nitrosportsandrunner

....well I certainly don't know how to!
ive been looking up info and there are a few methods. most look to complicated for a guy like me with little patience.

but then I watched this video. ive never seen this material used before, but it looks like it has the benefits of both a hard plastic and balsa wood!

a seriously nice build, and a good video to show the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDWQCLWmfk

SyCo_VeNoM

hmm now where to buy the stuff as it seems homedepot, and lowes don't carry it, and can't find any on ebay as this stuff would be ideal for my current project...

http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76678 is his thread where he commented on each step (found it while trying to locate a place that sells the stuff)

Edit looking Palight seems like it might be a similar material as its used in the same things, and is available on ebay kinda cheap.

nitrosportsandrunner

I just messaged one of the ebay sellers with this palight stuff. hoping maybe they will know if it is like Komacel.
it looks fairly easy to work with.

I may start working on a body tomorrow (have time now, since I just got fired from my job) I may start with dollar tree foam board. I don't think it will work all that well, but it is very cheap stuff and easy to work with. and at the least it should give me some practice before I either get some of this stuff or some sheet metal.

I had been wanting to do a 8x8x8, but not having luck finding another exceed mad torque for cheap.
so now im thinking a proper scale 87 yota....just like the one I had last year. I loved that truck, plus as far as trucks go it has fairly simple shapes. not many curves ect.

nitrosportsandrunner

I got a reply from the seller of palight....

Based on what I read about Komacel, the 2 primary, and what appear to be the only, differences is the surface texture and the fire rating. The surface of the Palight is a matte finish, not glossy, and we do not have a fire rating. The glossy surface may mean that rigid PVC sandwiches foamed PVC, where ours is the interior only. Nothing states that as fact on the komacel website though. Both are UV stabilized with zero water absorption. Hopefully this helps. Contact me with any other questions.

seems like it would be worth a shot.

SyCo_VeNoM

gahhh now I'm torn do I go leaf spring setup, or keep shocks (planning on using MT2 front shocks as I happen to have 6)...
If I go shocks its highly likely the body will get hit by a wheel... and if I end up making one out of that material I'd be pissed if it broke due to that, also I'd have to have the body made higher to accommodate the shocks. Leaf springs or use something smaller, and cheap like on-road RS4 shocks... Or do something simpler like just buy a front cab from a SCX10 honcho, and just make a rear out of that stuff... hmm I got lots of though to put into this now...

nitrosportsandrunner

or, you can do a semi-droop setup with the shocks. dump the oil out, find some springs at a hardware store that will fit inside the shocks and give you .5'' of uptravel and how ever much down travel. this way you have a stock looking ride height, but still have a decent amount of total travel.
That's what I will be doing on my exceed mad torque. I could buy new (shorter) shocks, or just buy $4 in springs for a semi droop setup.

Also, this material seems to be a somewhat hard plastic. as long as joints are glued well and/or reinforced they should be able to hold up to a fair bit of abuse. Even the dollar tree foam board ive been using to build planes is surprisingly durable, and that's just a thin layer of foam with paper layers on either side. I have no doubt this palight stuff is much more durable.

jmz6

What is used most is "Styrene" short for Polystyrene. There are many places to buy it but most of us get it at our LHS, but there are plenty of online sellers. Plastruct http://plastruct.com/ and Evergreen http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/ are the most common, but there are many other manufacturers for commercial use.

Styrene really isn't hard to work with, the first thing you have to learn is that you don't use "glue" glues harden and will flake off and pop apart the first time you roll the body over. You use a plastic welder, the most common brands found at LHS's would be Tenax7 and Plastruct Bondene, both are solvents that melt (or weld) the plastic together to form a joint that flexes and is as strong as the plastic around it. When done properly the joint will not come apart, I have tried to break joints and wound up tearing the plastic around the joint instead. Do some research, there are many other brands and builders have their "favorites" but it is a place to start.

This is my most recent styrene project, of course it is far from done and will need filler & plenty of sanding.

nitrosportsandrunner

thanx for posting.
it looks maybe the same as the komacel stuff really.

it certainly looks easier than working with sheet metal!

for syco, here is a quick vid showing how the styrene cuts and gets welded. I think this is the way to go for custom bodies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3gabIJ3Ono

SyCo_VeNoM

hmm not as bad as I was thinking
I was expecting to have to use something like the stuff to weld acrylic together, or that stuff for PVC(that crap is nasty to work with)
As for sheet metal... sheet metal is easy if you have all the proper equipment like the sheet metal class I took ohh so long ago in high school where they had the benders that you could bend 3mm thick sheets with your pinky, and every single tool needed. But without that stuff... hell no that is a pain.

Might go the styrene route though as I have most the tools already.

nitrosportsandrunner

well tomorrow I am going to buy a couple packs of .040 sheets (7x12'')...a bottle of glue and a pack of 3/16 square rods. will run me just under $30 shipped. that will give me a total of 8 of the 7x12'' sheets. could be close if I mess up, since the wheel wells will be 7'' wide at the base to fit the mad torque's wheels. it will be a fairly large body. Im not planning on making the bed out of the stuff...it will most likely be a wooden bed.
the .040 thickness I believe is 1mm (less than a dime's thickness) that is pretty thin but I hope it will be enough with some well places supports and braces. the thicker stuff was a fair bit more expensive (well, same cost for a pack but half as many sheets)
Only time will tell....but certainly looks like more fun than trying to work with sheet metal.

SyCo_VeNoM

I'm waiting for the shocks I ordered (went with on-road as they were cheaper $22 for 8 ) as I was looking at how long the MT2 front shocks I have are, and how they will more then likely be needed for 2 other vehicles I've been working on(which I will be resuming if the links work fine). Also figured it would be easier to find softer RS4 evo springs then MT2.
I guess once I get all my mats, and actually start I'll make a build thread as I'm aiming for the looks of a 1980's XM963. Going to try, and go for a covered rear so I can store my battery in the back trailer to make it easy to change Just hope the Delrin sheet I ordered will work well for the chassis rails (3mm thick so it shouldn't break)

KID_EVIL!

That's wild!! I get into some pretty tough details when I paint up bodies... But to build a body with all the little pieces... Hinges and lights and the dash. That's just awesome.

nitrosportsandrunner

yeh, I know I don't have the patience for that kinda detail.
My plan it to make a yota body large enough for my exceed 1/8 that will have just enough detail and shape that you can tell it is supposed to be a yota. it certainly wont be as good as that first build.

I bought the supplies on ebay last night. so, by next weekend I should be able to start the build. The fun part will be printing of some pictures and then trying to scale up all the measurements just right! I was hoping to find a blueprint of a 4th gen yota that I could scale up in Gimp2, but no such luck. did find blueprints on google for the 5th gen and up, but im partial to the 4th gen yotas since that is what I owned.

I still have some red paint from my real truck that I had Napa mix up. so, once my body is made I can go back to Napa and have them mix up another can so I can spray the body the exact same color as my truck was