Tamiya CR-01 Quick Quarantine Project!

[HondaHan 65]

I've wanted a CR-01 ever as long as I could remember. I really liked the idea of a proper Tamiya crawler but could never get past the price and the looks of the ill-fitting bodies. Over the past Christmas season, I found a NIB CR-01 Rock Socker for a very good deal on eBay so I pulled the trigger. I liked how the Stadium Blitzer body it came with fit the chassis better. Unfortunately, it was winter in Michigan (for those of you don't know, basically blizzard season) so I couldn't paint the body. To get it running for some winter crawling with my friends, I just cut up and slapped on my old FJ Cruiser body on it. I also threw in a Wild Willy driver from my Comical Hornet for good measure. It sat for a while like you see in the photo: 

I have to say I do rather like how the FJ body looked, so it might've stayed like it was for a while... until I found something.... 

[HondaHan 65]

While I was doing some spring cleaning of my bathroom, I threw out some old soap/lotion bottles and realized they were sitting in a pretty nice metal basket. I soon realized that it fits PERFECTLY between the fenders of the Stadium Blitzer/Rock Socker body. I quickly cut up the rear of the body and started mocking up the basket. Ideas were brewing and it definitely seemed like my CR-01 would get its Rock Socker body after all... 

[HondaHan 65]

As I have been recently suspended from my engineering internship due to coronavirus pandemic at this time, I'm very very low on funds. This meant this whole mini project was gonna be limited to what I had already on hand. To mount the basket, I decided to rummage through my Tamiya parts bin and found some stuff I could use as brackets. Yes... that's a servo horn as a top mount for it...  I will have to figure something out for the bottom as it sags a bit. The basket could also use a bit of a clean. 

[HondaHan 65]

It seems to fit great with the body! It doesn't get caught up on the body and allows the body to come on and off as if it wasn't even there. 

[HondaHan 65]

Rummaging through my parts bin a bit more, I found a couple of antenna mounts would keep the bottom braced and fix the sagging issue. I used a couple machine screws to fit them on because I didn't have any self tapping screws that were long enough. Getting the nuts on in such a tight space was a pain but at least it's on  I might change this later on. 

[HondaHan 65]

For the paint job, I decided to go with the off road Honda racing colors. I usually am not a big fan of red but it's the can of paint that was most full and I can't afford to get anything else. At least if it is a Honda I guess I can let the red slide 

[HondaHan 65]

I masked the body all up. It won't be a direct replica of the Honda Ridgeline but definitely a homage to it. Masking the body for the molded rear roll cage was kinda a pain in the butt but hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. The body does come with decals for the roll cage detail but I really don't like decals that need to be applied on rounded surfaces because they always seem to peel. 

[HondaHan 65]

I got the body painted and the decals applied! I didn't follow the instructions for the decals and I just placed them wherever I thought they looked cool. The black bit on the hood is done in flat using Tamiya Flat Clear. 

[HondaHan 65]

I kept Wild Willy in there, though his head seems a little bit too large to fit with the body where I want it positioned. His colors will also now have to be changed as he's no longer driving a Comical Hornet.

[HondaHan 65]

The basket looks as good as I was imagining! It needs some scale accessories now  

I was gonna paint the basket, but I like the look of the silver look. 

[HondaHan 65]

I have the body mounts all the proper length now and if you can tell, Wild Willy's head is... a little different... Can you guess what it is? 

[HondaHan 65]

I made it a Honda because... well you see my Tamiya Club screen name 

There's no Honda truck/SUV bodies easily available so this should be a good fix for my Honda fanboy needs even when I'm out on the trails and the rocks! Honda doesn't do any King of the Hammer sort of stuff but I can imagine  

The lights are off of the light bar for my Super Clod Buster. Those darn things break so easily (and definitely did for me) so I didn't feel bad stealing the decals off a couple of them. 

[HondaHan 65]

I found a "Honda" intercooler I used for a Tamiya TT-01 Civic build in my early years of the hobby... 

Maybe this Honda Rock Socker needs to be a Turbo Rock Socker...? 

[Nobbi1977 1793]

All very cool. A CR-01 is on my list as well

[HondaHan 65]

3 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said:

All very cool. A CR-01 is on my list as well

With some minor modifications and upgrades it's just as capable as all the modern crawlers! It's a shame Tamiya missed the timing on the crawler craze since they were basically the first on the scene... I'm literally the only person running a Tamiya in my group of friends.

[Nobbi1977 1793]

34 minutes ago, HondaHan said:

With some minor modifications and upgrades it's just as capable as all the modern crawlers! It's a shame Tamiya missed the timing on the crawler craze since they were basically the first on the scene... I'm literally the only person running a Tamiya in my group of friends.

