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Apparently Tamiya is releasing a 1/12 scale Grasshopper as part of the TamTech Gear series.  This is very odd given that the GB-01 chassis died more than a decade ago.  I never expected to see another one.  I have the Fox, Hornet, and Frog already along with the Hotshot on the GB-03 chassis (can't find the GB-02 no matter how hard I try).  I wonder if it will be kit or XB?  The XB versions of the Tamtech Gear buggies came with AM Expec radios that I can't imagine they will still use.  If I remember right, all the GB chassis models were XB and only the touring car version (GT-01) was available as a kit.  Some rumors say this will only be available in Japan.

I really like the GB-01 and GT-01 chassis, but they are let down by the terrible pogo stick dampers.  There were optional CVA dampers back in the past, but they have been impossible to find for many years.  I sure would like to see some availability on those dampers.  I would buy 8 sets.

I saw it on fb. 

I saw it on FB too.

Odd choice yes. The Grasshopper should have been available in the GB01 lineup from the start really.

The only non XB GB01 was the chassis kit.

More details on this model available today.  Looks like they made some changes to the GB-01 chassis and now it is a GB-01S.  Not surprisingly, they changed the old AM radio to a 2.4 GHz model.  The car uses a combination ESC/Receiver which means it won't be easy to change to another radio system.  The radio also has a normal mode / power mode button which presumably allows higher top speed at the expense of shorter run time.  Finally, the chassis tub has been pretty significantly modified to allow the use of a 4AA battery pack instead of the 6-cell Ni-Cd pack used in the older models.  The old model was already very slow.  It seems like dropping from 7.2V to 4.8V is going to make it terribly, but time will tell.  I swapped in a LaTrax 370 motor on all my GB-01's which doubled the speed.

The model appears to be Japan only.  Not sure how hard it will be to find one anywhere else.

Good news.  Latest info says that there will indeed be new versions of the Tamtech CVA shocks available (22011).  I don't see any reason these wouldn't be compatible with the older GB and GT chassis so I'll be getting many sets.  Given the large list of hopups posted for the new GB-01S, I have to assume Tamiya is planning more than just a Japan-only Grasshopper release.  I wonder what else is coming?

saw some pics of a Bigwig and a Boomerang with a Tamtech chassis on Facebook (it was in Japan). There was also speculation with those pics that those two maybe released at some point.

silvertriple wrote:

saw some pics of a Bigwig and a Boomerang with a Tamtech chassis on Facebook (it was in Japan). There was also speculation with those pics that those two maybe released at some point.
 

Those two are both 4WD.  So far only the Hotshot has been released on the GB-03 chassis with 4WD.  I would imagine it does not cost much for Tamiya to release the same chassis with various old buggy bodies though.  The Hotshot version had nothing in common with the original Hotshot with respect to the suspension layout.