body shop time

So I picked up this tattered lexan Kyosho nostalgic Cobra shell from eBay for a very reasonable price. It was hit really hard and torn up pretty bad in the front and to make matters worse the Kyosho Nostalgic shells are very thin as you get down to the bottom. Those of you that have them know what I mean. Luckily the sides and back of this body are fine. The previous owner decided to use clear packing tape to mend everything back together and it took a very long time to remove that tape and the old residue along with all of the old decals too. I saved the stripe decals for reference to measure for later- and was able to peel off and salvage the cobra emblem decal!!......... So, I've only done one other lexan shell like this that was in this poor of condition. My technique involves cleaning the shell extremely well first so there is no oil or residue left behind. You do not want dirt, oily film, decal goo, overspray or anything on it when you start. To be sure after you think it is all good, do a full wash with de-natured alcohol and then do it again. To get going on the patch repair do an aggressive scuffing on the backside with course sandpaper first. Use fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin to strengthen everything back up cutting each piece to lay in nicely like a quilt of fiberglass. It is critical to get the fiberglass to conform to the shape as much as possible with no big air pockets. One way to insure this includes taping the body back together on the outside with masking tape and then begin 'tacking' your fiberglass woven cloth on the inside using CA glue on the corners of each piece you lay down, don't use too much CA. When the CA sets up (or use kicker) when dry this allows you to move and spread/push the epoxy around with a plastic spoon or scrap of flexible plastic and get the resin thru the fiberglass with everything nice and tightly 'wrapped'. If it is your first time doing this stuff wear rubber gloves. Remember to make sure the CA glue is minimal and you are only tacking your pieces in place so the epoxy can fully do its job................. I am experimenting this time with a different type of filler on the outside. I'm using regular Bondo for the heavy areas that will interface with the roughed up lexan and exposed fiberglass where chunks of lexan were missing. For the rest I'm actually trying modeling putty on the thinner areas. It seems to grab extremely well to the lexan that is sanded with 320 and 400 grit sandpaper first. Now, with the stiffness put back into the body with the fiberglass repair it allows me to use squadron putty (used for styrene model kits). The front of this body is as stiff as a molded plastic ABS hard body, otherwise without the stiffness of the fiberglass to support the putty it would likely crack. So far so good, with a lot of tedious wet sanding up into 600 I will get it smooth, and after enough primer soaks into the repair area it will take paint evenly on the outside with the rest of the scuffed and primed shell. This Cobra will live again!! scollins