Design And Make Your Own Body Shells

[actualday 7]

Hi Tamiyaclub readers,

a project I started some time ago has been developing welll recently, I have been looking in to the possibility of designing and manufacturing body shells as a bit of a cottage industry thing, and am working through some of the issues with making a body shell for a Tamiya Dirt Thrasher.

I am blogging the process on my website www.digitalsketchpad.co.uk , and to get to the blog just click on the 'Process' bar on the left of the screen. Its a pretty basic website, so you should get the idea of whats involved pretty quickly. Its a bit of CAD, a bit of CNC, and some bits of card and some modelling clay so far.

It might be of interest to any workshop enthusiasts out there who want to do a similar thing.

have fun

actualday

[Gruntfuggly 553]

Interesting site - it'll be interesting to see how far you get.

Have you got any plans to do other shells?

[actualday 7]

Interesting site - it'll be interesting to see how far you get.

Have you got any plans to do other shells?

Hi Gruntfuggly, I will be having a look at the more aerodynamic buggy's as a pet project. Things have been developing recently with a source of some assistance from a major software company that specializes in making software for product designers. This will be a great help in the learning curve.

The basis is to make a few buggy shells, but as I only have a Tamiya Dirt Thrasher to base the models on at the moment the shells will be limited to a Manta Ray chassis, although, I am hoping to make some aftermarket composite chassis for these buggies . That will be next year though.

If anyone wants a body made for a specific buggy, then post it here and I will conduct a poll to see what people want as a general rule. One offs are going to be a lot of work for a single sale, so perhaps lets get canvassing opinion for a few standard chassis...??

What would you like me to make?

Floor is open chaps...

[Gruntfuggly 553]

Well I personally would love a Tomy Intruder shell, but I doubt there will be a huge demand for them, although they are very scarce these days...

[JayZ2000 0]

I would love a few cars from the 70's, maybe a Javelin AMX, and I know this will be laughed at but a Mustang II fastback sized for the M chassis.

Ah, if only my lotto numbers would hit. I could retire and produce custom shells, and parts.

[DCLXVI 3]

I'll go ahead and say what I always says in these kinds of threads...

I'd kill for a SAAB 900ng or 9-3 body for a touring chassi...

I know I'll never get my wish through though...

I'd buy 5-10 bodies in an instance if they were good looking and decently priced...

[actualday 7]

an intersting question, what do you feel is a reasonable price for a polycarbonate body shell? or heavens forbid, and aluminium one??

[homerboi 0]

actualday,

GL in your project.

keep us posted.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...98&id=15937

I started on smaller scale shells awhile back when the variety of shells for 1/18th scale was limited.

[terry.sc 16]

an intersting question, what do you feel is a reasonable price for a polycarbonate body shell?

If you check the prices in shops you will see they usually retail between £10 and £20, the are bodies costing £30-40, but they usually are highly detailed ones with sticker sets and detail parts, or multiple pieces like a buggy body with an undertray and wing.