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Tamiya 58346 The Grasshopper RC Car

  • Based on 589 reviews
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Availability: 11 left in stock
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Arrives Saturday, Sep 13
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Features

  • The leader in hobby products around the world
  • Made using the highest quality components and materials
  • Test for durabitlity and safety
  • Construction type : assembly kit
  • Terrain use : off-road; Drive-train : 2WD RWD
  • 380 type motor (chassis compatible with 540 type motor - sold separately)
  • Requires A : 7.2 battery & chargerRequires B : 2-channel radio gearRequires C : TS plastic model paint
  • Independent swing axle front suspension, rolling rigid axle rear suspension

Description

Tamiya ventured into the modeling business in 1948, with a scale wooden ship model kit. Since then, Tamiya has been striving to offer merchandise that can truly be called "First in Quality Around the World." Now Tamiya is offering more than 300 different products, both in the fields of precision static models and high performance radio control vehicles. These products are not only sold in Japan but also exported in vast quantities to the United States, Europe, South East Asia, and to many other parts of the world. The standard of excellence achieved by Tamiya is regarded as among the very finest in the world of model hobbies. From the Manufacturer Based on 1-seater buggies seen tearing-up dirt tracks across the U.S. in the 80's, the Grasshopper first made its appearance in R/C stores in 1984. Boasting easy assembly and easy control, the lightweight Grasshopper proved an instant hit as the perfect entry level R/C kit. Also compatible with a whole range of option parts such as 540 motor and ball bearings, the Grasshopper was an entry level car that could keep up with the owners driving experience. Packed with all the fantastic features of the original kit, this fun 2WD buggy is a blast on both off-road and on-road tracks. Whether it was your first or will be your first, the Grasshopper guarantees to please. Simple But Tough 2WD Chassis The perfect combination of simple assembly and tough exterior is what made the Grasshopper so special. Durable plastic body is fastened to bathtub resin monocoque chassis by screws, creating a solid frame that can absorb any type of rough handling. Off-road tracks can be tackled with ease thanks to coil spring dampers and independent swing axle front and rigid axle rear suspension. Diff loaded sealed gearbox keeps out the dirt and stones for smooth driving and cornering. Paddle style rear tires and grooved front tires combine with 3-piece assembly type wheels for excellent grip performance on dirt tracks. Half-body driver figure adds that finishing touch to a fun off- road R/C car.

Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 8.77 x 5.3 inches


Item Weight: 2 pounds


Item model number: TAM58346


Manufacturer recommended age: 15 years and up


Batteries: 1 Product Specific batteries required.


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No


Manufacturer: HRP (Level 3 Products)


