Not sure if this belongs in the paint subforum, but figured I'd try here. I have two nice bodies getting painted by someone I found on these forums with far greater skill than me. When they come back to me all fresh and ready to trim, what advice can you give me to get them trimmed right and not ruin my investment?

In particular advice on getting a straight line with a hobby knife and trimming around the rear shock towers, body post holes, and wing mounts. I might not go the body post hole route and try velcro on the edges of the gold pan tub instead, but the other questions still apply.

thanks!

just take your time i used to dread cutting out a body
then i bought a hole trimmer and i use the score and snap process works a treat a hole cutter like this one cant be beat just slow score repeat

trimming painted bods... a challenge actually.

5 tips:

1- avoid scissors to prevent any potential flaking
2- cut from the inside, using NEW x-acto blades.
3- take your time
4- take your time
5- take your time

I usually trim the bodies (from the outside, to cut thru the protective film) first when I have them painted (or when I paint them myself, for that matter!)

Good luck,
Paul

as far as straight lines are concerned, you can lay a piece of tape down first, and use the edge as a guide for the blade.

When in doubt, mark EVERYTHING on the outside of the body with a black Sharpie marker. You can wipe it off later with WD40 and a clean rag.

I use #11 X-acto blade, a straight, metal ruler and a small 2x4 block to support the body on a table or my lap. Consider Lexan to be like bathroom tire—score the body (you don't have to cut very hard or deep), then snap it apart. Do NOT tear it, but snap it like a cookie. Cut on the outside of the body always. The inside is far too cumbersome and concave to work easily with your hands and a knife. I use curved R/C Lexan scissors for corners and straight, small cuts after the body has been completely trimmed out. Masking tape for straight edges is a great tip, if you aren't comfortable with your knife skills. Circle cutters are great for wheel wells. Measure your tire diameter and and add ~4 mm to that to start the cutter dimension. Use a small (.0625") drill bit as a pilot hole for body posts, and use either a sharp tapered hand reamer or a small tapered stone Dremel bit to slowly enlarge the holes to just larger than the diameter of the body post.

I can cut out an entire body in one piece using these techniques, and have almost no scrap left over.

Most importantly, take your time.

Thanks for all the great input.

Figured I'd update you guys, thanks for all the advice. Using the #11 xacto knife and scoring the body and then bending and snapping the lexan off worked perfect! It was only trick on some curvy cuts, but I got it to work.

It's not perfect, but in my opinion and knowing myself, it came out very good. And I'll get better each time I do it.



I need to get new wing tubes and mount the BRP bi-level wing I had painted to match.

Looks good, nice work.

Something else I have started using since my last post, is a modified X-acto knife.


I took one of my original aluminum knife handles and cut it in half with a hacksaw. I ground the end flat, then buffed and polished it, and it fits in the palm of my hand for tricky interior cuts like on the window areas of buggy bodies. Takes a little bit of a different cutting and handling technique, but it works great for certain needs if you have an extra knife lying around.

for small areas and smoothing curves out used a Dremel tool. Messy but works great.

Hobbico or somebody else sold a 'shorty' knife like that LOL

New blades, work slowly, don't cut too deeply, and remember you can always cut off more, but you can't put material back on. I just started using scissors, after like 20 years, and they are pretty good for 'hogging out' wheel wells and other curved areas. I still fine tune them with a Dremel.

And don't be afraid to mess up; chances are you'll wear out the body before too long anyway, so you'll get more practice at it.

One of the handiest tricks I ever learned and used when I worked for RC Driver and built all of the cars was to just score the trim lines with a knife and snip the beginning with scissors and the scores will allow you to just peel the body apart. Sort of how you do it with a circle cutter to cut wheel wells if that makes better sense.

Here's your scoring trick in action... One cut, no touch-ups.

Showoff