Lexan thickness

[Wooders28]

I bought a set of decals off eBay,  as I couldn't find mine, they came with the blower and rear bumper.

The Lexan is so much thicker on the set that's arrived, is it normal to have varying thicknesses?

 

 

[Ann3x]

Lexan? Decals? 

You mean the decal thickness or the body? 

[Wooders28]

I bought 2nd hand decals off ebay,for a body I've lost the decal sheet for, and it came with some body parts (supercharger and rear bumper).

The thickness of the Lexan (As per heading) of the body parts that have arrived,  is a lot thicker, I'd say double the thickness, of the body parts I've got.

The pic is of the same part, my original is the painted.

[Ann3x]

Ok, your post is confusing, why are the decals relevant?

Anyway, yes, its normal for Lexan to be variable thickness due to the process Lexan bodys are made by. They are formed into a mould using a vacuum (or rarely, blown over a mould) and the Lexan thickness varies depends on whether the particular feature is near the top or bottom of the mould.

[Wooders28]

5 hours ago, Ann3x said:

why are the decals relevant?

I posted a pic of them in the "postman brought me" thread, just tried to not clutter that thread with an off tangent post 🙈

5 hours ago, Ann3x said:

Lexan thickness varies depends on whether the particular feature is near the top or bottom of the mould.

They're exactly the same part back to back, I would have thought the mass production would have got rid of any variation, but have had bodies in the past with slight webbing. 

Not sure now if I need to buy more rattle tins now, and use this thicker ,stronger Lexan 🤔😬

[Backlash]

IIRC, at one point Proline / Protoform were stating that some of their bodies for the bigger "basher" type trucks like the T-Max and Savage were being made from 60 thou Lexan...

I could be wrong, but I think that regular touring car bodies are/were made from 40 thou Lexan... ??

Protoform now offers their touring car bodies in 3 different weights (thickness) Lexan.. https://www.racepf.com/touring-car-190mm/ltc-r-clear-body.asp

So to answer your question, it is not uncommon for manufacturers to use Lexan with different thicknesses to make their bodies... I guess it depends on the body or parts being made, and for smaller manufacturers, what thickness Lexan they have on hand........

[Tamiyabigstuff]

Use the body with the thicker Lexan for when you are running the car as it will be more likely to survive if you crash it, keep the thinner body for when your car is having 'shelf time' 

I've bought TBG bodies which are much ticker than the Tamiya originals for this reason.

Tamiya original bodies for some cars are so rare and expensive you can't really take the risk with them.

Astute bodies seem really thin and don't like being bumped.

[Wooders28]

4 hours ago, Tamiyabigstuff said:

Use the body with the thicker Lexan for when you are running the car as it will be more likely to survive if you crash it

Unfortunately,  it's only a rear bumper and a supercharger, which are on a separate lexan moulding. I acutally only bought it for the decals!