How to repro a body...

[wts873]

If you wanted to repair it and make another hole, you tape it up on the outside again but put the back of the tape over the hole so the adhesive does not stick to the epoxy

I use epoxy everyday at work. when I have to fix a chip on the edge of a counter Ill use masking tape to hold the glue in place until it sets up. I always put the sticky side to the epoxy and it always releases from the epoxy cleanly. This is polyesther epoxy ( Akemi) , not the twin tube syringe type. Akemi is alot like bondo without the filler.

[Asso_man!]

Keyz, let me know if you got all the answers you were looking for here...

On a side note, I checked the links I posted on the first page and only the first one is broken, I'll try to fix it later on

[Mr. ED]

Too bad they don't make a 3d digitizer for it.

I work for a company that makes 3d scanners using laser projection and coordinate measure machines. We got the equipment in our local office and I know how to use it. Can do it over the weekend sometime.Anybody got an ftp site to dump the data on?

I could scan a body (would need to spray it with some powder to take away the transparence) and generate a high density polygon mesh. That mesh can be used for creating cnc milling paths ( but I don't know how to operate that type of soft, nor have acces to it).
It won't work for areas with deep narrow recesses like the old yz-10 and some wings have though. I also doubt how much detail I can get on the trimlines and similar. but I'm sure willing to try: it works on painted bodies and cut bodies as well, and there's no shipping or plaster, resin mess.

Who can make the ;illing paths?

[Tadracket]

I can't make the paths YET. But I am taking machining classes this fall.

I would be happy though to set up an ftp server and if anyone needs the files in the future, they will be available.

[Mr. ED]

I can't make the paths YET. But I am taking machining classes this fall.

I would be happy though to set up an ftp server and if anyone needs the files in the future, they will be available.

you got to take some business classes too
don't go spreading around files so people can copy your product without putting some work in themselves.
My price for the scan work is 2 repro bodies delivered to my doorstep free of charge.
I can actually remodel the meshes a bit to make them distiguishable from original, or make them fit a T-tub.

[Tadracket]

I can't make the paths YET. But I am taking machining classes this fall.

I would be happy though to set up an ftp server and if anyone needs the files in the future, they will be available.

you got to take some business classes too
don't go spreading around files so people can copy your product without putting some work in themselves.
My price for the scan work is 2 repro bodies delivered to my doorstep free of charge.
I can actually remodel the meshes a bit to make them distiguishable from original, or make them fit a T-tub.

Yeah, I'm not much of a business man. I am more eager to make people happy than make money.
Modify the bodies how ever you want. If it stands out enough, maybe we can name it after you.

[Brandon G]

Some additional info:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_81435/anchors_81435/mpage_1/key_VACUUM%252CFORMING/anchor/tm.htm#81435

Has anybody read this book yet?
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=80868

Everywhere I read says this is money well spent if you are interested in your own mold making, and vacuum forming.

Has anybody used ultracal 30 for molds? It seems to be pretty reasonable at $20-25 for 50 lbs......

[Tadracket]

If you wanted to repair it and make another hole, you tape it up on the outside again but put the back of the tape over the hole so the adhesive does not stick to the epoxy

I use epoxy everyday at work. when I have to fix a chip on the edge of a counter Ill use masking tape to hold the glue in place until it sets up. I always put the sticky side to the epoxy and it always releases from the epoxy cleanly. This is polyesther epoxy ( Akemi) , not the twin tube syringe type. Akemi is alot like bondo without the filler.

My problem is patience. I took the tail off my 12R and dremeled the shadowing from the Zx12R sticker. Then put masking tape on the outside and poured the inside with the twin tube epoxy. And I think it would have worked great had I let it dry. But when I pulled the tape, the adhesive on the masking pulled high spots in the epoxy and made it look cloudy.

Now, in this situation it worked out for the best. The cloudy look actually dispersed the neon lights from inside and it looked like it was glowing. But I have since used it for other things that require a smooth clear finish and flipping the tape works for me. It may work even better if I just let the crap dry. But like I said, I get impatient sometimes.

Let me see if I can find pics of it.

[ROH73]

Hi,

I'm a new member here and this is my first post. I've been into hobby grade RC cars since 1986. I have two original RC10 gold pans, an RC10T and an RC10B3 team car, along with more than a dozen other vintage cars.