Date First Available: February 23, 2007


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Saturday, Sep 13

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Great vintage RC kit!
If you are looking for an entry level RC that you can take down to your local RC track, this is not the RC you want. It is a re-issued, vintage, entry level RC kit. It uses entry level 1980's technology, save for a couple upgrades. It is not going to compete or handle like the current RC models. This is essentially a durable hobby grade toy. Nothing should be "missing" from the kit. "Missing" implies that it was supposed to be present with the kit. Tamiya's QA/QC and overall model quality are pretty superb. It is a hobby grade RC kit; meaning it does not include certain items, which is common for most hobby RC kits. The items not included in Grasshopper kit are the transmitter/receiver, battery/charger, servo, standard RC/model tools (hobby knife, small screw drivers, pliers, and file) and paint. It does come with a small hex wrench to fit the various nuts for the kit, but there was at least one nut that was in a position that was difficult to reach/tighten with the included wrench. So you may want to consider grabbing an RC tool kit that has small hex sockets. The kit contents include a small box with all the bags of bolts, washers, nuts, screws and specialty parts (like the transmission gears and grease), a sturdy black resin chassis, a sturdy white resin body/cover, the tires, various injection moulding sprues (the kit pieces that are attached to frames), the decals, and the instructions. The instructions can also be downloaded online at the Tamiya website. Nothing is painted; everything is pretty much either black or white plastic (or metal). You will need to use a hobby knife or plier snips to cut out the kit pieces from the injection moulding sprues. You can either file down the leftover spurs or shave them off with the hobby knife. The kit is easy and fun to assemble. You have some upgrade options, which include a better motor (the Tamiya RS540 seems to be the most popular, but you will also need an 18T pinion gear if you buy the RS540 motor) and sealed bearings. The sealed bearings used for the kit includes one (1) 5x8x2.5 bearing and nine (9) 5x11x4 bearings. It doesn't have to be Tamiya brand bearings (I used Traxxas aftermarket bearings for the 5x8x2.5) and you might have luck with these at your local hobby shop. The bearings are an ideal upgrade since the included "bearings" are pretty much just plastic or metal spacers. The one thing that you will really need to pay attention to when assembling the kit are the wheels. They come in three peices per wheel plus the tire. Once they are put together, they are very hard to take apart without gouging the plastic rims. So make sure the back tire treads are oriented properly and if you decide to paint, you are best off painting each piece separate before you assemble them. Another detail: if you decide to leave the center piece unpainted/white/different color like I did for contrast, be sure to either file the back side of the other two pieces clean or paint both the front and back of the other two pieces, as the back side of the other two pieces are slightly visible when assembled. Finally, you will need to paint the outer edges of the rims; they also show slightly when assembled. If you want the same exact color scheme as the picture on the box, the instructions tell you which Tamiya paint colors to use. TS-26 (Pure White Spray Lacquer) for the main body color. X-18 (semi-gloss black) for the roll cage bars. X-11 (gloss chrome silver) for the body detail. TS-26 (Pure White Spray Lacquer), XF-1 (flat black), XF-2 (flat white), XF-15 (flat flesh), and X-18 (semi-gloss black) for the driver. Alternatively, you can paint the kit whatever colors you want and used some, all, or none of the provided decals. That is the beauty of building the kit yourself :) I found that the local hobby shop was cheaper to buy the paint I wanted than to get Tamiya brand paint online. I went with a mica blue, white, and fluorescent orange color scheme using mainly testors paint. If you plan on doing a bit of detail painting, grab some high quality brushes, otherwise you will be spending a bit of time picking out loose brush hairs from your paint job. You can use pretty much any standard servo, I used the futaba brand. Roughly the same applies to the transmitter and receiver (both of which come together), again I used futaba's brand, the base model 2ch transmitter, which also came with servos. Not many transmitters include servos, just fyi. For the battery, I used the Tenergy 3800mAh combo with the smart charger. After all is said and done, you will be spending about two hundred fifty-ish on this kit. Pros: Fun to build, great quality (vintage) RC kit, pretty simple (less parts to break), durable and easy to use. Cons: A bit pricey, vintage 1980's technology (good and bad), limited upgrades, not a big aftermarket for replacement parts - once Tamiya discontinues it, parts will likely be a bit difficult to obtain. Update: 11/11/14 - It is a fun car to drive around. With the Futaba 2DR AM R162JE and Transmitter, the range is very long, like barely can see the car kind of long. I am really impressed with the battery life. Somewhere in the range of 30-45 minutes with the Tenergy 7.2V 3800mAh battery that I bought. The kids have a lot of fun with it too and while it has taken some damage to the chassis, it is running fine. Both of the headlights have been snapped off and a chunk has been taken out of the tail, but most of the damage is from indoor hazards. I am not a big fan of the battery cover design; it falls off a lot. I think a screw or maybe just some duck tape will work, but I haven't bothered trying yet. The wheels get poor traction on tile and hardwood floors, but do a little better on pavement. Works best on carpet. Steering is good, but due to the rear suspension being fixed instead of independent, it bounces around a lot and flips pretty easy. All in all, I am very happy with the car! I couldn't add a customer photo, so I put the finished car pic on my profile photo. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2014 by Ben

  • Fun build
We have a few RTR rc cars. but i bought this to build with my grandson so he could learn more about all the hard parts and electronics that makes them run. we had fun building the Grasshopper and now he can fix his other cars when he wrecks them also
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2025 by B man

  • Best RC car I ever got my kids!!
I have purchased countless $50 or $100 RC cars. I wish I got this one first!! I had a grasshopper as a kid and eventually sold it (because I was stupid). Would have saved me so much money if I kept it. I know it would still be running. Sit down with your kid and put this car together. Follow the directions carefully and plan on at least a few hours to do it. Don't start in the middle of the living room floor. Use a project board or a location that can be secured. You probably wont do it in 1 sitting. The work is tedious but worth it! You can replace any part that breaks on this car! I made a mistake putting the gear box together but when it acted up I knew what I had done ... because I knew it inside and out! If your kid will sit make them do the build with you. They will get a great education out of it and a respect for the car knowing they will have to do the repair if they break it. My 10 year old has slammed this full speed into walls, jumped it off of 5 foot high jumps into end to end rolls, run it into mud and water... I have not replaced anything yet! If your kid it 5 or older just get this one and avoid buying cheap ones over and over again. You will find yourself out there playing with it! So much fun! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2014 by Brian J. Foshee

  • Nice and easy to build affordable RC car kit
I always wanted to own and build this buggy car since I was a kid, and thanks to this re-release version, finally I had a chance to fulfill my childhood dream. Somewhat confusingly on a side of the box, it lists ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) as a "SEPARATELY REQUIRED ITEM" (in pictures), but on the left side description (20 items listed), it says ESC is included. Luckily, I found that an ESC (TEU-105BK) was included. Building the kit was straight forward, but surprisingly, it took quite some time for me to construct the tire sets. Placing decals was also very easy because unlike my previous TT-01E experience each decal is already pre-cut, so there is no need to use a scissor and a model knife. Indeed, the performance of this RC car with an old 380-type stock motor is quite slow, compared TT-01 (540), but it is still fun to drive. One thing that let me down was that I expected this buggy car could easily run on grass, however it was rather struggling or most of the time it got stuck, just spinning wheels. I guess you need a truck type RC car to enjoy such terrain. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2013 by Amazon Customer

  • Grasshopper
Brought back memories of long ago when I raced it. Well made!
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024 by Mary Ann Colaneri

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