Quincy`s CR-01

[Quincy]

Crawlers are normally not my favourite RC cars, but they still have a special kind of fascination for me. It must have been in 2020 when I bought the Tamiya CR-01 chassis with Unimog 406 body. A lot of time has passed since then, during which I have been looking for tuning parts. I didn't want to start the build until I had all the parts, because I didn't want to disassemble the chassis for ten times.

 

 

I also used the time in between to have many of the silver hop-up parts anodised in black to give it a clean look.

 

 

After I came across the following article in an old Tamiya magazine from 1983, it was clear that I finally had to realise my crawler project.

 

 

 

 

The assembly starts with the frame, I used the Tamiya mechanism deck and a carbon battery holder. I am especially happy to still got the original Tamiya aluminium side frames.

 

 

When assembling the two axles, I also avoided the plastic parts of the kit, instead I used a solid metal housing with the reinforced axles from Tamiya.

 

 

To get a little more ground clearance, I installed portal axles from 3 Racing. But not without anodising them black and fitting them with ball bearings first.

 

 

 

First parts are done, stay tuned for more....

[Rally!]

Very cool. Was it easy to anodize the parts? I'd love to turn some blue hop-up parts to black.

[OldSchoolRC1]

Looks great! Love the blackout treatment. Nice to see a CR-01 build, it's been a while! 

[Quincy]

On 1/4/2023 at 5:30 AM, Rally! said:

Very cool. Was it easy to anodize the parts? I'd love to turn some blue hop-up parts to black.

I can't tell you because I haven't done it myself. I hired a professional company to do it. The old anodised layer has to be removed first before a new one is applied. It is important to protect the threads from the acid so that you can still use them afterwards.

[Nikko85]

Awesome. More pics please.

[Quincy]

And there we go...

The next step was to complete the axles. My CR-01 is to have a 4WS steering system, and because of the extra weight, the reinforced steering axles were installed.

 

Then I continued with the dampers. Tamiya specifies the TXT tuning shocks as an hop-up option for the CR-01 chassis. Even though I am not convinced of the function of the reservoir, I chose this one.

 

 

 

The next step took me several days. Initially I wanted to install the short barrel springs. However, with these there is hardly any spring compression left. So I switched to the stock springs. Unfortunately, these are also coated white. Because of my colour concept, I had to change this and spent days of sanding, bating and polishing.

 

 

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the assembly of the gearbox. Here I used an aluminium differential housing in combination with the Tamiya heat sink. All parts are also anodised in black. For the motor I chose a Hobbywing Fusion Pro with integrated ESC.

 

And here is the current status after the wiring is completed.

 

 

 

 

[ruebiracer]

That looks fantastic! What´s your plan for the bodyshell/livery?

And I remember so well the article from Tamiya Germany with the Hilux climbing up the Großglockner!

Epic!

[Quincy]

On 1/9/2023 at 10:08 PM, ruebiracer said:

That looks fantastic! What´s your plan for the bodyshell/livery?

And I remember so well the article from Tamiya Germany with the Hilux climbing up the Großglockner!

Epic!

I will do the Unimog body in an used look. It is almost done, just have to fit the body posts.

[87lc2]

Very cool, love my CR01.  That has to be the most hopped up, high $ CR01 in the world   Mine's pretty much all stock and have put a lot of miles on it with nothing broken other than a few twisted driveshafts.  Good work. 

[Badcrumble]

Wow, all that carbon fibre, silver and black makes for a very special looking chassis. Makes me feel like I desecrated mine monsterizing it.

I've a few hop-ups for one of my NIB CR-01s but it won't be on this scale!

[Fish Slice]

So want to see more on this.

I have some parts too and was so close to ordering a CR-01 Unimog, but someone bought the last set of decently priced shocks I was after!

[Quincy]

The last step was to mount the wheels and adjust the body. This is attached with magnetic holders avoiding drilling holes.

 

 

 

The original wheels of the CR-01 are very small, so I changed to larger crawler wheels. These also guarantee additional ground clearance.

 

 

Of course, matching number plates must not be missing.

 

 

 

The windows are still clear, because I will eventually add a cockpit. But for the moment, the CR-01 is ready for its first drive!