TOPIC:

HI!... O.k I just received a Tamiya Frog that I bought through KIJIJI. I was told it was a original vintage 1983 Tamiya Frog that was built new and never was run. Spent it's entire life as a shelf queen. Well it showed up this morning and it's super clean...... too clean to be 29 years old......

It was supposed to be complete but is missing the driver, headlights, and MSC/resistor. The body has the ON/OFF switch mounted in the actual body behind the driver, before the wing.

Can anyone tell me the EXACT differences between the original and the reissue? Pics would be great too.

Thanks :

Neal.

HI!... O.k just e-mailed the original owner. Apparently he bought it years ago from another collector that said it was a original. I asked him about the wheels due to they are in 100% perfect condition and very bright white. The originals were more a creamy white colour and by now would have turned a bit yellowish. He said the original wheels/tires were in bad shape. The tires were all dry rotted and the wheels were yellowed and one was cracked, so he bought a new set and installed them. Further inspection of the shipping box came up with a bag with two original drivers, two MSC. One NIP. The resistors, receiver, 2 Futaba receivers and both steel antennas. It did come with a original (copyright 1983) Tamiya FROG colour manual.

I just need to know if this is a original or a reissue that someone was trying to make look like a original.

Thanks :

Neal.

Don't own a Frog myself but there are some details mentioned here .

HI!... Thanks , already read that but it doesn't go into any real detail. I need exact differences.

Thanks :

Neal.

HI!... Anyone have a good quality pic of the vintage original decal sheet? Just trying to see the differences between the old sponcers and the new ones.

Thanks :

Neal.

And the reissue :


Let me know if you need to see more detail.

HI!... O.k PERFECT! Thankyou. Looks like I have the original decals on the body. He just didn't used most of them. That's a good sign so far.

HI!... Well I finally got around to getting some pics :

The body and the wheels/tires are new RE-RE's. Previous owner said the body was all cracked from age and the tires were all dryrotted. Everything else is original. It apparently was never run and spent it's life as a shelf queen.

I do have an original Frog (in parts) and can say that your Frog looks perfectly original, no question about that!

As you say, the tires and body are re-release.
I may suggest that also the servo saver may be re-re. At least all all my old servo saver parts are yellowish.
Otherwise there are no obvious signs of re-release parts to worry about!

Just a quick picture of most of my car(parts) before digging into its details:
(As it happens, many of the parts from my Frog have been used in other
projects over the years. I am sort of in a process now to bring all of them together.)


When you try to dig into details things may get compilcated.
It turns out there are a few small differences with my Frog:

• Black ball links
• Black endbell on motor
• Early type bumper without reinforcing ribs along the "side pins".
  (Half of it broke off of course. Unfortunately i binned it after making a replacement.)
• Black mounting plate for resistors.
  Obviously of same material as in the speed controller itself. Utfortunately it was fragile and broke. I made a replacement from aluminium with zip-ties. Worked fine by
  mostly avoiding slow speed.
• My Frog came without plugs between speed controller and motor. My manual on page 8 describes how to twist, solder and apply heat shrink tubing on the wires.

Maybe this only shows that Tamiya made changes as they went along
and things may get more complicated the more you search for details.

By the way, I have scanned all my 16 manual pages in 300dpi.
Probably not many would be interested, so I am only attaching copy of page 8 and an unusual "corrected figure" sheet for page 6, step 10 below.