#2 Dablk's Grasshopper 2 (2017)

[dablk 7]

2# Dablk's Grasshopper 2 (2017)

Having finally scratched the itch after 30 years with my first build,  a Neo Frog.  I loved it so much a second, well and a third where inevitable.  Orders went in, time passed and well like anyone buying in April 2020, you can guess the rest.  So when nothing looked like turning up and the big online places a mixture of delays.  I started looking 2nd hand for a project.    No idea what I was after, bid on loads of things and won none of them.  Then one beer fuelled evening a GH2 appeared for BIN or offers with delivery included.  It looked nice, stickers hadn't been applied, came with a full RTR kit.  It also had a 2nd esc and the motor had been hopped up to a GT Tuned.  I actually fancied/needed those for something else so man maths kicked in and the GH2 became much cheaper.  There was a catch.  The advert stated it didn't run in reverse.  Having been on eBay since 2001.  Generally when something is mentioned, it means *******ed.  Beer overruled head.  An offer was sent.  An offer was accepted.

11 days later.  The wait was over.

 The initial reaction was so cool.  This is being only my 2nd ever build,  I've never had an old style art box before in my hands.  A very nice thing in itself.  Unfortunately tempered by the tell tale sign of smoke.  It didn't stop the excitement.

Everything as promised.  Very quick inspection showed next to no damage.  Tiny marks on a couple of wheels and a mild grass mark on the roof.  As I had guessed, it hadn't been painted.   Fired up the Carson and there was life in the buggy.  Immediately gave it some gas.  FWD was fine and then REV, nothing.  Looked at the throttle trim on the Carson, maxed on way.  Centred it and we had reverse.  Hooked up the 2nd ESC and the 380.  Likewise both worked fine.  The rear shocks, gummed up and pointless.  Still I now have a working project.

My intentions, well I wasn't planning one this build at all.  I wanna nick the  GT motor for something else if it ever arrives and having done some reading in the 11 days.   It seems the 380 really is the right little unit for these.  The shocks I can't live with however and as the adaptors are there I'm definitely  going to do those and have a play with springs and oil weights.  I was into airfix when I was little, so painting this makes more sense than the reverse spray Lexan that was my Neo Frog.  It's been a while but will see what I can do.  Probably a mild twist on the box art as I fancy a bit of silver in there.  

1st task was however to tear it down.  The seller had thought he had ball raced it and I was happy to find he had.  Didn't  initially notice any cracks.  Having put together the Neo Frog and cursed my various screwdrivers.  The Tamiya JIS magnetics were an utter joy for the job.  

All ready for a good deep clean

Being a 2017,  I don't think this can really be classed as a restoration.

 

A salvation, perhaps. 

[nginsb 137]

Looks like a fund project - reckon it'll go like the clappers with that GT tunes motor in it. Enjoy, post some pics of your progress!

[dablk 7]

What a perfect sunny day to be washing buggy bits.

 

After a nice degrease and then wash down, everything was much nicer to work with.  The rebuild was going well until the motor and the realisation the 380, which I wanted to fit back in, required a mounting plate that the fitted GT tune did not.  A quick trawl thru the box of bits and my luck was in.  One mounting plate.  Then the luck ran out.  it only had 1 of the 3mm nuts still in it and worse, the 2.6mm screws also required where nowhere to be seen. So that halted play for the day as I worked out what I would need.  I'm sure season builders have trays and trays of these spares but its just not something I have at this stage.  I think I found a seller selling the right bag but will wait and see on that. 

Finished my Tea and decided to press on out of sequence. Built pretty much the rest of it.  Had a lot of fun trying to get the servo/arms all sorted without having to tune the transmitter too far away from centre.  It's not miles out but decided best option will be to sack of the Tamiya measurements and eyeball it once its all built as my servo just wouldn't build at a perfect 90 degrees.  So while I wait to find the screws/nuts I need for the 380.  Next step is the shocks which are getting removed.  After some advise on here, I measured up a set of CVA's from my DT-03 and they are not miles out from Tamiya's hop up options .  Fronts I think measure the same but the dt-03 rears are a little longer.   So I eBay'd a set of DT-03 out of a kit as that seemed miles cheaper than the actual CVA hop ups.  I might borrow the ones off the Neo Frog to get a base line of what's going on with stock oil and springs.  I have a set of DT-02 soft/hard springs for a different delayed project so might throw the softs into the mix for this.

Fingers Crossed the right bits come.  2.6mm screws seem to be a rare thing. 

 

 

[dablk 7]

Good News,

So my email say the parts bag A I need is on its way. Blew the budget amusingly trying to fit the older motor back in.

Anyway Shocks, I sourced a set of parted out DT-03 cva's as they are half the price of the hop up versions.  Having built a Neo Frog a little reading suggested the finish on the rear shocks shaft didn't help  (or was mean to not help the DT-03) smooth movement.  So decided to get the Dremel out and polish my shafts. Not as perfect as the fronts but a lot smoother than stock.

