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Big PET bottle to make RC bodies

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 3:22 pm
by Chewbacca
I made a plaster mold from a RC10 body years ago but never got around to actually shrink a bottle around it. Do you know of any source in CA to get the 3 liter soda bottles or 1 Gallon water bottles that are not ribbed? The length of the body is the limiting factor right now.

After the first test I want to make an extended Rad2 body for a mid-motor setup.

Thanks all!!!

Re: Big PET bottle to make RC bodies

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 3:17 pm
by Halgar
I'm willing to bet you can get large sheets of the material you need from an art supply. You could also try a place like Tap Plastic.

Re: Big PET bottle to make RC bodies

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:17 am
by Chewbacca
Thanks,

the ideas WAS, to shrink a bottle around a plaster mold, like shrink tube.

It is almost ashaming to admit I'm an engineer, but I did not think about the fact that the material will of course shrink to the shortest distance between 2 end points of an inner angle, like between side windows and side of the body. I had read the bottle method on some German site and though wow that is cool without thinking it through.

I just did a first off with a 1 gallon water bottle, and the results are not close to what I was hoping for.

Of course the bottle was ribbed, and all the other stuff I've read were using 3l straight cola bottles, so that might be a factor.

So, who here has build a vacum chamber to make bodies? If I send a mold of a body, could someone make me one?

My main goal was to make an extended body for my mid motor Traxxas Rad2 / Graupner Radicator Expert. Since that body ends at the shock tower in the rear. Now in the mid motor setuo the shock tower is about 2 inches further back.

I like the thin style of that body, I am open for other suggestions.

Thanks, Tony