The Taiyo Mini Hopper 3 was a small 1/20 scale radio controlled car manufactured by Taiyo (Japan) and released into the Japanese market in 1988.
Made in Japan
As is typical for Japanese manufactures such as Sony and Nintendo, the first versions of any product produced is always made locally - Made in Japan - until the process is perfected. Only then is production sent to factories overseas, most notably Singapore for Taiyo / Tyco, where the process is reproduced.
As a result, almost all of the Taiyo R/C versions of these cars are Made in Japan to an incredibly high standard of quality.
Features and Performance
Designed as a smaller, lower cost, alternative to the full size 1:16 Jet Hopper MK3, the Mini Hopper 3 maintained the same level of quality seen in the full size models, to the extent that even 40 years later you will still find plenty of functional cars available to buy.
Best driven indoors in a smaller area, the 4xAA batteries provide plenty of zip, but not so much that it's likely to cause a serious crash. In fact it's rare to see so much as a broken bumper on a Mini Hopper.
Collections
With so many variants available, it's not uncommon to find Taiyo and Tyco enthusiasts seeking to make a complete collection.
We won't list them all here, but here's a search for all of them!
Recommendation
I could never discourage someone from buying any Mini Hopper, they're the best way to get into the hobby of collecting due to their low price (one sold Mint in Box for $12USD!), wide availability, and the fact that they're usually running just fine despite their age. And typically anyone over 30 is likely to remember these from their childhood, though most probably the Global Taiyo, or Tyco US/UK versions.
So go on, grab one - you won't regret it!
