired by your thread to upgrade the upper arms to adjustable ones as opposed to paying an extortionate amount for the whole replacement sprue.  However, neglected to realise that you did these on the REAR upper suspension arms.

It looks like you've also changed out the front upper suspension arms (and the hub carriers) - would you mind letting me know which hop-up or part you used for those please?

I have managed to get the M05 arms on the front but the camber is a bit extreme to say the least!  :lol:

Thanks for any help you can offer and love your build threads - very inspiring!

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