Parma Euro Panther project - Chris Arnold special

[V12]

Some years ago I received a hand cutted chassis and some other stuff for showing at Classic RC museum. All of this stuff was prototype stuff during development of a certain 1/12 scale car. Other parts will be used from the production car or what is close to the development cars. So this special car will not look exactly the same as a production car but will be more or less a replica of a personal car at a certain development stage.
I also received informations on the special parts and the developments stages, some of them will find their way into the build.

The chassis is the most important area for starting a build, so I will start from there. As mentioned before, this is a hand cutted one off make of a graphite chassis. So the shape is slightly different but experienced 1/12 scale collectors and builders may know what car this will be in the end.
Showing just the chassis for the moment so everybody could speculate what it is.

[V12]

The graphite plate used for that chassis was nothing commercial available but a sample provided by a manufacturer for aircraft fighter parts. Actually I think certain D&D chassis plates had been the stiffest ever, but this one is way stiffer. Tapping on that plate sounds completely different to other graphite plates, also the black/golden color looks very different. Photo can´t really show the beautiful color of the bottom side, the upper side looks dull black so different again.
The super stiff chassis was reported having too much understeer so softer fiberglass plates were used in the end.

Close up for the chassis bottom side.

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Nobody have an idea on the car?

OK, adding some parts.
Right before the development started for this car, a certain company introduced some 1/12 scale parts as this rear pod.

[V12]

Changing the name of the build thread now. It seems nobody have an idea what car this is.
The special parts I received from Chris Arnold, the guy from England who designed this car and built all of the prototypes.
The very first prototype was based on a Parma epoxyglass plate which was shaped similar to this chassis, also the front end was close to the final version already. The rear pod was very different in the beginning but was changed to the Parma style pod later. Overall you could find Schumacher and and Delta parts also.

For this build the typical Parma front end will be used now.

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Another prototype part is the damper post located at the t-bar. The production car uses a molded plastic version where Chris´s cars got a machined aluminium post. Seems a lot of work went into this part.

[V12]

Aluminium post located at the t-bar.

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Next step, the front end was mounted to the chassis. As the Parma front end uses no built-in castor, Associated castor shims were cutted to size and added on top of the front end spacers. Aluminium screws and nylon nuts for mounting the front end.

Additional parts seen at the photo are the Parma steering blocks and Delta oversized linear springs which were used in the beginning.

[V12]

If you know Chris Arnold´s 1984 Worlds car https://classicrc.wordpress.com/specials/championship-cars/parma-euro-panther-chris-arnold-1984-worlds-car/ you may have noticed he liked threaded body posts. So the same type was used for this project also.
This means body posts from the early Schumacher XL Lexan car for the front and metric nylon bolts with Schumacher serrated nuts for the rear. All of this very old Schumacher staff is very hard to find today, but if you run a XL car back in the days ....

[V12]

Front end completed and Schumacher body posts added to chassis.

[ChisaiKuso]

Next step, the front end was mounted to the chassis. As the Parma front end uses no built-in castor, Associated castor shims were cutted to size and added on top of the front end spacers. Aluminium screws and nylon nuts for mounting the front end.

I am curious about something. Would you mind posting a picture that shows the cut Associated castor shims installed?

[V12]

With the front end installed you hardly can see the castor shims, so a picture is difficult.
But it´s very easy to explain how this works. The epoxyglass front end brace is fixed to the chassis with the two 6-32 aluminium screws and the nylon nuts. The yellow front end spacers are in between the chassis and the front end brace for setting ground clearence, the castor shims will be placed between the spacers and the brace for setting castor.

I used Associated RC12E castor shims which are two bolt were the Parma front end is 1 bolt per side, so you have to cut the shims. Also you have the choice now for fine tuning ground clearence as you will have a thin and a thicker half after cutting. Also you could use both of them added for more castor.

Parma had their own parts for setting castor at the Euro Panther production car, but I think these were not available when the Euro Panther was designed and in prototype stage. The Parma folded rear pod and I think also the front end was released before the car.

[bluewormx]

Great thread V12
Your tease didn’t work... I wouldn’t have guess had I seen the chassis plate time. All I remember of this car is that Andy Dobson left Schumacher a little after the 1986 Euros, and that he was going to Parma to be help develop a new 1/12th car.

I saw one at a Watford race but I think the car was never a commercial success and Andy Dobson disappeared into obscurity. The Only three cars that I ever in great numbers where: Schumacher c-car; Associated RC12L and the Corally.

I can see how such a stiff graphite plate would not be popular. Some people preferred the fibreglass chassis on RC12L. Glyn Peglar being one of them.

[V12]

Thanks bluewormx. Glad you like it.
Regarding Andy Dobson , I always wondered what happened to him after he left for the USA. I didn´t find much but it seems he was not working very long for Parma. Composite Craft hired him where I have seen pictures of Lynx cars. I think both onroad and oval.

But he was not involved in the Euro Panther. This car was developed by Chris Arnold (do you know him) after he used Schumacher and Delta cars and was hired by George Land for Helger Racing team. Phil Olson was his buddy and teammate who was racing for Nick Adams before. Chris had some bad luck at large race events where Phil won the 1984 Euros with this car, very unexpected.

[ChisaiKuso]

..... I used Associated RC12E castor shims which are two bolt were the Parma front end is 1 bolt per side, so you have to cut the shims. Also you have the choice now for fine tuning ground clearence as you will have a thin and a thicker half after cutting. Also you could use both of them added for more castor. .....

Thank you for that response. I was curious about which shims you had used and where you had cut them. Your detailed explanation perfectly addresses what I was hoping to see in a picture.

I look forward to the rest of this build thread.

[Lonestar]

This is a fantastic niche product! hence the lack of engagement from fellow forum members... We have no idea what you're talking about

Still a cool one though - kudos for getting to it!

Paul