Whelen Modified to the body shop!

[TuscoTodd]

Slot Therapist ordered up a batch of 3d printed bodies from a seller msch2318 on ebay to put together a new series to run on the various ovals in our group.

Here are a couple shots of the body as received:










Some general observations regarding the plastic / body...
- The type of filament used seems to have a nice mix of strength and flexibility which should help insure long life even with the wild wrecks that can happen in short track, open wheel racing.
- The type of plastic used sands without gumming up, but definitely takes some notable efforts to smooth the ridges! (I guess I am spoiled by resin and injection molded plastic in that regard)
- The body fits a Johnny Lightning / Auto World Thunderjet chassis like a glove. An Aurora chassis can be used, but will need to have the top rails of the gear plate trimmed back to the motor pinion (similar to how the JL / AW chassis top plate is made), or as an alternate, the "dash" of the the body will need to be trimmed to allow for them

After sanding - it was on for a trip to the paint shop for the base coat. (as can be noted in the picture, there are still some light ridges present from the 3-d print, but I wanted to see if the paint, decals and clear might not just hide them at this point) ;)




Base coat of gloss black applied!




Next step - detail painting and decals!
:D

[RichD]

Here is a printed Whenen body that I did. Sanding had little effect, so I coated the body with Mod Podge before I painted it. I don't know if that will resist chipping, we don't race these cars so it has not seen much track time.

[TuscoTodd]

Rich - I like it! Thanks for sharing!
:handgestures-thumbup:

[HomeRacingWorld]

Pretty nice choice and interesting to follow. This is just one more example of how this technology is going to continue to change the hobby for those that enjoy modeling.

Look forward to the finished example Todd. I know you will make a concours winner.

[Vintage 1/24]

I will be following this.

I have my hand in this kind of thing, and I was trying to figure what would be the best chassis to use for an open wheel Mod.

Asked a couple HO guys and I didn't think there was a clear consensus. I wanted something with longish wheelbase, and the track width would be at the absolute maximum (whatever that reasonably is for HO).

Thanks for posting these "in-progress" build threads - they are great to follow.

[TuscoTodd]

Harry - The 3d technology definitely is making for some interesting options! I had a resin modified body that I had picked up a couple years ago, but it was fragile due to the thin construction and just wouldn't live for racing. This body is on par with an injection molded baby as far as flexibility / strength and while it takes notably more prep time than resin - I won't have to worry about it breaking if something unfortunate happens (like getting nerfed and getting booted off track to the floor) ;)

Vintage 1/24 - This chassis choice isn't going to result in as low / long of a stance as an inline chassis would provide (the width will be the same though) - but the slower pace, lack of magnetic down force and inexpensive price of the Auto World Thunderjet chassis are all big pluses in our racing group! We find having the tail hanging out and tires/bodies rubbing much more entertaining than the speed / heavy magnetic traction that the inline cars provide - which is why we went that route with these.
As the build progresses - I'll get dimensions for your reference though. :)

Now where are those HO decals....

[model murdering]

Thats very sharp Todd! A gorgeous color.

Looks like one of the Alclad chrome colors or a Hot Wheels restoration color. Can you tell us what you used please? I think it would look great on one of my 3D projects.

Cant beat the "syntered nylons" for durability. You can tie it in a knot, but body work in the conventional sense is futile. I eventually went as low as 220 dry, and it was still laughing at me. I'm not sure I want to work THAT hard. :hand: :lol:


It is after all nylon. One of it's primary intended properties is abrasion resistance; so you're gonna hump to get any head way sanding or filing it. The consensus seems to be to knock the rough edges as best you can, putty up, and out; cut it back, and then hammer on enough high solids primer to work your way back in the finishing stages. Tried an old plastic smoothing trick using using mellow heat from a propane torch, but failed to smooth or break that sharkskin finish; nor would it react favorably with solvent. Again, it's nylon.

No hijack intended, but I'd also like to add that I have worked with one of the other 3D materials. "Acrylate resin" ....



... black in color, stinks like super glue when it's freshly printed, but dissipates in short order. The detail is substantially better!





A back burner project, you can see that I savaged the back floor. I fit up a different drive unit in just a few short minutes. It files and sands like buttah'; but feels a bit brittle under the knife, when you cut on the bias, or plunge and scrape with a gouge. Honestly, I think it cuts back a bit too easy. It's a hair tougher than "Evercoat" (polyester glazing resin) from 1:1 autobody. I can see where it would be easy to go a bit far/deep and loose a line or a curve if one were to get overzealous. I'll keep y'all posted in my thread as it progresses, I'm still trying to reconstruct my losses from the photbucket debacle.

My sense of it is that there is a missing link (tweener product) between the two extremes with respect to bodies. Heck there may already be one as yet untried, Perhaps even using the syntered nylon as the base for a model, with the more cooperative Acrylate resin over the top few thousanths, which is basically what we do in conventional 1:1 autobody.

Looking forward to your reveal.

Bill

[RichD]

We race Whelen Modifieds on Magnatraction and X-Traction chassis with the ears cut off. The resin body sold by Big Donkey is a popular choice for this class. I have lowered the #732 car's body somewhat. One of the guys has done a couple of scratch built bodies.

[Audi1]

That should be a nice build, Todd. Looking forward to the next installment!

Allan

[TuscoTodd]

[REL13]

I got three of those bodies on E-bay a few year back. I didn't like those ridges, so I used white putty made by SQUADRON PRODUCTS. It is fast drying, sands easily. It comes in a small tube and you have to work fast it starts drying pretty quick. I got it at the hobby shop in town. I have used it on my plastic models for years. REL13

[Vintage 1/24]

[dge467]

Nice Todd.

[TuscoTodd]

[sweet]