chevypower1930

I'm not really sure why you're being rude to me haha.... michael's does to hobby stuff, and the Raleigh Hobby shop is a small hobby shop that just opened, and it's like a 35 minute drive I was just wondering IF they may carry lexan compatible paint.... amd BTW I JUST got into the car part of the hobby a few months ago

But thanks anyways I'll check out my hobby shop.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Michael's has artsy fartsy stuff...have you been to one?

chevypower1930

haha yeah I have but I've seen like craft paint in there.. I didn't know if there was like maybe other stuff made of lexan other than car body's... sorry ha I'm new to the car world and I'm pretty excited to do my first painting.

Can I mask off the windows and windshield pretty cleanly and neat with just masking tape??

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Almost all bodies come with precut window masks, so you're good to go there. Wash the body before painting with warm water and dish soap (like Dawn, not Cascade)

chevypower1930

Okay sweet.. that sounds good then.. I'm excited to see how it turns out for my first time

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Just do a ton of light coats rather than just dumping it on really heavy

chevypower1930

Yeah I've actually done body and paint work on real cars so I'm hoping I'll do okay with this.... and my actual job now is actually at Rhino Linings spray in bed liners. So I'm kind of used to the whole "paint" process.

Another question I saw a video and saw that they use like an overspray protector film over the outside of the body, do most clear body's also come with this film?

AND should I cut the holes for like the engine cooling head and the EZ start and everything before I paint or after?

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

ThunderbirdJunkie does all the trimming and such before painting, because if you do it after, you can screw up the paint

chevypower1930

Yeah that's what I was thinking... Alright

By the way man thank you for all the help

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

No problem

chevypower1930

Hey guys just wanted to tell yall I've just bought an HPI Savage 25!

I'm planning on continuing the black on black theme with this truck and am gonna be looking for bodies, wheels, and tires for this truck too... if yall have any suggestions for this truck it would be greatly appreciated.

I should be getting all my parts for the Jato by Thursday or Friday of this week and I will be taking pictures of before and after the wheels and tires and then after I paint my body up.

Can't wait!

chevypower1930

I got my body today!!! Just went to the hobby shop pretty far away from me to pick up some metallic black paint... the small one I was talking about, as i suspected, didn't carry paint.

The body did not come with window masks.... the blue masking tape should be okay to mask off spots such ass the windows right??? The body actually came all pre cut though thankfully, for the cooling head, wheels, post holes and everything. I'm planning on painting either tonight or tomorrow some time. I can't wait to see how it comes out

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Yeah, the blue tape will be fine.

Who made this body that it didn't come with window masks? What's up with that? Back in the day Traxxas put window masks in with their cars...that makes no sense to not include them.

MPevine11

must be a traxxas body........they supply the dumb window stickers but no mask to mask it off with

chevypower1930

I BELIEVE it's from Traxxas... I'm really not sure I bought it from HOPMEUP on Ebay which is a huge hobby store and I've bought from them for the past couple years for random parts I need quick, they ship VERY quickly. It has all the Traxxas and Jato decals.... I'm not completely sure if it's a factory body or an aftermarket but it fits up EXACTLY with my stock body....

Anyways, I was surprised too but it did come with the overspray film thankfully. But anyways thanks for letting me know the masking tape will be fine, maybe the reason there is no window masks is because they have window decals? Idk but I'm just going to trace those onto masking tape and cut out the masking tape to match, should be pretty simple. I'm excited for this, I've always been very artistic and I would love to progress with painting these bodies and hopefully get into some nice custom jobs

chevypower1930

Just finished my first paint job!!! Looks great so far.. it's drying, I see no paint bleed behind the window masks I made, Still have the protective film over the body so I'm gonna wait a while and then take that off and take off my window masks and see how it really looks!

Here's some pictures of the process... first picture is the body ready to spray, second picture is after the first coat...

chevypower1930

The finished body!

I am absolutely more than happy with my first paintjob. it looks so sick. When I pulled off the protectant film it gave it a 100% different look! The metallic flakes are JUST enough, you can barely notice them which is what I wanted. The headlight decals look great, and the windows came out perfect with the window masks I made. Very very satisfied with my body! Let me know what yall think

chevypower1930

Um really?? How in the world would this clutch bell EVER work? It's not big enough to even reach the other main gear, am I missing something? did I need to buy a bigger main gear as well? Is there some way to adjust the main gear or clutch bell over one way or the other? I was so ready to completely finish the Jato makeover today and this kind of was a bummer! [:@]

Help me out again guys! haha thanks a lot

chevypower1930

Hey guys just gonna wait for answers on the clutch bell thing.. But I HAD to see what this Jato would look like all blacked out with the new tires and WOW does it look SICK. [>:]
This is exactly the look I wanted!

One more question! When yall glue your tires are you supposed to glue both sides? like the inside too??

Well here it is.... but first a BEFORE picture.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Yup, you glue both sides.

Smaller clutchbells that don't mesh up with the spur are usually intended to be used with a larger spur. What size spur do you have on there? like a 52 tooth? Go up to a 56 or 58, you should be good to go.

Truck looks sweet[8D]

chevypower1930

Thanks Thunderbird! I love the way it looks!

Anyways yeah the spur gear is a 54t right now... that's the stock spur gear. What exact one should I order to fit the 20t clutch bell? Wouldn't it have to be an exact number in order to fit perfectly with the certain clutch bell? Once again thanks for all the help throughout this Jato overhaul haha, it's so nice having the kind of help i'm getting... which is why I love RCU and the RCU community.

Also is there some kind of clear coat I can buy to kind of topcoat my paint in the body?? I'm so scared and am so careful putting the body onto the body posts... or am I being scared for no reason? is the paint pretty tough?

chevypower1930

Hey the way I'm thinking about it and doing the math, this is what I'm thinking:

Stock clutchbell: 24t
Stock Spur Gear: 54t

SO since I subtracted 4 teeth off my clutch bell, would that mean I need to counter that subtraction and ADD 4 teeth which would be a 58t spur gear?

New Clutchbell: 20t
New Spur Gear: 58t?


Update: I was just reading another thread and somebody said you can actually MOVE the engine to adjust your mesh distance?! Would this be possible to do on my car and just use the stock spur gear? Or is that too much of an adjustment?

Also something that is confusing me is I keep hearing GEAR PITCH? How can I tell if it is the same or different?
Thanks a lot

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Get these [8D]
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCBV1&P=7

chevypower1930

Oh man nice... yeah I'll have to order those when I make another order...

Any help on the other stuff I've asked about????

superflyboy1988

i have a stock spur gear in my jato and i upgrade to a traxxas 20t clutch bell with no problem just losen the motor and moved it over with some printer paper in it for spaceing