Carisma SCA-1E Coyote: Ask Me Anything! [KEV’S BENCH]

Carisma SCA-1E Coyote: Ask Me Anything! [KEV’S BENCH]

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | Carisma SCA-1E Coyote: Ask Me Anything! [KEV’S BENCH]

I thought Carisma’s new Coyote looked like a pretty cool scaler when it was announced, and now I’ve got one for review and it’s a nicely built rig. I’m digging it into it for the RC Car Action review, hit me up in the comments with any questions. If you’re already primed to add a Coyote to your fleet, hit up your favorite hobby store–the trucks are shipping now from HRP in the USA. International readers, you can get where-to-buy info here.

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
The chassis uses a ladder frame design and the rails are made out of steel. Rock sliders add body protection and mounted to the bottom of them are LED buckets for rock lights. A plastic cross member adds support to the center of the chassis and it provides a mounting location for the transmission pockets in the bottom reduces its surface area and makes it easier for it to slide over rocks and other obstacles.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
A throttle limiter on a scale truck? Yep, that what you get with the Coyote and it’s attached to the radio when you pull it out of the box. It’s a simple slide on piece that keeps the trigger from being pulled as far and according to the label it will reduce throttle travel by 30%. The radio standard features include trim, servo reversing and dual rate, and steering end points.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
The body is loosely based on the second-gen Toyota Stout and it has a great flat black finish. The rear view mirrors, door handles, windshield wipers, rear bumper and front grill are injection molded pieces and do a great job of adding realism to the body. LED mounts come with the truck and they are used to light up the turn signal area above the head lights.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
The Coyote is RTR right down to the batteries. A 1400mAh NiMH battery with Tamiya connector is included to get the truck running and a USB type charger is included to get it charged up. You even get four AA batteries to power up the radio. Two large Velcro straps are used to secure the pack in the molded battery tray.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
Power for the truck comes from a 540-size 35-turn brushed motor and a molded cage adds protection while allowing air to flow.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
All terrain tires are used on all four corners and their scale tread does a good job of adding to the scale look of the truck. They are molded out of a firm compound rubber and supported by foam inserts. The outside of the multi-spoke wheels comes in slightly smaller than a 1.9-inch wheel and come in at about 1.8-inches in diameter the back of the wheels are larger and measure about 2.17-inches. This is similar to a short course style wheel and according to Carisma Scale Adventure this reduces tire flex and improves steering response. They use functional bead lock rings on both sides to secure the tire to the wheel.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
The servo is mounted directly to the axle to simplify the design and it helps lower the truck’s center of gravity, but a conversion kit for a CSM setup (chassis-mounted servo) is in the works.  A molded plastic drag link is used to connect the hubs and a short drag link runs from the servo arm to the link.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
A 4-link suspension is used on the front and rear of the truck and the links are made out of aluminum rod. Damping is provided by plastic threaded-body shocks.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
Unique steel universal driveshafts connect the transmission to the axles. Instead of splines, a pin engages the slotted female half of the shaft to provide telescoping action.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
The speed control can be set up for NiMH and LiPo packs via jumper chips, and you can choose Crawler mode (100% drag brake), or Boat mode (yeah, weird) which has no brake–so stick with Crawler mode.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
Inside the transmission housings is a set of metal gears and they feature beefy 32 pitch teeth. A combination of bushings and bearings are used throughout the drivetrain. According to Carisma, this was done because bushings won’t rust like bearings do when put away wet.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
Even though the entire drivetrain is made entirely of metal parts, a slipper clutch is still included for protection in high-bind conditions.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote
Several pieces and screws are used to make up the plastic axle housings, and the differential housing has a locker inside.

 

Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote

That’s an inside look at the Carisma Scale Adventure SCA-1E Coyote. Up next: time on the trail! You can see how that went and more by checking out the March 18 issue of Radio Control Car Action magazine.

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Updated: November 27, 2017 — 1:01 PM
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