Body shells from scratch?

[markbt73 5310]

15 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Had me thinking... anybody tried modelling with copypaper then doping it?

The japs have done "pepakura" forever including large vehicle models... why not 'glass it to make it survive RC running. 

Makes sense to work with something soft then freeze it when done. Rather than just bashing compliance into a block of wood or sheet metal  

I'm experimenting right now with using paper models as templates, scaling them up, and making the pieces from Sintra expanded PVC sheet (which I can get free in small quantities from my job). The thin stuff is bendable by hand, the thicker stuff bends with a little heat, and it sands and grinds beautifully, if you want to knock the square corners off.

Not much progress to show yet (no time), but I think the idea has potential.

[WillyChang 1814]

Is Sintra just a brand of foamboard? Might have to ask when I next see the sign maker supply depot,

Have tried various foamcore & corroflute for modelling 1/10 buildings  but nothing rounded... can it be glued together to form a homogenous chunk like styrene? To build up thickness before sanding it to shape.

oh, sanding... recently discovered MicroPlane  whoa those things are magical!! I so gotta go buy more 

[markbt73 5310]

Yes, it's like foamboard, but it has no "skin." It's the same consistency all the way through. It glues up well with a gel-type superglue, and it takes paint and filler well.

The other common brand name is Komacel.

[simensays 321]

Just start building, play around with different materials, don't rush, and have fun!
In a couple of decades you might be able to do something like this:
 

 

[yogi-bear 2315]

7 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Yes, it's like foamboard, but it has no "skin." It's the same consistency all the way through. It glues up well with a gel-type superglue, and it takes paint and filler well.

The other common brand name is Komacel.

I think in Australia it sells under the name Palight (from Mulford Plastics) and PVC Foam Board (by Signage Accessories Australia), but not to be confused with Foamboard which is a different product (its skinned with paper on both sides). There are lots of other names and suppliers too, differences in quality too. I have a heap of offcuts of this stuff, although oddly enough haven't considered it for model building. You can get them in sheets from sign suppliers for around $25 to $40 per sheet. Sheet size being 2400 mm x 1200 mm, but any sign shop will have lots of off cuts, as its used very widely in point of display products.

[WillyChang 1814]

15 minutes ago, yogi-bear said:

I think in Australia it sells under the name Palight (from Mulford Plastics) and PVC Foam Board (by Signage Accessories Australia), but not to be confused with Foamboard which is a different product (its skinned with paper on both sides). There are lots of other names and suppliers too, differences in quality too. I have a heap of offcuts of this stuff, although oddly enough haven't considered it for model building. You can get them in sheets from sign suppliers for around $25 to $40 per sheet. Sheet size being 2400 mm x 1200 mm, but any sign shop will have lots of off cuts, as its used very widely in point of display products.

ahh ok, yeah it's foamboard - got scraps of it here

Foamcore is paper skinned, we use it like cheap mountingboard for framing. The paper surface allows using PVA glue or tissue tape or glue stick.

Foamboard doesn't like bending does it... fold it 90degs and it snaps.

have been using it as padding/insulation between skeleton/frame and the exterior skin panels of models mainly to fill in space. I've been building models lately by first making the exterior much like giant pepakura then filling in the insides with a frame or reinforcement to make it strong enough to stay rigid for handling.

whereas corroflute has different rigidity along vs across the grain, and it's PITA to glue or paint. Hotglue maybe, and contact adhesive. Good for sticking vinyl on, or flatbed printing... that's all that the sign guys around here do with it. Even IKEA seems to have stopped building furniture with corflute  probably not 'greenie' enough for them anymore.

 

 

[WillyChang 1814]

8 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Yes, it's like foamboard, but it has no "skin." It's the same consistency all the way through. It glues up well with a gel-type superglue, and it takes paint and filler well.

The other common brand name is Komacel.

Problem with gluing, the superglue probably cures harder than the material & it won't sand together like 1. Harder seams causes corrugations.

Styrene still the only material I can weld together multiple sheets into a thick block and that block can be worked like it was same material all the way thru.