I don't know how Tamiya measure but I have always figured it would be centre to centre on the eyelets when it comes to shocks. Now measuring my Neo Frog, lead me to believe the fronts eye to eye where 70mm and the instructions suggested the hop ups should be the same.  The rears however came in around 94mm when I think the instructions aimed for 87mm.  I looked at the build sheet on the DT-03 CVA and saw that they spec tree part x-2 but actually the tree has part x-1 which is considerably shorter.

 

I went with those and built the shocks with some 100cst oil which was the lightest I could find.  I might be wrong but think Tamiya "soft" kit oil is 400cst

The rears came in at 86mm once built.  Here is a side by side with the original friction units at the bottom.

the fronts are harder to judge as they require the mount on the buggy to be part of the shock.

I built the front shock assemblies first with Bag D which I luckily had from the sale odds and sods.  Little disappointed that the screws are as long as they are.  10mm on the up and 15mm on the thru.  I might swap the 10mm to the thru and find some 3mm x 8mm longs for the ups.  Was just a little surprised as the screws I'm waiting for the motor are specc'ed as 2.6mm by 27mm (I think)  which is **** precise.  They just look like they were the bits I could find in my box to make them work.  

The back used the snap ball connectors.  For an at times hand fisted newbie.  Its defo a leap of faith snapping those plastic shocks on with some force.

So the wheels went on and started to think about what's going on.  A few pushes on the front didn't seem to bad.  The back, now obviously with the motor and the gearbox being sat the unusual side of unspring weight, the rear suspension unsurprisingly felt stiff.  I think I have some spare soft springs to try at some point but for now I considered the original grasshopper springs as they are similar length and same diameter but much  softer.  The originals are on top in the next pic.

I tried swapping them in but found they where far to soft.  Even with a lot(and I do mean a lot) of pre load clips it struggled to recoil the weight of the car against the 100cst oil. So back to square 1 on that one.  Its not that the dt-03 springs are bad its just very firm.

Final shot for the day.  Just enough time to scuff up a little a perfectly nice shell.

Cue more beer and start looking at box art, stickers and shapes on the shell.

 

[dablk 7]

Started to paint.  Wasn't sure if I wanted white or silver of both.  First went with the primer.

Then decided as I had an idea what white would look like to try silver first.  Turned to Humbrol as Tamiya TS colours where out of stock everywhere. 

As it went on I think I settled on a bit of both.  Not sure what white going to look like back with silver but guess I'm going to find out.  Left it to dry overnight as there going to be masking.

[dablk 7]

Another Good/Bad day of firsts for me as far as some of the techniques to try and finish this.

Mask up and on with the white.  Had no idea if the masks would work and if the tape would pull the paint.

I tried to use as little tape on the shell as possible hence the a piece of paper on the nose.  5 Coats I think of white went on to stop the silver showing thru.

Moment of truth.  And it worked!  The small side details aren't prefect but I knew that trying to tape the up.  Still very pleased how it turned out.

I left it to cure for the rest of the day.  Possibly should have left it over night but impatience got the better of me.  Now for some bad.  I wanted to try a pin wash to pick up some of the edges.  Not something I have ever tried and it didn't go well.  Mixture too thick, brush to thick, enamel on acrylic?  Either way it made a bigger mess to try and sort out.  The results kind of worked but not sure it was worth the agro.  Then again if you don't try you don't learn.

More impatience.  Thought it might be worth giving it a clear coat.  Tried to find some online and couldn't with any realistic price/time frame.  Its never going to be a serious basher this So decided to press on.  The first sticker over the nose looked like the worst one to get right, so started there.

   

Everything went really well.  And thankfully the roof sticker covered some of the pin wash mess.

I decided that I didn't like stickers 3+4 which add the blue up the sides.  The white running up there was such a nice line.  So close to finish and near disaster.  The massive jocker custom side sticker went on great on the right.  The left just didn't land right.  So I pulled it and it dragged some paint.  The stickers are far stickier than the masking tape, just wasn't thinking.  I managed to adjust and get it back down.  Should I have left t longer to cure?  Should I have glossed it and left it for a week.  Lessons for next time.  Still its done now. Hiccups aside.  I'm pleased with the result slight move away from box art.

 

[dablk 7]

After yesterdays highs and lows, its back to springs.  I'm planning a future 2nd DT-03 project and ordered a set of DT-02 springs for it.  I'm only interested in the Blue Hard Springs for that project so the red softs were free to try on this.

They are softer than the stock ones.

Rears, Pleased to report they did work with the 100 weight shocks, softer but still able to recoil. 

 

Fronts, again softer but still worked well with the shocks. 

They definitely are going to look the part with the GH2 colours.

 

Next up Big Daddy Evans