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Jarvmeister

Frog - Improving Traction

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Hi All,

 

Just built my first Tamiya model since 1987, when I had a Thunder Dragon as an 11 year old. 44 year old me just purchased a Frog for my 7 year old son and we've built it and have had great fun with it so far. I have to say I think I'm enjoying the whole experience more than he is, but I think he'll get there.

Even with the standard motor it's quite nippy, and even on tarmac the understeer is severe. The tiny front wheels, with such a small surface area contact with the ground are surely a major contributing factor to this. It seems to me that larger, wider, tyres/wheels would be a good start to try and start addressing the issue.

Any suggestions from anyone regarding this would be great, I searched extensively last night and saw a mention of these: https://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/900027-carson-2wd-all-terrain-tyre-set-black but someone mentioned that they made theor Frog sit up quite high, and because they sat closer in they increased the likelyhood of rolling/flipping the car.

Many thanks all.

 

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My Sand Scorcher suffers the same thing. Partially due to posi trac (No Diff) as posi will fight with steering and try to keep pushing the car straight. Also, narrow front tires limits steering traction also, so combined tends to be bad understeer. Not sure  if the frog has a diff or not. If not, that will certainly help.  Sooner or later I plan to install a diff in my Sand Scorcher, but in the meantime added wider tires on the front with better tread than the sand tread. I used the wheels and tires from the Tamiya Brat, and it does help some. I think you can use the same on the Frog. The pictures is with the sand scorcher original tires, and the second is with the wider brat tires. 

 

02222020h.jpg

02242020a.jpg

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On 7/26/2020 at 4:58 PM, Tudorp said:

My Sand Scorcher suffers the same thing. Partially due to posi trac (No Diff) as posi will fight with steering and try to keep pushing the car straight. Also, narrow front tires limits steering traction also, so combined tends to be bad understeer. Not sure  if the frog has a diff or not. If not, that will certainly help.  Sooner or later I plan to install a diff in my Sand Scorcher, but in the meantime added wider tires on the front with better tread than the sand tread. I used the wheels and tires from the Tamiya Brat, and it does help some. I think you can use the same on the Frog. The pictures is with the sand scorcher original tires, and the second is with the wider brat tires. 

 

02222020h.jpg

02242020a.jpg

Thanks for this, yes I had considered the Brat wheels and it's not difficilt to see how they'd offer a lot more traction than the stanard Frog fronts.

I'm going to try and get the hex convertor for the rears and purchase those Carsons, and see how that handles. Will post pics back here when I do, low stock due to Covid apparently has many parts on long delivery times unfortuately.

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On 7/26/2020 at 11:58 PM, Tudorp said:

 

02222020h.jpg

02242020a.jpg

That’s a beautiful army beetle.

I like the olive Matt green - the surface looks smooth. 
Did you have a link/thread to your build?

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Thanks. Being a huge Wild Willy fan,wanted to build it in an original Wild Willy "tribute" theme. I don't have a build thread. Nothing particularly special about the actual build. It is just a Re-Re Sand Scorcher kit. Standard build with ball bearings. The only "special" thing I did is replace the head of the driver with a Wild Willy head. I call the project "Scorching Willy". The paint isn't anything special. I just use a good quality paint. What I used on this is a Rustolium flat "medium olive" I think they called it. To me, it looks more like a flat "Sage" green, but they consider it an "olive" color. I did paint the metal parts of the chassis (gear case, front & rear suspension parts etc) and the wheels in the same paint except it is what they called "Medium Forest Green". The two different shades of flat go well together but gives it a little bit of contrast which I like. Before I paint, I do go over the plastic with a fine steel wool to knock off the shine of the new plastic, which helps the paint adhere, and does give you a smoother surface. The decals are reprods of the original Wild Willy, with a couple of them from the Sand Scorcher kit. 

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