Durable bodyshells?

[Simon998 36]

I've just started racing 1/10 scale TC's (TT-02 class) and our track is very unforgiving. The carpet has seen better days and the roof leaks which leads to many offs into hard barriers.

I'm on my 2nd shell in 3 practise days, I know the answer is to get better but in the meantime has anyone found shells that are more durable than the Tamiya ones? Or any ways to extend the life of bodyshells?

[BuggyGuy 1106]

3 hours ago, Simon998 said:

I've just started racing 1/10 scale TC's (TT-02 class) and our track is very unforgiving. The carpet has seen better days and the roof leaks which leads to many offs into hard barriers.

I'm on my 2nd shell in 3 practise days, I know the answer is to get better but in the meantime has anyone found shells that are more durable than the Tamiya ones? Or any ways to extend the life of bodyshells?

You can get body reinforcing tape.

Where are you breaking them? If you don't get your cut lines right shells can crack prematurely.

Any race shell (as long as it's not an ultra light version) from MonTech, Protoform, JConceps, Bitty Design, Blitz etc should have a long life even with some big accidents!

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

That sounds familiar!

As you say the answer is to get better and not crash, but you can also reinforce the body using shoe goo and gib/drywall tape. I have a body with heavily reinforced front, rear and wheel arches (its quite heavy now) but it has lasted a few years, including last year with my son using it.

[Scottrc 232]

I’ve just switched to my third shell after nearly a year of racing. My first shell was the Tamiya Audi Quattro rally shell and didn’t last too long. The next shell I bought was a cheap pre painted skyline gtr shell from eBay. Cost me something like £16 and looks good although “Nissan and skyline” is spelt wrong as it’s not licensed. It’s lasted me ages and has only just lost a piece of the rear bumper after I got rear ended. I always tape up the inside of the shells around the front and rear bumpers and above the wheels arches to help reinforce them. A lot of people move the front body posts to the bumper too to help reinforce the front. 

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

Ultimately indoor racing is really, really hard on shells. You have to treat them as a consumable like tyres in my opinion. Buy something cheap that will work OK and reinforce it like @Scottrcsays. There are a fair few prepainted ford and subaru shells on ebay for not too much money. 

[sosidge 624]

Tamiya shells are some of the most durable out there. Unfortunately all the "race" shells are very thin now, the standard thickness now is less than what used to be called "lightweight" a decade ago.

I'm quite a clean driver but I can still wreck a shell within a handful indoor race meetings. You can try reinforcing them. it works for some people, but you're also adding weight. Mostly it's the front wheel arches and front bumper that take the damage.

[Simon998 36]

I've just reinforced/repaired my front bumper and arches with Araldite resin. It's not pretty but seems to be flexing well and added a lot of rigidity. I'll tell you more after practise on Friday!

[Mrowka 496]

I use carpet tape on the inside of my body shells, and my driver is an eight year old. 

[Simon998 36]

Since I first posted I've been racing twice weekly and shells are lasting a lot longer. I've been using a ExtremeAerodynamics Twister Specialé for the last couple of months and it's only on it's last legs now. I've just painted up a Montech Pick-up last week and have started using it. I can noticed the lack of aero but sure it's only a bit of fun. Still got 2nd place in the A-finals out of 14 total entrants.

It's been raised up a bit since.

 

[Simon998 36]

Which is a bit different to my old shell...

 

[jonboy1 2943]

I find keeping them in a glass cabinet works best for preventing crash damage.

I even went as far as putting a security detail on each, just to be safe....