Monster Beetle Jr.

The **Monster Beetle Junior** (Japanese: モンスタービートルJr., *Monsutā Bītoru Junia*) is a Wild Mini 4WD car released by Tamiya on May 28, 1987. It was based on the company's Monster Beetle 1/10 R/C truck, which in turns based on the Baja Bug, an modified Volkswagen Beetle car.

It was featured in the manga and anime *Dash! Yonkuro* as one of Dankuro 'Tankuro' Toda's first machines. It was also featured in the anime adaptation of *Bakusou Kyoudai Let's & Go!* as Jun Sagami's first machine, under the name **Wild Home Run** (Japanese: ワイルドホームラン, *Wairudo Hōmu Ran*).

## General info

The Monster Beetle featuring the red Baja Bug body with 3 additional headlamps attached to the front bullbar. It has the 4-tone decals with blue, silver, yellow and white, with the 'Monster Beetle' decals on it.

It was equipped with the standard wild-type wheels with monster truck tires.

## About the Monster Beetle 1/10 R/C monster truck

Released in 1986, the Monster Beetle is a 2WD R/C monster truck released by Tamiya. It is the high-end model of the Blackfoot R/C truck that utilizes the ORV-MT chassis, which is a modified ORV chassis that was released in 1983 with the release of Subaru Brat R/C car.

The ORV-MT chassis has the plastic spaceframe chassis frame, with the 540-size motor being mounted on the rear gearbox with transfers power to the rear wheels. It was support by the front, strengthen lower arm supensions and rear trailing arm suspensions, with four independent oil-filed coilover dampers attached. It has the rear bumper and the underguard.

Steering system has been strengthen to handle the forces incurs with the large, lug-pin-spike hybrid tires. The bathtub box has the cover that protects the mechanical speed controller and its servo from dirts and tiny rocks.

The Monster Beetle was re-released in 2015, with the mechanical speed controller and dog bone driveshafts being swapped out for the more reliable electronic speed controller and universal driveshafts.

## In media

### *Dash! Yonkuro*

During the final round of the Mini 4WD tournament, both Yonkuro, Tankuro and the spectators noticed that there's a kid lying on the flag pole of a high building! Seeing this, both racers halts the race and save the kid.

Using the Monster Beetle with the rope attached and the Boomerang act as a recoil for the Wild Mini 4WD car, they successfully wrapped the kid around the pole with the rope to prevent him from being falling off. Unfortunately, the tie on the Monster Beetle suddenly loosen and the car fall off from the pole, presumed to be destroyed. This makes Tankuro very angry and he attempted to punch Yonkuro for that, only to be stopped by Mr. Sumeragi.

### *Bakusou Kyoudai Let's & Go!*

In *Let's & Go!!* anime, Jun Sagami used a modified version of the Monster Beetle, dubbed **Wild Home Run**, to compete in the first round of the Summer Great Japan Cup. Unfortunately, as the only "monster" car on the grid, combined with rain and an surprise attack by the Professor Ogami's Proto Saber squad that also impacted Chiiko's Flower-Axe (a derivative of Spin-Axe), the car struggled and Jun failed to advance to the next round.

## External link

### Tamiya Japan

* Monster Beetle Jr. at Tamiya Japan (archived)

### R/C truck That the Mini 4WD Car is Based On

* Monster Beetle (2015) at Tamiya Japan
* Monster Beetle (2015) at Tamiya America