Tamiya Frog (1983, 2010)

By | Sep 30, 2023

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The Tamiya Frog was one of Tamiya’s early plastic buggies that marked the end of the “heavy metal” era of off-road RC vehicles.

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The Frog also made a departure from the hard plastic bodies of their other off-roaders, like the Rough Rider and the Sand Scorcher, and instead used a vacuum-formed polycarbonate body.

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Box are illustrates a rather unusual chassis design that eventually made its way into a number of other kits. Other box photos highlight components, features and layout of the Frog.

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This is an original Frog built from new parts. Tamiya has since re-released the Frog and it is a faithful reproduction of the original. The re-released version has a more effecient electronic speed controller instead of the original Frog’s mechanical unit.

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Close-ups of some of the chassis detail highlight the unusual cantelever rear independent suspension and robust front suspension. Mechanical speed controller is standard Tamiya fare as is the silver can RS540 motor. [wordbay]tamiya frog[/wordbay]

Originally posted 2015-06-02 13:35:28.

10 Comments so far
  1. bruce April 22, 2008 6:07 am

    where can you buy an old but new TAMIYA 1983 ORIGINAL FROG KIT 58041

  2. rcgrabbag April 23, 2008 10:30 am

    Your best bet for this kind of stuff is ebay or tamiyaclub.com (trades section)

  3. Cody Bennett December 23, 2008 6:43 pm

    Dude I got one of those. Mine had the Parma chenoweth racing team body. It is currently going threw some rebuilding, I got it off this old man and he said he fix the speed controler but it doesn’t work and the front tire has a hole in the side wall so I’m fixing it a little at a time. If you can could you e-mail me some tips on my frog thank you.~Cody

  4. rcgrabbag December 23, 2008 8:06 pm

    Tamiya has re-issued the Frog, so you can get replacement tires easily and cheaply off of sites like ebay. What other tips are you looking for?

  5. Andrew Hommert February 23, 2011 5:49 am

    I just got mine last week brand new I will berunning full bearings on it. This is the same car I had 25 years ago. It will be controled by futaba 4pks. Not many poeple want to put a car together like it was 25 years ago. There is too much RTR stuff out there.

  6. Andrew E Hommert September 27, 2011 9:01 pm

    I just finished building my new frog. It is the same model from 1983 with a few upgrades from Tamiya. I like the new esc way better than the old mechanical ones I had to work with in the 80’s. I have been away from this hobby for over 25 years. It is unreal what has happened to this hobby while I have been away. The remote that I’m running is a 4pks only the very best will do. There is another subject I can’t belive how far remotes have come from when I use to play with these things. Battries that is a new subject altogether lets try nicad. Those battries are so old I didn’t know that there were lipo batteries out there. I don’t use lipo yet I started with somthing easy nimh battery.

  7. Shawn October 20, 2012 5:31 pm

    I love the Frog!! My first r/c car kits were the Grasshopper and the Frog. Those cars got me hooked on r/c racing. I sold them back in the 80’s to get an Associated RC10 (with the gold anodized chassis), and a Kyosho Assault .10 powered buggy.

  8. Orlando October 5, 2017 5:41 pm

    I actually found one in the garbage while working ( I work sanitation ) came with control car and some wires but looks like I’m missing some things to it. Can someone help me out please

  9. Patrick t wilkins March 5, 2018 11:07 am

    I have a. Originall runs great looks new frog1983 vintage $450.00

  10. Patrick t wilkins March 5, 2018 11:12 am

    Yes I like it.

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