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Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Wed May 28, 2025 8:52 pm
by Ty89m
I think I know the answer to this - but I'm fairly confident from speaking with AE (and by looking at the J. Concepts Mirage SS body that they utilized for the BK car) that it does not have scribe/cut lines on the body. Was this fairly common back in the day? I'm worried I'll make a right mess of things, but perhaps there's a trick to it? I suppose mapping out the lines in sharpie would be a safe bet?
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Wed May 28, 2025 10:42 pm
by juicedcoupe
I have a brand new JConcepts Mirage SS. I can verify that it doesn't have cut lines.
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Wed May 28, 2025 11:08 pm
by Dangeruss
Not having cut lines was common back in the day. Especially with how many bodies were intended to fit multiple applications. Only trick is having good judgement... Which is why so many bodies are cut up like deranged school projects.
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Thu May 29, 2025 1:55 am
by Ty89m
Dangeruss wrote: ↑Wed May 28, 2025 11:08 pm
Not having cut lines was common back in the day. Especially with how many bodies were intended to fit multiple applications. Only trick is having good judgement... Which is why so many bodies are cut up like deranged school projects.
I'm just now getting competent in cutting them WITH the lines - so things should get interesting. Thankfully replacement bodies are attainable for a reasonable price.
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Fri May 30, 2025 10:52 am
by jwscab
trick is to go slowly and make small cuts. you know roughly how tall the pan is, so your bottom cuts should start there plus some maybe 1/2" or so. then you have to align the rear shock tower and trim out that area so the body will start to sit on the chassis. you can grab another used body and use it as a guide to rough out the nose section. get your dremel with an orange stone on it, either a cone, or cylinder around 3/8" diameter and use that to fine tune your cut lines, it will give you a controlled way to adjust curves around things like the nose/shock tower and rear shocks.
marking things off with a sharpie on the outside works really well too.
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 6:15 pm
by Ty89m
jwscab wrote: ↑Fri May 30, 2025 10:52 am
trick is to go slowly and make small cuts. you know roughly how tall the pan is, so your bottom cuts should start there plus some maybe 1/2" or so. then you have to align the rear shock tower and trim out that area so the body will start to sit on the chassis. you can grab another used body and use it as a guide to rough out the nose section. get your dremel with an orange stone on it, either a cone, or cylinder around 3/8" diameter and use that to fine tune your cut lines, it will give you a controlled way to adjust curves around things like the nose/shock tower and rear shocks.
marking things off with a sharpie on the outside works really well too.
I never considered using the orange grinding stone on the dremel. I have thought about using the smaller sanding drums, but most of my kits haven't involved wheel arches so sandpaper wrapped around a sharpie works good for small radius curves. Thanks for the tips!
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 7:25 pm
by jwscab
Yes it works great. On more extensive cuts with the stone, the polycarbonate kind of gets a built up edge, which you can slice off with your xacto, or bend it back and forth to break it off, because it kind of gums up instead of grinding away. But the trimmed edge is nice and clean after.
Re: Kinwald Mirage SS Body - Scribe Lines
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2025 10:59 pm
by Dangeruss
Don't underestimate the value of masking tape, rulers... or a hole punch...
Distance from the nose to just behind the steering with the wheels fully locked is all you need up front... unless you're into that Joel Johnson Ultima style body gap...
Height, I echo jwscab, height of the tub, give or take a smidge.
But I like masking tape over sharpies as the tape gives you a straighter line.
After that a single-handed hole punch makes for really nice inside corner radiuses.
Rinse and repeat for the rear.
Interestingly, radiused inside cuts are not only more attractive, they're also less likely to fracture over time compared to square inside cuts.
