Tamiya Land Rover Defender or Carisma SCA-1E Range Rover

[Peter_B 997]

Any opinions on the CC-01 Defender Vs the Carisma Range Rover?

Not looking for serious crawling ability. Just something for a sedate trundle around the garden or along a trail.

[markbt73 5310]

Is the Carisma you're looking at a kit? If so, be aware that it is a PAIN to build. Lots of flashing on the plastic parts, ridiculous multi-piece axle design, and 2mm screws threaded into soft plastic everywhere. And no bearings; it's all bronze bushings. Once you get it together, it drives well, but it's not a fun kit to build.

If it's an RTR, disregard the above, unless you plan to tear it down to install bearings.

[Peter_B 997]

@markbt73 it was the Carisma kit I was looking at.

Doesn't sound like a fun build though from what you've said.

[markbt73 5310]

It's just annoying. It feels like they tried to dig too deep into their parts bin instead of tooling up for new pieces for it, so you have things like axle housings made of 6 pieces of plastic, and they need a lot of trimming and cleanup to fit properly. (Edit - it reminds me of the last couple years of Associated RC10 production, when those molds finally started to wear out.) And some of the hardware isn't great; a lot of times I felt like my hex driver was going to skip tightening up a screw.

But the overall quality is pretty good, and the specs are decent. The steel driveshafts and CVD axles are a nice touch. Tires are good, and the shocks are nice, but look too big to be scale. And the chassis layout is nice, with a Gmade-style battery cradle up front.

If you do go for it, download the instructions and get whatever ball bearings you need for it first. It's mostly 5x10mm and 10x15mm if I recall. And Loctite every screw going into metal. (Trust me.)

[Peter_B 997]

14 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

It's just annoying. It feels like they tried to dig too deep into their parts bin instead of tooling up for new pieces for it, so you have things like axle housings made of 6 pieces of plastic, and they need a lot of trimming and cleanup to fit properly. (Edit - it reminds me of the last couple years of Associated RC10 production, when those molds finally started to wear out.) And some of the hardware isn't great; a lot of times I felt like my hex driver was going to skip tightening up a screw.

But the overall quality is pretty good, and the specs are decent. The steel driveshafts and CVD axles are a nice touch. Tires are good, and the shocks are nice, but look too big to be scale. And the chassis layout is nice, with a Gmade-style battery cradle up front.

If you do go for it, download the instructions and get whatever ball bearings you need for it first. It's mostly 5x10mm and 10x15mm if I recall. And Loctite every screw going into metal. (Trust me.)

Thanks for the info.

Maybe the CC-01 is more for me. You know where you are with Tamiya. Plus it's a fair bit cheaper.

[Silvek 3]

I'm in the middle of a slow CC-01 Defender build and am having an absolute blast taking my time with it.  I think I'm going to enjoy building it as much as running it in my daily walks. 

If you do pick one up, I recommend ordering up a set of bearings as well so you can install them during the build.

But beware the "mod" bug.  I too started with a humble desire to have vehicle that could trundle long with me... and yet I've ended up ordering a good number of parts already.

Good luck with your decision.

[Davy Crockett 137]

I've had both SCA-1E and CC01... 6 to be exact!!

Carisma is much more capable but as said previously, there are lots of mods which increase the CC01's ability

In my humble opinion, the CC01 is more 'real' and 'scale'.... nice scale trail rig. Think of running on a trail, would a 1:1 4x4 manage 10 times the obstacle size??

Must-do-mods to the Tamiya are metal rear suspension links, remove the 'brick' at the front, locked diffs, trim front c-hub s for increased steering

 

[Peter_B 997]

Thanks all.

Not decided to get either yet, but I am leaning more towards the CC-01.

But, I'm now debating Bronco or Defender