Tamiya Comical Grasshopper WR-02CB

Tamiya Comical Grasshopper is as much a fun build as it is a fun drive – I won't consider myself a hardcore rc hobbyist but I do have several RTR RC vehicles, a 1/10 Tamiya Nitro Thunder, a 1/8 HPI Trophy 3.5 and an Arrma Typhon 6s. I started from kind of a crossover 1/10 scale nitro - Tamiya that is bigger than many 1/10 vehicle and uses some 1/8 parts like 17mm wheel hubs. Then I went on to standard 1/8 platforms, both nitro & electric. My latest is a tough speed run machine Arrma Typhon 6s. Now I have come full circle back to a toyish Tamiya 1/10 electric kit.

My Interest and Capabilities Why this Tamiya Comical Grasshopper?! It is so slow compared with my Arrma Typhon which claims to exceed 100km/h out of the box. The Tamiya is so plasticky with scrawny little drive shafts, arms and everything else and plastic gears. In fact, my most recent project was converting my HPI Trophy 3.5 nitro to electric using a budget HobbyWing 4274 2000kV brushless motor and 150A ESC combo. It is running the stock 16T pinion gear from Arrma Typhon while the 18T upgrade is in the Typhon. Upgrade pinion gear is on the way. While I haven't measured how fast the Tyhon is, it is a very satisfying drive because I have shredded a few tyres running at speed, even on grass and dirt where I am sure I am no where near claimed top speed. Still it’s fast enough tyres would balloon up and explode. Likewise, with the HPI Trophy that is converted to electric, the conversion wasn't straight-forward because this model is quite old and electric conversion kit is impossible to find. I actually bought the esc, radio box and battery tray from both HPI and Arrma an ended up using Arrma version with fair amount of improvising (drilling many holes in the aluminium base) to get everything to fit and securely mounted. This is important to me. After all, this vehicle is quick. I definitely don't want the battery, esc, radio, motor to move about or come loose or rub against the drive shaft or spur gear. My local hobby shop suggested I don't bother with the HPI Trophy 3.5 due to its age. But it holds much sentimental value for me because I have substantially upgraded this vehicle. I won't list them because it is pages long.

Sorry about all extra info and I haven't even gotten to the star of the show - the Tamiya Comical Grasshopper. I hope this background info gives you some idea of my capabilities and interest. Thanks to covid-19, I am grounded at home and working from home like most people and looking for little projects. I stumbled on this kit with a good discount at my local hobby shop and couldn't resist getting it. OMG, it is the iconic Tamiya grasshopper I wanted as a kid, in comical version.

Limited Model Building Skills I have built a few model kits when I was small, with very limited tools and paints. I never had airbrush, etc. So my model building skills are very limited. Pretty much just following instructions and gluing parts together, apply decals and at times some paint with brush. This kit is easy to build albeit not painted. Similar kits the Tamiya Comical Avante and Mini Lunchbox come already painted. Consistent to the usual Tamiya quality, instructions are perfect and beautiful to read. If you have never read a Tamiya manual, you don't know what you have missed and you will realise how much better it is compared with the manual from another manufacturers.

Limited Configuration Options and Springs are Too Stiff Tamiya is never shy to go against the grain. This is one of the beauty of Tamiya RC models - to see the engineering that went into the design instead of following mainstream rc platforms. I have two standard 1/8 scale bashers where some parts and most tools are interchangeable. They are both heavy duty, metal chassis, steel dog bone shafts, 4WDs with front, centre and rear diffs and I would completely customise spring, oil, diff oil, gear ratio, toe in and camber angle, etc.

The Tamiya Comical Grasshopper I believe targets younger customer hence offers very limited configuration or tuning options. You can customise the shock angle, front toe in / out by adjusting steering rods length and adjust dampening a little by changing oil and springs (purchased separately). The last of which - shocks I found way too stiff out-of-the box. They barely compress at all by the weight of the vehicle - only about 1.7kg heavy (incl battery), compared with 4.3kg like my other 1/8 vehicles (battery installed). It really need some softer springs to soak up bumps and jumps. I didn't even mind the shock rods having solid disc rather than configurable disc with holes that came with the kit but are not used. I am not going to race this car and I am not going to be doing speed runs. But I do expect the shocks to do their job - to absorb some bumps. I don't understand why Tamiya would only supply hard springs. With soft spring, I can add spacers to make it stiff, so why not just supply soft springs?! The oil is somewhat thin hence shocks feels bouncy, probably increase the chance of breakages. There is even a spacer or limiter for the rear. Naturally, I did not install that.

Performance Hop-ups The gearbox came pre-built and bushings are used throughout the kit, 14 plastic and 2 metal ones. I ordered Tamiya hopup ball bearings but they never came so I bought Plaig bearings locally and have all the bearings replaced. They are 5x11x4 bearings, 16 of them in total and all of the same size, 8 in the gearbox and 8 for the wheels. You absolutely need to do this. Don't even bother starting build until you have bearings. I heavily greased the gearbox with moly grease and up'ed the motor to brushless Tamiya 10.5T TBLM-02S. This meant I had to also get the sensor cable (20cm) and TFU-01 ESC fan to keep it cool. Obvious benefit is marked improvement in speed and torque. With brushless motor, you can also change punch and brake force. Absolutely awesome. Do remember that stock ESC (TBLE-02S) is configured out of the box for brushed motor. I also up'ed the pinion gear to 21 tooth. It seems to fit ok with the motor mounted at 20T position. Motor mount is not slide mount so unless you improvise, there is very limited room for pinion gear upgrade options. Pinion gear is metal but all other gears are plastic. I am a little worried they are not going to last, esp given I have set up for braking at 80%. This would probably put a fair bit of stress on the plastic gears.

