TOPIC:

This is the (re-re) Grasshopper I promised to build in part payment for my Sand Rover




The first Tamiya I built was a Grasshopper, so this takes me back ...



Ignoring the manual, I started on the wheels & driver ...



Really bad matching of the parts though





So I'm going to cheat & swap with some from my spares box, after I've given them a bit of a tidy up ...



I'm donating a set of bearings (yes, there should be 9 1150's there) - I can't bear to build a car without them... 540 is a bad idea without suspension upgrades though ...


Had enough for the day ...

Jonny,
You always need a Hooper to muck about with
Will this be staying boxart or will it be getting one of your great paint jobs?

GING

GingerSpice wrote:

Jonny,
You always need a Hooper to muck about with
Will this be staying boxart or will it be getting one of your great paint jobs?

GING

As I'm building it for a colleague it'll be strictly boxart ... although the driver's helmet is X-14 Sky Blue instead of X-4 Blue ... white has to be my least favourite of all colours to paint ... anyway, there is a tiny bit of sunshine, so I'm off to get a bit of primer on before the GP qualifying

Seems to be another "fast forward" build ...

After giving the sink a good scrubbing, I washed & rubbed down the body with used 1200 grit paper; this is a "before" shot - note the heavy water beading:


.. and after keying:


This is after spraying Hycote white Plastic Primer ... doesn't really look that different ...


... not even in close up ...


... this is it after rubbing the primer down (wet, with used 1200 grit paper):


... the deatil pic doesn't look that different, but it's visibly more smooth ...


Chassis is pretty much finished:


...as is the tyre lettering ... TBH I always struggle on tyres with smaller lettering like this, I think this is one of my better jobs:



Anyway, the weather is still holding, so I'm off to get some "colour" on it

Gotta love the special attention you always give a paint job.

Edou wrote:

Gotta love the special attention you always give a paint job.

I've come a long way - I didn't even paint my first Grasshopper back in 1984

Jonny wrote:

Edou wrote:

Gotta love the special attention you always give a paint job.

I've come a long way - I didn't even paint my first Grasshopper back in 1984

I dont think anyone did, just to excited to get it blasting, even the decals where thrown on

GING

Paint has turned out a bit disappointing ... it was nice & shiny when I left it yesterday & I was quite proud of it - any even shiny finish without runs - which is quite hard to do - the temptation with white is to spray _just one more puff_ ... and "faloop", you get a huge run .. but I didn't

Overnight though it turned a satin finish - which has happened pretty much every time I've used Humbrol "Hobby Spray" acrylic, so I don't think it's me, or the weather causing bloom ...

On to the decals - this set had been cut a long way out of register, so much so that I had to take between 0.5 and 2mm off one side off each piece before using them, or have awkward extra bits of clear to deal with . The decal sheet on my own re-re, and the spare set I have are much better ... I can only assume it was a Friday afternoon in QA when this kit went through

After leaving the decals to dry & having smoothed them a few times, I thought I was safe to put the clearcoat on ... but about 5 minutes after I finished, the heavens opened ... it wasn't _quite_ a monsoon, but put it this way, 1:1 cars going past in the road outside were all leaving wakes ...

I haven't dared check how bad the bloom is yet ...










Edit - I removed the driver before clearcoating, painting the roll cage will happen after the clearcoat has hardened off & I can use liquid mask on it

edit edit - I should have used a bigger bowl -there's not "mushroom" in that one

Funnily i have never owned a grasshopper? strange really as it such an affordable kit may put this on my shopping list soon. i enjoy the building process of my cars and this looks like such a quick build that i have not really considered it in the past. it seems to have so few parts. yours looks fantastic and has changed my opinion slightly.

tamiya wrote:

Funnily i have never owned a grasshopper? strange really as it such an affordable kit may put this on my shopping list soon. i enjoy the building process of my cars and this looks like such a quick build that i have not really considered it in the past. it seems to have so few parts. yours looks fantastic and has changed my opinion slightly.

Thanks


But you should try driving one - that'd change your opinion right back again

It's ok with the stock 380 motor in, but with a 540 motor, it's fun on smooth surfaces - not just tarmac, but sand, gravel & dirt - but show it some bumps & the shortcomings of the chassis become very apparent - ludicrous bump steer & pogoing rear end ... but it's the same for all of the "rolling rear axle" cars - the damping improves things a little on the Hornet/Super Hornet, the Pumpkin & Lunchbox get away with it because they're fun & they wheelie, as does the 1st gen Pajero ...

... but on the other hand, who buys a Tamiya RC for the handling?