Baja Bug Project

Hi, I always liked those Baja Beetles, but wasn't willing to pay hundreds of Euros for an old, beaten up Sand Scorcher (till now, you never know :-) ). I decided to build a Baja Bug by myself. The first part I ordered to start the project was a Kamtec ABS Sand Scorcher body. The chassis I chose was a Fighter Buggy. Unfortunately this chassis is way too long, so I cut it into 3 pieces, removed the middle section and assembled the remaining parts with the help of a few Epoxy stiffeners. The body's fenders hat to be cut extremly, so the car's look didn't meet my expectations, particularly the chassis is too wide for the body. So I decided to put this project aside and made a new start with a Grasshopper chassis, like I've seen many times on TC. The problem was that Re-Re Grasshoppers aren't officially on sale in Germany (for reasons I don't know and shurely wouldn't understand). Finally I ordered one in the Netherlands. In the meantime I obtained a Blitzer Beetle body-kit. I had to do the paintwork twice because the first layer of paint from the craft store sticked to the masking tape as I peeled it off. After a week of scrubbing with the aid of oven cleaner I gave it a second try with Tamiya paint and the result was quite allright. I added ball bearings and a Ansmann 21T motor to the chassis, built body mounts that fit to the holes in the Beetle body. I soldered a rear cage from copper tube to make the car's rear look not so empty. The front bumper is made of aluminium, but I'm not yet happy with the looks. I will have to take care of it soon. The 'maiden trip' was a catastrope. I run the Bug on the lawn in a local park but it always got stuck because of the lack of ground clearance. The second attempt on a beach volleyball court was as bad. Again the car got stuck because of the 'open' diff. On a hiking trail of hard sand it went better but the car was hard to controll since it tends to oversteer a lot. The last try took place on a paved area in the park. In a curve the wheels hit a paving stone that was slightly higher than the others, the Bug rolled over several times. The rims on the right side were scarred, the body was badly scratched and a wiper gone. I'm not sure if I should follow this project any further or start a new Baja project. A Kyosho Beetle reproduction body is waiting already...

Cheers
Norbert