Local weather has been nothing but wet wet wet... so I found some time to do some work on my Tamiya Frog.
So here's how she looks after hours of work...
A side view...
The front end features custom shock mounts to mount two oil-filled dampers... and also custom wideners to increase the front track width. I find running the stock track width with 2.2" tires makes the front look a tad narrow.
The shock towers are made of carbon fiber and feature 3 adjustment positions to tune the front end.
The rear end has also seen some work. Mounts have been made to fit 3.5" buggy shocks. Custom rear "extentions" move the shock mounting point further away from the pivot point to allow me to use more standard spring rates and oils on the car. My take on the stock rear end is that the mounting position is too close to the pivot point resulting in the need for very heavy springs and oils to work. With the extentions, I get to use a lot more of the shock's stroke as the suspension moves through it's range of motion.
Now a lot of the work was also done under the "hood"... let's sneak a peek...
A custom steering plate was designed to mount the steering servo as well as a bellcrank steering setup. The bellcranks are from a M-05 and their geometry quite suitable for the buggy - they are also bearing supported for nice smooth steering action. One of the reasons I went with a bellcrank setup was to reduce the massive bump-steer typical in the Frog... it's all but gone now. Here's a pic of the buggy at rest.
And suspension compressed...
But the main reason I went through all this trouble was... well... I thought it'd look *trick*!
So that's my idea of what a TRF inspired Frog buggy might look like. IMO the front+rear widened track allows the 2.2" wheel-tire combo to look more proportional. The other mods should also improve the handling of the car somewhat. Now if only the weather would clear up to allow me to test it.
Hope you enjoyed the pics. Let me know what you think.
... and don't bug me on that pink bumper... I bought that to go with a box-art pink-white body I hope to do sometime.