Softwood glued with PVA works similarly.

[markbt73 5310]

2 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Problem with gluing, the superglue probably cures harder than the material & it won't sand together like 1. Harder seams causes corrugations.

Styrene still the only material I can weld together multiple sheets into a thick block and that block can be worked like it was same material all the way thru.

Softwood glued with PVA works similarly.

Seems to sand down just fine, actually. This stuff is not all that soft, somewhere between styrene and basswood or pine for hardness, and at least the "Gorilla" brand super glue I've used sands down at about the same rate.

A few example photos in this thread, from the master himself:

http://scalebuildersguild.com/forum/showthread.php?20672-KOMACEL-the-other-building-material

[yogi-bear 2315]

it does look very similar to the foam stuff we can get here. Although I have seen in in varying grades of quality, I need to try some.

Also here its most common in 3 mm, but I can get 1 mm (or its it 1.5 mm, will have to check), where High Impact PolyStyrene (HIPS) I can get in lots of sizes from 0.5 mm to about 5 mm. HIPS is what I thought people where initially using as its a lot stiffer, but it s harder to work and cut (but not terrible). 

 

Corflute is terrible for building, too hard to cut as well. Although as bracing it might be ok. And I've used aluminium composite panelling for bracing, its almost as light, but much stiffer. Its made up of a thick layer of PE with a very thin layer each side of aluminium. Also handy for making ramps.

[WillyChang 1814]

8 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

Corflute is terrible for building, too hard to cut as well. Although as bracing it might be ok. And I've used aluminium composite panelling for bracing, its almost as light, but much stiffer. Its made up of a thick layer of PE with a very thin layer each side of aluminium. Also handy for making ramps.

That's the Alu panel that burns, isn't it?  better you making jumps from it than gluing it to side of highrise buildings & having it catch alight... had an apartment block do that few yrs ago, before the big UK tragedy last yr

Corflute is interesting stuff if you can take advantage of its unique features. Fold it along its ridges & you can make tubular constructs amazingly strong... like a whole fuselage for a "stick" RC plane. I cut it with scissors, knife or riphook.

 

Whats the difference between HIPS and the Evergreen hobby stuff? 

Need to find a place to get styrene in larger quantities, Evergreen is crazy expensive from LHS. My last nearby plastics supplier inner city has shutdown, gotta go look further out one of these days.

[yogi-bear 2315]

4 hours ago, WillyChang said:

That's the Alu panel that burns, isn't it?  better you making jumps from it than gluing it to side of highrise buildings & having it catch alight... had an apartment block do that few yrs ago, before the big UK tragedy last yr

Corflute is interesting stuff if you can take advantage of its unique features. Fold it along its ridges & you can make tubular constructs amazingly strong... like a whole fuselage for a "stick" RC plane. I cut it with scissors, knife or riphook.

ah, good idea, never thought of that. 

4 hours ago, WillyChang said:

 

Whats the difference between HIPS and the Evergreen hobby stuff? 

Need to find a place to get styrene in larger quantities, Evergreen is crazy expensive from LHS. My last nearby plastics supplier inner city has shutdown, gotta go look further out one of these days.

hmm, I doubt there is any difference. I buy 1200 x2400 mm sheets, 1 mm and 0.5 mm is about $22, 2 mm is about $44, and 3 mm about $66. Thats from Australian sheet traders, which also have an office in Vic. Mulford Plastics is a similar pricing (should also be in Vic).  I have heaps of it spare (although odd sizes), I can send you some of you want to compare.

[WillyChang 1814]

I think it was Mulford in SthMelb that closed... probably moved somewhere cheaper, haven't gone to check where  they used to supply custom sized Perspex sheet

 

heres a "paper plane"

wonder how heavy it gets 

 

[kyosho1 86]

Look at Tamiya RC Guidebook 1988 (Bigwig at cover).

Go to page 15 and 16 - scratch built step by step. 

https://tamiyabase.com/guidebooks/10-1988

 

[WillyChang 1814]

4 hours ago, kyosho1 said:

Look at Tamiya RC Guidebook 1988 (Bigwig at cover).