Other Hop-ups Thankfully for the electric conversion of my HPI Trophy 3.5, I have a servo to spare, a very decent Futaba BLS352 with very respectable 0.15s 60 degrees turn speed and 18kg torque/cm. I didn't like the fact that servo is mounted on one side of the chassis. I bought the aluminium servo stay for this reason. Steering rods are all changed to e-clip rods over steel screws. Wheelie wheel changed to rubber wheel with ball bearings. The best hop-up (apart from motor) is actually non-Tamiya after market 12mm to 17mm wheel extenders. With them, I can now fit any of my 1/8 wheels to this vehicle so long they don't catch the side bars, and they shouldn't if they are standard 1/8 wheels. Beautiful!

Running LiPo rather than NiMH Instead of running 7.2V NiMH, I am running 2s LiPo hence 7.4V with Turnigy Nano-Tech 4200mah 2S2P 40~80C (Hardcase Stick Pack). It is a bit tight but otherwise fits perfectly. This is one area I don't like about this Tamiya kit. Why not give it a bigger battery compartment with foam pads and velcro straps to keep it in place instead of a rigid round shaped battery compartment?! This really limits what can be used. The same with the backplate that is held by body clips. Why not make the poles longer so longer battery pack can fit?

If you intend to let little kids play with this and not care about batteries then NiMH is right for you. With LiPo, be careful understanding how to charge, discharge and store the battery. They are not as safe as NiMH. Keep LiPo at storage charge (3.8V) if you are not going to use it for a while. Once charged up, you really want to use it up in a few days, down to 3.8V and definitely no lower than 3.3V. I have a battery level warning alarm but not using it yet given I am fairly familiar with LiPos. LiPo can bloat up hurting lifespan and catch fire if not cared for properly.

Hop-up Lights! I have also added lights to the kit and they have really lifted the fun factor of this kit. In fact, I didn't install the driver and didn't really like how it looks and always thought I will rather use that space for lights, gyro, etc, instead. Now it has headlights, blue interior lights, front and back turn signals, brake lights and high speed lights which I put into the exhaust and absolutely love them. They make the vehicle look like it is flaming out when I let it rip! Didn't install the large exhaust pipes, even if I paint them silver, they will cover up the lights, so no thanks. This light kit is not the Tamiya TLU-01 & TLU-02. Tamiya set up costs well over $100 which is ridiculous and you need both TLU-01 & TLU-02. TLU-01 on its own will lit all lights constantly.

Whilst this Tamiya is a two wheel drive, I don't find it any less fun. In fact, I really like how readily it wheelies. Really sick! I have so much power though it wheelies at 35-40% power depending on surface and would completely flip over if I am not careful.

Lexan Body and Decals I had never cut lexan body before so was very skeptical how it will go. Thank goodness there are many straight lines so score and snap technique worked really well! So well I added a bit of creativity and made the front drop a bit further to give the front a bit more cover, and keeping dirt from going in too readily. Shame I wasn't so careful applying stickers so that wasn't perfect but I must say I surprised myself how well I did considering this is my very first attempt, cutting all the clear bits away as instructed. Apply a bit of heat gun to get the sticker mould into shape like corners and the headlights. A good sharp hobby knife or scalpel is recommended.

Hop-up Options Here are all the Tamiya produced hopup options for the Comical Grasshopper of WR02CB: https://www.tamiyausa.com/hop-ups/33772/B84

And third party hopups from Yeah Racing: https://www.ebay.com.au/str/RCGOSHOP?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

Adding light is definitely one of the more satisfying upgrades. As said, the high price of original Tamiya light and light control system is prohibitive so I bought third party lights. So much cheaper and does everything all the same. It is pictured and whilst it is labelled Tamiya, I seriously doubt it is made by Tamiya purely based on its cheap price.

I Love this Grasshopper! In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together and playing with it. It is not an Arrma. It would not jump very high nor would I try because I am sure I will destroy the gears, arms, links, lexan body, etc. But it is so much fun I totally love it. It is definitely geared to younger kids given the gearbox is pre-built and limited build and configuration options with shocks, etc. But the amount of hop-ups available is immense albeit they can be pretty expensive as well jacking up the total cost to 2 or even up to 3 times the cost of the kit. There is even a snow ski, sled / track and snow plow complete with servos you can get. The snow plow cost more than what I paid for the kit. Doh!

Because of the poor shock performance and very restrictive battery tray, I take one point off hence 4/5 stars for this kit. Tell me if you think I am too harsh or too lenient.

If you love the Tamiya Comical Hornet, a cheap(er) way to get it is get the shell and decal. It is compatible with the Tamiya Comical Grasshopper provided you can live with green wheel spokes. Well, you can buy black wheel spokes and change to that. The Tamiya Comical Grasshopper looks good either way.