I have a TRX4, SCX10 and Axial Wraith. Great for running but no building fun

[Mad Ax 10783]

Nice build, good to see some ingenuity here  

I've never really noticed the Rock Socker before (I didn't like the CR-01 as a crawler - it was overpriced, over-engineered and not scale enough compared to the competition) and had written it off before the Rock Socker appeared.  But a few recent builds on here have really made me look at it in a new way.  As a small monster truck, it is actually a nice looking rig and could be a fun garden runner in these locked-in times.

[HondaHan 65]

8 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Nice build, good to see some ingenuity here  

I've never really noticed the Rock Socker before (I didn't like the CR-01 as a crawler - it was overpriced, over-engineered and not scale enough compared to the competition) and had written it off before the Rock Socker appeared.  But a few recent builds on here have really made me look at it in a new way.  As a small monster truck, it is actually a nice looking rig and could be a fun garden runner in these locked-in times.

Yeah Tamiya really messed up the marketing with this one. It competes even less now in the market with stuff like Redcat Gen7 and Gen 8 coming out, getting you into a far more scale looking and well performing crawler for $199 - $300. However, you can't beat how fun Tamiyas are to build, and if you can get over the looks, it actually performs pretty well! I put it out on a course with some SCX10s and HPIs and it was very competitive (granted with some minor mods). 

The Rock Socker was Tamiya's second go at trying to sell the CR-01 since not many picked one up for the exact reasons you mentioned. The price was what kept me away for a while too. The Rock Socker lowers the price by including brass bushings instead of bearings and not having an expensive licensed body. They throw in the barrel spring upgrade in there though to make it worth your while. The Stadium Blitzer body makes it seem more reasonable something that would actually exist irl so the scale looks are improved too imo. They could've further reduced the price in my opinion by getting rid of the manually unlockable diffs (why would want a diff for a crawler anyway?) and shipping with one piece wheels instead of beadlocks (most people will just end up getting better beadlocks anyway). 

Even so, the Rock Socker still isn't the first choice for anyone other than hardcore Tamiya fans (I'm the only person in a large radius of me that runs a Tamiya crawler as my main rig) since the price usually still sits in the $400 range, where other similarly equipped kits from companies like Axial sit closer to the $300 range. I was lucky to find a really good deal on mine for around $300, which is why I finally jumped on it. Deals do come up from time to time. 

[Mad Ax 10783]

I see the Rock Socker as more of a small-scale monster truck than a crawler, although that might not be what Tamiya are aiming it at.  For that reason I'd want open diffs that I can slow down with putty, and I wouldn't want the beadlocks either.  Tamico.de recently had them for under £200 which is a steal, unfortunately I was on a spend embargo at the time and I didn't take advantage of it.  It might have been a good lockdown project, although I've got plenty of those to build anyway!

It's good to hear the rig holds it own on a crawling course  

[HondaHan 65]

Painted Wild Willy (or  "Zesty Zaku" now I guess) To match a little better with the color scheme of the truck! 

[HondaHan 65]

I cut up the battery hold down strap so I can fit some 7 cell hump packs that I have laying around.

Yes... I'm still using NiMH.... It's what I already have and I just feel less stressed using these compared to lipos. I also like to use them like an added weight for some of my cars. 

I do use lipos but only on mini and micro stuff. 

[HondaHan 65]

I've also added new dampers from a Exceed RC Infinitive/Redcat Volcano monster truck. These have aluminum caps are have never leaked even after a lot of hard bashing. The Volcano has 8 shocks, which is way more than it needs so I stole 4 from it for the Rock Socker. Anyone who's owned or owns a CR-01 knows very well that the stock shocks leak like it's got holes. After just one run my dampers were half empty (or half full ). 

These new shocks should hold their contents a lot better. I had to paint the caps because they were anodized purple, which looks cool but doesn't match the color scheme. The shocks did take some minor fiddling to get to fit because the ends aren't directly compatible with the stock mounting hardware. 

[HondaHan 65]

While I was working on it, I went and decided to paint the bead lock rings white to fit better with the color scheme. The original Honda trophy truck scheme calls for red rings but I thought there was already enough red present. Maybe I'll change it later who knows.

I only painted the outer rings because I got tired of undoing the tiny JIS screws. 

[HondaHan 65]

I finally added some scale accessories! I would've liked a tool box and more spare fuel but I just shoved in what I had on had for right now. Maybe I'll hand make some accessories... 

There are two tiny jerry cans in there but they're behind the sleeping bag (which doesn't make a lot of sense for a race truck). 

I also found because the basket was designed to hold soap, the grates are very wide apart and a lot of stuff falls through. I'll just need bigger accessories or just use other methods of holding them down.  

[HondaHan 65]

6 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I see the Rock Socker as more of a small-scale monster truck than a crawler, although that might not be what Tamiya are aiming it at. 

Comparing to other similar crawlers, it is built more like a monster truck than a true crawler now that I look at it (though Tamiya definitely wanted it to be a crawler). The overall chassis design and the 4WS also makes it pretty monster trucky lol. The way the frame rails sit so high up also makes it perfect for making into a monster truck... 

Now you've given me more ways to torture this truck...