Cleaning Carbon Fiber

[trkneller]

What's the best method to clean up the carbon fiber on my original RC10L? I'm giving it a complete going-over and notice the CF just doesn't have the deep sheen it had 21-years ago. It's got a bit of an oxidized look to it and I'd like to bring back the shine before bolting all those newly peroxide-whitened parts back on.

BTW, big thanks to RC10Talk for teaching me about whitening parts!

[Lonestar]

What's the best method to clean up the carbon fiber on my original RC10L? I'm giving it a complete going-over and notice the CF just doesn't have the deep sheen it had 21-years ago. It's got a bit of an oxidized look to it and I'd like to bring back the shine before bolting all those newly peroxide-whitened parts back on.

BTW, big thanks to RC10Talk for teaching me about whitening parts!

Depends if you want to run it

I've restored a yrf2sp whose chassis was scratched... I wet sanded it lightly with 1000-grade sandpaper, then let it dry then clearcoated it with tamiya TS clearcoat. It's so shiny now it's almost wetlook. Here's a pic, the deep scratches in the back end still show of course but the front half looks killer:



The tamiya clearcoat can be tricky to apply and is used quite differently from paint sprays, you need to practice on a few older ABS bodies first but when you get it right it's insane how shiny and deep this thing is. I have no idea how it holds under running conditions though.

I'm sure there are other techniques... that's the one that "worked" for me.

Paul

[trkneller]

Thanks, Paul!

That's basically what I was seeing on the full-scale forums, too.

I'm not certain if she'll ever be a runner again, or not, but I'd like to get it looking good again. I've used some Testor clear coat and dull coat before on model railroad equipment; it does change the look of the surfaces nicely.

Good looking car in your pic, too.

[LTO_Dave]

Depending on how bad the scratches are, you may be able to wet-sand and polish it.

I've done this to a few graphite chassis' and it worked great. I used 1500 then 2000-grit, then polished with clear plastic polish.

[Eau Rouge]

WD40 and a soft rag does wonders.

[trkneller]

WD40 and a soft rag does wonders.

That's a good, easy tip. The chassis has very few scratches so this works well. Thanks!