how to cut a body shell

[edwin pibal]

Hi guys, I have been cutting out shells for 20 years now, but the thing I ALWAYS get wrong and stuff is when the body goes over the rear shock tower and clears the shocks

is there a trick to this ? or should I go back to my touring car bodys

ed

[slapshot1979]

I use lexan scissors to rough out area and then a dremel to finish off.

[DaveM]

Hi Guys,

I am a complete amateur but on large curves in the wheels arches, after I cut them out I use a

small glass wrapped in wet and dry sandpaper to get nice curves.

On large straight areas after cut out I use the same sandpaper on the bench to get it nicely straight.

+ 1 on curved scissors but I bought a set of cheap nail scissors there were three in the packet 1

straight and 2 curved, they work well and were cheap!

Cheers, DaveM

[edwin pibal]

I use lexan scissors to rough out area and then a dremel to finish off.

what sort of bit do you use ?

ed

[shodog]

I gave up scissors long ago and use an exacto blade. Lightly score the plastic then bend and snap. I use a Dremel to clean up the curves

[slapshot1979]

1/4 sanding drum

[TRX-1-3]

Howdy,

I might use scissors to knock some chunks off, but I go danger close with an exacto knife. Super pointy tip, super slow, super carefull. I only go direct on the easy stuff, straight lines, sweeping curves, etc. When it gets tight and thick, I go to the dremel with a small sanding cone or drum. And then sandpaper for the super fine tuning. Keeping every inside cut radiused to help prevent tearing of the lexan. Give yourself plenty of light and think about the cuts.

"You can take more lexan off, but you can't put it back". And the best part is that it is fairly easy to screw up!

Some of the sweatiest concentration work is properly cutting a piece of vintage lexan.

Mark


And always test fit while trimming. If the back portion by the shock tower always jambs you up: try fitting/trimming from the front to the back. Sometimes I'll lay the clear partially trimmed body on/over the chassis and eyeball some cut limits and mark those on the body with a small pen dot, ect.

Take your time.

[jwscab]

yep, third(?) the xacto method. You can use the blade and a straight edge, score, and break. even when you get to the thick tight curvy sections, a score, and rescore, and a pair of needle nose pliers to flex back and forth to snap off in small sections. also, if you are dealing with a really complex outline, don't feel bad about slicing the excess parts into sections, so that the break lengths are shorter. for instance, working up to the shock tower area, make your scores along the bottom edges of the body front and rear, and then bring them up into the shock clearance area, then cut right across about midway, and pull all that off. then you only have that small finger of lexan you need to carefully remove. think of it like an orange peel, you don't have to take it all off in one shot.

then follow up into really tight spots with a sanding drum or rotary file/burr. just keep the rpm low so you grind the plastic, not melt it. It's actually a good idea to follow any of those tight areas with the sanding drum, since lexan is notch sensitive, it will crack if the edge isn't smooth. that's usually why you end up with cracks around the shock tower area in the nose on most old bodies.

[integra22t]

if the body is already painted and your trying to cut out ie: buggy body .. flip the car upside down place the body on the bottom side of car ( body right side up ) and use a square to help find the cut lines around shock towers and make your first cuts on the inside of your lines as you can always trim more but never replace

[marlo]

I use lexan scissors to rough out area and then a dremel to finish off.

I rarely cut these days, but when I do, ^^ same thing, always perfect. I go over all edges with some fine grit paper after, being careful no to scratch the body.

[edwin pibal]

20 years.....

20 years and I have never seen/heard about a exacto knife way...

just tried it on some scrap and wow its so easy now!

still don't quite follow the dermal though.

so you use a sanding bit or some sort of cutter ?

ed

[jwscab]

Yes a sanding drum or rotary file. They help to bring your rough cuts closer to the required fit.

[edwin pibal]

thank you!

I have a couple of touring car bodys to cut out over the next few days, as well as my mirage body, and want to make a good job of it.

ed

[DMAT]

and here I was just using scissors. Id like like 50 little cuts across each wheel arch and use a larger pair of scissors for the straight line cuts.

I do use a dremel at the top of the shocks to create a nice even curve.

[Coelacanth]

I cut out most of the body, leaving about a centimeter or so outside the cut lines. I also score about 80 - 90 percent of the lines with a fresh X-Acto blade, but sometimes use the little curved Lexan scissors for the corners of the body, especially if they're quite tightly squared-off. The short curved scissors help make those tough angle cuts, often the Lexan is thicker there. I also make the angle cuts just outside the desired cut-line, so that I can use a Dremel sanding drum or file to remove the Lexan up to the cut-line.