Tamiya Mercedes Benz G500 Project

The Tamiya CC-01 (Cross Country) chassis was originally released in 1993. For more than 25 years this chassis has remained in production with no changes.  Hardly a year went by that Tamiya fans didn't wonder when (or if) a CC-02 would ever be released.  Finally in December of 2019, exactly 26 years later, we got our first CC-02.  This isn't just an update of the previous chassis, it is a completely new design with solid axles and a ladder frame.  There were a lot of things fans were hoping would be addressed in this model, and I'll try to briefly cover each major one.

• Did they fix the steering?  Yes.  The CC-01 suffered from a convoluted steering mechanism with minimal lock.  The CC-02 uses a chassis mounted servo with a direct connection to the steering knuckle.  Lock seems improved as well.
• Did they fix the gearing?  Yes.  And no.  One of the major problems with the CC-01 as a trail truck or crawler was that it was much too fast and could only be made even faster by swapping the 16T pinion with a 20T.  The CC-02 offers a huge array of gear ratios by using pinions anywhere from 16T to 25T as well as a high-low option based on changing a gear in the transmission that allows a further 1.69:1 difference.  While this array of choices is nice, they are all skewed towards fast running.  In my opinion, even the lowest gearing option is still much too fast for a crawler.  I'd prefer another 2:1 reduction if possible.  I replaced the motor with a higher turn (lower speed) motor which works pretty well.
• Did they fix the tires?  No.  The original CC-01 suffered from hard, inflexible tires which were fine on gravel but terrible on anything more difficult.  The CC-02 uses the same style of tires which, for a model new in 2019, are completely unacceptable.
• Are the old bodies compatible?  Yes.  And no.  The CC-02 offers a range of wheelbase options like the CC-01, and there seems to be a good overlap between them.  Any of the polycarbonate bodies should fit fine.  The hard bodies, on the other hand, used a specialized mounting system and it remains to be seen whether or not adapter brackets will be made available.
• What about the inner fenders?  The CC-01 predates the current crawler and trail truck revolution by more than a decade, and even way back then they had inner fenders, a feature that is only now becoming commonplace.  Sadly, the CC-02 lost this feature.
  

The CC-02 is a solid axle, ladder frame chassis with 4-link suspension front and rear.  It uses a chassis mounted servo and four long travel, coil-over CVA style shocks.  The motor, gearbox, and transfer case are mid-mounted reasonably low in the chassis.  The ladder frame, links, axle housings, and virtually everything else are plastic unlike many competitors' trucks.  Nevertheless, the chassis is quite rigid.

Let's talk about the body.  There were a host of bodies available on the CC-01 over the years, mostly smallish SUV bodies.  There was never a Mercedes Benz Geländewagen though, which actually makes some sense because the CC-01 uses independent front suspension and the G-wagen used solid axles, sometimes with portals.  Tamiya never really seemed to care about drivetrain accuracy though.  Despite their highly detailed bodies, they were always perfectly happy to put a RWD car on an AWD chassis or vice versa.  Here was their chance to do one right, to put a solid axle body on a solid axle chassis.  Despite the fact that the G-wagen had been solid axle for 40 YEARS, Tamiya's body choice was a Gen 2 G-wagen, new for 2018, which now uses independent front suspension.  So this new body would be correct on a CC-01, and an older body would be correct on a CC-02.  Oh well, maybe I'm the only one who noticed.  In my market (North America), the G500 and G550 are the entry level versions with a 4.0l V-8 developing only 416hp.  The G63 is the AMG version.

So what's the verdict?  I think the truck is worth building.  The TBLE-02s ESC, while an excellent unit, is not really ideal for this kind of truck because the low speed smoothness isn't great and it doesn't offer drag brake in brushed mode.  I replaced it with a simple Axial AE-5 which made a big difference.  The CC-02 wasn't the answer to all my dreams, and really is still a Cross Country chassis more than a crawler.  On the other hand, the list of compatible amazing scale bodies makes it compelling.  The price is quite high compared with the competition though, so only time will tell whether or not it will be a success.  It will be hard to match the 26 years of the CC-01 which, by the way, has not been replaced.  It is still in production.

Update:  This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire.  It has not been replaced.