I'm in the process of building a vacuum forming system, primarily to repro a NIP Turbo Optima body. I've been experimenting and working the bugs out with an RC10 Viper body, so as not to ruin anything irreplaceable. Ultracal-30 works very well. Attached is a pic of the Viper mold from Ultracal-30. Please ignore the color variations; the mold is very smooth and it picked up all the detail. I didn't use a release agent and the mold was a little difficult to get out of the body. It didn't damage anything, but to make things easier, next time I'll use some sort of release agent like spray Teflon, etc.

Regards,

Robert

[Tadracket]

Hi,

I'm a new member here and this is my first post. I've been into hobby grade RC cars since 1986. I have two original RC10 gold pans, an RC10T and an RC10B3 team car, along with more than a dozen other vintage cars.

I'm in the process of building a vacuum forming system, primarily to repro a NIP Turbo Optima body. I've been experimenting and working the bugs out with an RC10 Viper body, so as not to ruin anything irreplaceable. Ultracal-30 works very well. Attached is a pic of the Viper mold from Ultracal-30. Please ignore the color variations; the mold is very smooth and it picked up all the detail. I didn't use a release agent and the mold was a little difficult to get out of the body. It didn't damage anything, but to make things easier, next time I'll use some sort of release agent like spray Teflon, etc.

Regards,

Robert

Looks good and welcome to the forum. I have a question. Are you poring in several small quantities or all at once? I am having a problem with the sides bowing out on my bodies. It is driving me nuts. I don't have the plaster to do an outer shell for strength plus pore the inside. But if I keep wasting this junk, I'll be out all my plaster.

[Keyz]

Hey Tadracket,
Maybe try (with some protection on the outside of the shell) carefully mounting it upside down inside a container of sand to support the outside?

That's the only thing I can think of quickly...

[ROH73]

I'm poring it all in at once.

I used 1x6's to make a box frame that's just big enough for the the uncut body to "hang" from (hanging from the 1/2" or so of extra lexan around the perimeter). I then taped the body to the frame with duct tape, filling in the open spaces. Then, I flipped the frame + body over and generously filled the cavity (which is now the outside of the body) with styrofoam peanuts to provide support for the weight of the plaster. I'm sure something else could be used, like the sand mentioned, but the peanuts make for mess free work. Next, I taped a thin wood cover over that and then flipped the frame back over. The body is then ready to be filled with plaster.

I hope that description makes sense. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of that process.

Considering the weight of the Ultracal, I'm sure some deformation of the lexan is still occurring, but I don't see it. Rough ruler measurements show everything to be correct.

Regards,

Robert

[Tadracket]

I'm poring it all in at once.

I used 1x6's to make a box frame that's just big enough for the the uncut body to "hang" from (hanging from the 1/2" or so of extra lexan around the perimeter). I then taped the body to the frame with duct tape, filling in the open spaces. Then, I flipped the frame + body over and generously filled the cavity (which is now the outside of the body) with styrofoam peanuts to provide support for the weight of the plaster. I'm sure something else could be used, like the sand mentioned, but the peanuts make for mess free work. Next, I taped a thin wood cover over that and then flipped the frame back over. The body is then ready to be filled with plaster.

I hope that description makes sense. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of that process.

Considering the weight of the Ultracal, I'm sure some deformation of the lexan is still occurring, but I don't see it. Rough ruler measurements show everything to be correct.

Regards,

Robert

Awesome. I'll try that tonight. Thanks Robert.

[jasen]

what about using Alginate I'm sure I've read some were that it can be used best part is i can get it free

[ROH73]

Some repro success!!

After about a dozen vacuum attempts and building a new heat source, I finally got some good results. Below is a pretty nice repro pulled from the mold I posted before. Almost all the detail has been picked up. I think just a little tweaking of the mold and/or process is in order. The material is 0.030" thick PET-G (the stuff 2 liter soda bottles are made from). I chose that for my experiments because I knew I'd be scrapping a lot and it's about 1/4 the cost of polycarbonate. PET-G behaves similarly during heating and vacuum forming. There are some air bubbles in the formed plastic, which is to be expected, considering I didn't dry it. That's my next job: build a drying box for the polycarbonate and PET-G. The plastic sheet needs to see about 150 F for several days prior to vacuum forming.

Robert