12 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Apart from normal strengthening of the pins/clips areas, anybody care to share any tips and photos of your methods?

I'm moving past the 7 thou danger zone into 5 thou never-never land to gain a hair more speed.

 

My driver Courtney can handle it. Mutually assured destruction and more painting/mounting practice for me.  

 

[Bill from NH]

How do you paint a .005" body? Spray a cloud of paint in the air and wave the body through it?      Lee Gilbert used to say black paint had the lightest weight, but I've seen other colors posted by individuals, too.

[Pablo]

Some say black, others say white. Whatever covers without a backing coat and the least amount of spray is going to be lightest.

[Dave Crevie]

I do the little triangles made from clear .010" Lexan to add strength to the body pin holes. Most old timers can show you that trick. 
 

Mutually assured destruction and more painting/mounting practice for me.  

 
I used to do the same thing with R/C airplanes. Crashing gave me an excuse to build a new one. My dad saw me carrying one out to my car to go to a fly-in. He told me I should just throw it in the fireplace now, since I was just going to make kindling out of it anyway.

[Bill Breck]

I usually do something like this. I also put a small strip of bulletproofing across the horizontal part of the rear wing.

 

I've also seen racers use a cut up diaplane like one of these.

 

I generally use .10 bodies. Anything thinner than that is more cumbersome to paint and trim IMO.

 

As far as paints go, lacquer paint seems to be thinner that the water based acrylics I use. I have no idea which color might be lighter.

 

I'm more than happy to give up a small fraction of speed for convenience and durability.

 

 

 

[Larry Horner]

Pablo, for a bit of bullet proofing, here is a trick that Noose told me about years ago. After painting, squirt some "Shoe Goo" into the tight corners that are prone to cracking. This is also a great repair method after a crack has developed. Don't thank me, thank Noose!

[mreibman]

at what point does it become diminishing returns?

 

That is, you take your .005 body, and beef it up, when does it cease to be a benefit over a .007 or .010 body?

 

We go through this in wing cars.... .005 bodies get mangled, and require more reinforcement, braces, etc. but we're talking about a painted, mounted, winged, reinforced body weighing under 6 grams.

 

The shoe goo idea is there, Flexseal does the same thing... but it's heavy.

Make some body armor from .003, .005, .007, etc thicknesses... the diaplane for wing cars mentioned above will be in the .012-.014 range thick. Not practical.

 

Back in the day we used to use ripstop tape.... I suppose that's gone by the wayside, although it did have color options. Gear-Aid makes stuff called "tenacious tape" which is for camping repairs... stuff is pretty strong, but it's not stiff. good for rips, but not to keep you from getting crunched up.

 

I would also suggest a bi-directional filament tape for overall strength. In the slot-racing world, that's a slick 7 tape.

 

ask 10 people what to do, I bet you'll get at least 11 different opinions. Trial and error. Just keep the weight down, and keep the CoG as low as possible.

[Dave_12]

.005"  bodies  are lighter but you can't expect to get a long life from them so my tip is only use them in major events 

[Brian Czeiner]

Some say black, others say white. Whatever covers without a backing coat and the least amount of spray is going to be lightest.

Spaztix Mirror chrome. The slightest mist makes it opaque once mounted. Normally a black is used behind it. But the shadows will create the black once mounted.

 

If numbers are required consider a colored tape or film. They might be able to double as numbers and reinforcement with some thought.

[Pablo]

Thanks guys 

[Shiggy]

I use E6000 for reinforcement and repair in critical areas. Stays more flexible than Shoe Goo. Self leveling. 

[Pablo]

I think I have some E6000. If it's not dried up in the tube, I'll try some. Thanks 

[team burrito]

i use .005" fiberglass for pin holes; .005" carbon fiber around the rear wheels to keep the body from collapsing. .007" is the thinnest i would go for my race bodies. i actually use .010" bodies for my weekly racers & they still get trashed, but they can be repaired.