Another CR-01 build

[Percymon]

Postman brought the barrel springs and the hop-up stabiliser bars, so time to crack on... (not so many pics today sorry, partly as i'd built some items up previously as small component builds)..

So next job, connecting the axles to the chassis, adding the springs and missing front stabiliser bar...



I went with the soft stabiliser bar up front (medium in rear). The barrel springs didn't lock into the spring platforms very well, and whilst their shorter length was appealing, I've chosen to stick with the standard length ones - soft in the rear, medium up front in an attempt to level the ride height out.







Onto the shocks, and the hop-up aluminium items. I've built loads of Tamiya shocks, right from the basic friction pogo shocks right through to TRF items on 201s, DB-01Rs and TRF801XT. These shocks are right up there in quality, but UK retail price of $195 is ludicrous; thankfully a HK seller helped me out for $60. So what do you get ? ..



Inside..


I stuck with the standard shock build instruction of 2 hole pistons, nice snug fit between the retaining e-clips..



Four (!) o rings seal the piston road - I always pull the rod right through and add the o rings (with some Associated Green Slime) before drawing them back into the shock body - this avoids damaging the o rings pushing the thread rod through them when in he confines of the shock chamber...



and slowly eased back into their chamber, before tightening the lower cap..



Adding the lower eye, I use an older set of side cutters to grip the last groove of the thread, avoids gripping and potentially marking the shaft..



adding the seal (a little green slime top and bottom) and upper ring, before clamping down with the top cap..




All done, I went with Factory Team Associated 25wt silicon oil, maybe a little bit light but should ensure quick damper responses..

[Percymon]

Onto the transmission. Pretty much a stock kit build, the only changes I made were..

rubber sealed outer bearings
KM Racing motor plate
Tamiya CR-Tuned motor using the kit supplied 20T pinion

I then added the carbon steel prop shafts front and rear (nice solid items)..





and then fitted another KMRacing item, an alloy skid plate. The plate looks good quality, is a nice chunky item but can't help think that for serious crawling its design isn't the best for sliding over obstacles ?



Full underside pic..



Standard front bumper added..



Electrics installed - Tamiya TEU-105 isn't the best ESC as there's little to no drag brake function, but it'll do for now

[Percymon]

Body is now cut and test fitted - needs the edges tidying before paint.

Now paint - I'm still completely lost on what colour to go for, I've pretty much narrower it down to one of these four..

AS-5 (applied on the opustside over matt clear PS spray as a primer)..


AS-19 (again on the oustide over matt clear primer)..


Looking at the real can tops, the As-5 is very light and barely any blue, virtually light grey), and the As-19 is darker than the image above.

Next option is mustard yellow PS-56 (eithe on the inside for gloss finish , or outside for matt finish)..


and finally cobalt green PS-54 (again either inside or outside)..


the advantage of painting the outside is that i can weather the outside and also paint the inside with rust / steel colours, so that when the shell naturally gets wear the rust/metal colours show through. I also think the shiney lexan look from painting the inside is a bit 'show car' when in the real world the FJ40 is a go anywhere utility vehicle.

Anyone got any thoughts / opinions on which is the best of these options (please don't confuse me further with more colors !)

[Louisbaby]

I actually removed those stabiliser bars, and in my opinion, she runs better now. Your chassis is looking amazing, what is your total bill standing at right now? I'm sitting down... lol

Here's my baby:

[Percymon]

Originally Posted by Louisbaby

I actually removed those stabiliser bars, and in my opinion, she runs better now. Your chassis is looking amazing, what is your total bill standing at right now? I'm sitting down... lol

I'm trying not to think about it too much, but i reckon ca $750. The good thing about that figure is that if I hadn't sourced 85% of it from Japan/Hong Kong it would have been ca $1200 from UK based sellers :(

Originally Posted by Louisbaby

Here's my baby:

Very nice - the matt paint finish looks sooooo much better than high gloss

[Louisbaby]

Ouch, but that being said. I scored all the STRC aluminum upgrades on a flash sale from ebay. What would have cost $199 I paid $50. So I think mine most probably stands at around $650 in value. What we do for this hobby...

[Percymon]

I did ok with the KMRacing parts, probably ca $65 delivered do can't complain. If banzai prices weren't so attractive for hop ups this one would probably be pretty stock, saving me $200 lol!

[Osteo]

Great build and pics/domumentation and I'm liking your body paint thoughts, painting the inside for rust and the outside, great idea. I'm near finished my build, alas no pictures, got 2 of the 10 Rock Sockers brought into Canada but put a Unimog body onto it.

I like your hop-ups and colours and hear you guys on finding the deals, I managed to score a whole pile of Integy parts off of fleabay for $41 shipped! Sticker price on all the items totalled $229! It was a pure fluke.

Can't help much on colours in the end for the body I was the same, looked at a ton of other trucks for ideas but didn't want to directly copy any either. In the end I did gunmetal for my Unimog but again, really like your idea of the rust on the inside and paint on the outside.

D

[Percymon]

Well Cobalt Green is out, because I've used it on another project !

Body is cut, the windows and tread plate areas masked, and its about to get its first hit of colour on the inside

[Percymon]

copper and metallic graphite done on the inside, need to mask up lights and windows on the outside now.

I think i'm going to go for silver as a thin primer, it will give a lighter finish for the topcoat than using the PS-55 matt clear.

Pics later

[Percymon]

Teaser..

[Osteo]

Originally Posted by Percymon

Teaser..

[Percymon]

Been away for a few days , but managed to make progress this afternoon in between household chores

Rear arches painted, then masked before adding some corrosion mask..






Base silver added all over the outside (Tamiya PS-12), hopefully some nice rust spots later..

[Percymon]

And onto some colour. Opted for Tamiya AS-19 Intermediate Blue in the end as I thought this was a better contrast with a white roof, the AS-5 would have been barely darker/bluer than the white roof.



A glimpse of the rust underneath (roof still silver at this stage)..



and now with the white roof..

[Osteo]

[Louisbaby]

That's bringing back memories...

[Percymon]

One good tip I picked up from another build thread, maybe the one on TamiyaUSA, was to paint the light brackets that fit inside the shell - the rear ones in particular can be very obvious since they are a chrome plated part. So with this in mind I've painted them up in a gunmetal finish to tone in with the inside of the shell..



..using blu-tac as a mask to ensure the light lens part stayed untouched..




Onto the lighting - model lighting solutions are a single guy operation, selling via eBay in the UK. I contacted the seller to ask for a slightly bespoke wiring set, for which he charged me ca $20 delivered..



2 headlights
2 front driving lights
4 roof lights
and 2 rear red leds

I asked for the resistors to be moved down the wires to make it easier to bend the wires immediately behind the led itself on the roof and rear lights..



Front headlight installed - you can see why its better to paint the light holders..



rear holders..



and roof lights on rack (quick test fit)..


So making some progress , but still quite a way to go yet..

[Louisbaby]

Very nice dude.

[Percymon]

Put a few more hours in over the weekend. Roof rack installed and lighting completed and wiring tucked away out if sight.
Made up some stealth body mounts from some styrene /evergreen square channel and velcro.

I thought about painting all the window rubbers/surrounds but got lazy and added the supplied decals (still took an hour !)

Body probably needs a little extra weathering or perhaps a very dilute dark wash to put some stains around the engine bay vents etc.

[Percymon]

Not the best photos but this is how it sits currently..