Carisma racing crf gt serial number 25

[Matty36 267]

Has anyone seen or driven the carisma racing crf gt, as I've just ordered one as I have never had a pan car or f1 car. I may not even build it, but it would be nice to know that it would drive ok on a track.

[Matty36 267]

After much thought, I have decided to build the chassis. I was in two minds about it for a few reasons ;

1; Its a limited edition release, only 500 worldwide as the kit with pre printed carbon look body.

2; I didn't have enough spare electronics to fit without taking them from my other models.

3; I have nowhere to use it and dont want to damage the chassis with tarmac use.

Now I have decided that to keep it sealed would be boring, so it must be opened and built.

The chassis comes with its edition number engraved into the carbon fibre chassis, it comes with a bodyshell, but it doesnt come with tyres or wheels. Not only do they not supply wheels, I cannot find any gold ones that match the pictures. So in the end I ordered the following ;

Sweep racing f21 soft compound tyres front and rear.

Hobbywing justock esc with a 8.5t limit for onroad chassis.

Speedpassion 10.5t motor as that's what I use in my truck and it seems ok.

Savox servo, just a cheap one as it's a shelf model so doesnt need to be fast or strong.

Spare bodyshell, so i can leave the original in its box, plus the replacement ones are clear as i dont like painted and stickered windows.

I will start the build process sometime next week when the items arrive. It looks like a fairly basic kit, I have never built an f1 car or pan car before, it will be an experience if nothing else.

 

[Grotty Otty 868]

Watching with interest. Not seen or heard of these, I'd also have no where to run one. Pan cars are very cool however. 

[Matty36 267]

4 minutes ago, Grotty Otty said:

Watching with interest. Not seen or heard of these, I'd also have no where to run one. Pan cars are very cool however. 

I hadn't heard about them, but accidentally came across it on google, and it looked interesting, plus it was reduced in price.

[Matty36 267]

Ok, I got home tonight and a box was waiting for me, so now I can start the build. The only thing I havent ordered yet is the paint, I dont want to paint it black, I want to paint it pearl white and gun metal grey like the zonda r evolution. The body is just like the kit one, but I can have clear windows. The body does have a lot of pieces to cut out, which looks like a nightmare to do, but I have patience.

 

[Matty36 267]

Ok, after a couple of hours of sanding carbon fibre to fit the ball cup mounts, the front suspension is together. I am quite happy with the build so far, it seems to fit together nicely. So far it has just been machined aluminium, carbon fibre and a few plastic pieces which are the ball cup mounts and turnbuckle ball ends.

[Grotty Otty 868]

Looking good. Always cool when there's plenty of carbon and machined aluminium. Would you say it's on par with Tamiya quality, better or worse? 

[Matty36 267]

7 hours ago, Grotty Otty said:

Looking good. Always cool when there's plenty of carbon and machined aluminium. Would you say it's on par with Tamiya quality, better or worse? 

I have never built a high class tamiya, only a ta01. I would say that the tolerances are very good, also the instructions are pretty nice to use. Even though I wont be using it, the carbon printed body has a nice look to it.

[Grotty Otty 868]

Nice, that body looks good. One for the shelf! 

[Matty36 267]

Yeah, one to paint and leave on the chassis, the carbon one to stay in its box for future use.

[Matty36 267]

The ball diff was next to do, I am used to gear diffs, but this was fairly easy to assemble. I used an allen driver to keep all the small parts together before dropping them into the outdrive. The way I put the balls into the spur gear was to fill it with diff grease, then put the balls on top of the grease then push them in place and put more grease on top.

[Matty36 267]

This seemed to be the easiest way to grease them up.

[Matty36 267]

I have given it a rest for tonight, the rear pod is nearly complete and the chassis has its side rails. Tomorrows task is to fit the rear pod to the chassis, then build the three shock absorbers.

[Grotty Otty 868]

Good effort. Funnily enough that's how I do my ball diffs.. Any other way and I'm hunting around the floor searching for the balls! 

[Matty36 267]

The chassis is next, I am not putting the body posts on yet, I am undecided on what to use to mount the body.

[Matty36 267]

The rear pod is fitted. The front end is fitted with a 6mm ground clearance set of shims.

[Matty36 267]

Ok, the chassis is built, but there are a few issues which I was not expecting.

I have used the front wheels with the included spacers, but the bearings bind when tightened up. It might just need bedding in, so I'm not too worried about it. 

The servo I have used is a standard size one, I had to use spacers under the servo mount to clear the side rails. I can sort it with a low profile servo.

The speed controller wont fit unless I space the battery mount a bit, I will have to rethink its position or take the fan off and put the fan somewhere else.

The rear wheels need spacing out to sit right in the rear arches, the fronts are fine.

The body is in many small pieces, but looks nicely detailed, I'm not sure how it would compare to cutting out the tamiya tc01 body.

The motor mount has 4 screw holes to keep it from moving in an impact, which is quite a nice design.

[Matty36 267]

The big job of starting the body trimming has begun. I have started with the wheel arch cutting, also the front bumper cut out. The nose cone is a separate piece, as are the side trims, rear wing, rear diffuser, side air intakes, roof air intake, front air intakes, wing mirrors, exhaust and rear bumper. I have also widened the rear axle by using some plastic hexes I had laying around, just temporary as they are a few mm too wide. The speed controller will fit with its fan on, but space is fairly tight.

[Matty36 267]

It still needs a lot of trimming, but it's a start.

[Grotty Otty 868]

Wow! Chassis is interesting. Three shocks I presume for compression, rebound in three planes of motion. With the motor in the pod and part of the sprung weight will be interesting to see how it works. Quality looking kit, that body should be spot on once completed. It looks a proper job though! 

[Matty36 267]

The three shocks are not what I was expecting, the centre one is pretty standard, the two side ones are sliders not like standard shocks, they dont fasten together, they just slide the centre into the outer part, but are adjustable. They say in the manual to just take up the slack, not to over adjust them. They use diff oil, 7k is what comes in the kit, but thinner or thicker oil can be used.

Overall it is a nice bit of kit, but I have screws left over that are not in the manual, but maybe they are for the f1 kit.

One thing I have noticed is that the motor ends up pretty central, so all the weight has been centralised.

[Matty36 267]

Well, its taken a lot of careful trimming, but the detail is starting to show. It could never be made in one piece and be detailed.

[Matty36 267]

It sits a lot lower than the rally car, which is also quite low ride height. It is all cut out, waiting for warm weather to paint it.

[Grotty Otty 868]

That is slick, such a good shape the Zonda. Looks great, body will be well worth the effort. Would definitely like one of those but I'd trash it where I could run it. My M-06 is scratched to bits and it's nowhere near as low as that! 

[Matty36 267]

It's set to 6mm ride height, so should be useable if required. There is a lot of small add ons to drill holes for so will look a lot different once painted.