Go to page 15 and 16 - scratch built step by step. 

https://tamiyabase.com/guidebooks/10-1988

 

yeah I know... it's been on the to-build list for about, uh, 30yrs...! 

[yogi-bear 2315]

9 hours ago, kyosho1 said:

Look at Tamiya RC Guidebook 1988 (Bigwig at cover).

Go to page 15 and 16 - scratch built step by step. 

https://tamiyabase.com/guidebooks/10-1988

 

its definitely worth a try, Tamiyabase also have a build for that. Plus Tamiya have another in the Japanese 1981 book, its an F1 body I believe.

[TurnipJF 9181]

@RonnyhotdogWhat sort of subject material are you wanting to model? Do you have any scale projects in mind? Which chassis are you planning to base them on?

[Ronnyhotdog 221]

I have a unimog CC-01 that I am looking to make as realistic as possible. First I want to make a flatbed for the chassis. I an considering modifying the original shell to make a recessed flat bed or cutting the cabin free from the shell and making a flat bed from scratch, like this:

 

[WillyChang 1814]

1 hour ago, Ronnyhotdog said:

I have a unimog CC-01 that I am looking to make as realistic as possible. First I want to make a flatbed for the chassis. I an considering modifying the original shell to make a recessed flat bed or cutting the cabin free from the shell and making a flat bed from scratch, like this:

what's it with unimogs  methink you're thinking of building what's already available to buy as a hardbody toy truck, yeah there's one with tipper tray and another in army livery with a canvas tent on the back etc etc

imho even if you build the most spectacular detailed unimog in the whole wide world, first glance ppl would think "oh that's a toy body" 

 

Interesting tyres on that yellow umog though... do they say "Kyosho"? 

[TurnipJF 9181]

Make it a " built not bought" bumper sticker?

[WillyChang 1814]

5 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Make it a " built not bought" bumper sticker?

Everything we play with is "built" isn't it? Even if you buy the body and build a custom turk under it 

[Ronnyhotdog 221]

I'm really not too concerned with what randoms think. I want to build it for the satisfaction and because I really like Unimogs and so making very detailed one appeals. It could be a Jeep or Toyota but I have no interest in those type of vehicles/designs. It's the modelling which is the hobby and the running is only of any value to me if I built it.

[TurnipJF 9181]

A 'Mog also brings with it the possibility of building something interesting for it to tow behind it.

[Ronnyhotdog 221]

Do you guys ever have cause to use a glue gun? I just wondered if I should get one for my tool box?

[kyosho1 86]

17 hours ago, WillyChang said:

yeah I know... it's been on the to-build list for about, uh, 30yrs...! 

😄 those 80s Tamiya RC guidebooks were the quintessential information on Tamiya RC 30 yrs ago..

The build from scratch page was unforgettable 🤓

[WillyChang 1814]

13 hours ago, Ronnyhotdog said:

I'm really not too concerned with what randoms think. I want to build it for the satisfaction and because I really like Unimogs and so making very detailed one appeals. It could be a Jeep or Toyota but I have no interest in those type of vehicles/designs. It's the modelling which is the hobby and the running is only of any value to me if I built it.

meh I ain't no Sisyphus, I don't do things just for the sake of doing things 

Here's a beaut uMog that sought refuge in my fleet some time back  

I think those are TLT axles  & crawls around the joint very nicely. Looks good enough that I've never wanted to buy any lexan bodied uMog that came out since... so it's been a great moneysaving investment in that regard  Haven't yet discovered what toy that's come off originally; have seen many similar but nothing exactly same colour & quality.

 

13 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

A 'Mog also brings with it the possibility of building something interesting for it to tow behind it.

Tow hitch is easy. 

UMogs have a PTO thru the front bumper afaik, at least mine above does... that could be an interesting gizmo to replicate on a model  

Wonder what equipment they'd use front PTO for... snow plough blower? Road sweeper rotating brush?