We will be building a new scout car when we get your DD4H parts. Normaly we sand and rub graphite into the body by the axles holes is there a better way or product to do this procedure.
Building a new car
- Thread starter Eliminator Racing
- Start date
I am guessing you can't use a Teflon washer or spacer? What I have done is get some clear acrylic enamel finger nail polish and build the area up with that than once dry polish with your wax of choice.
I tried the clear acrylic enamel finger nail polish. I may have not let it dry long enough, but it seemed to be too soft. I may have also had the wrong kind of polish. That is on scout cars. I use the PTFE sheets on oil cars.
Yea if you try to build it up with one coat it will stay pretty soft. Multi light coats is the way to go. I don't know that it's better than the graphite on the body. If it's a oil car I wouldn't put graphite any where near it.
CDB Racing said:
If you want to tuck the wheels tight use monokote... super slick and slim. Use a paper single hole punch, punch out 4 little monokote circles and cover each axle hole, center to center. Use an axle or pin vise to put a hole through the monokote.
SoGone - I thought about doing that-monokote circles-but it may not pass the no washer rule. Opa in another post suggested wrapping a larger piece of monokote trim from the bottom of the car and wrapping up. I'll be trying that next. At least it won't look like a washer.
Better yet, just put Mono on the bottom and roll it up over the sides. Thus no griping that the Mono is an excuse for washers, which it actually is. But this method passes tough techs. You can still paint the top, OR use a separate piece of Mono there also
SoGone said:
W-Racing
What tools are needed? Do you need the iron and everything? Which glue do you use?
Monokote is self adhesive when the hot iron is placed on it this activates the bonding process. It is normal applied with a small hand iron I have posted a link to look at the hand held iron. When covering airplane wings where there is the opening between the ribs we use a heated blow gun ... similar to a hair dryer ... Very Hot air very quick ....
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVPROFIL=&FVSEARCH=top+flite+IRON++&search=Go
I have never thought of using on PWD car... Cool Idea and easy.. Just wish I would have kept all of mine 2 years back LOL ... Now back to the drawing board...
Great Ideas for future reference.......
V
What tools are needed? Do you need the iron and everything? Which glue do you use?
Monokote is self adhesive when the hot iron is placed on it this activates the bonding process. It is normal applied with a small hand iron I have posted a link to look at the hand held iron. When covering airplane wings where there is the opening between the ribs we use a heated blow gun ... similar to a hair dryer ... Very Hot air very quick ....
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVPROFIL=&FVSEARCH=top+flite+IRON++&search=Go
I have never thought of using on PWD car... Cool Idea and easy.. Just wish I would have kept all of mine 2 years back LOL ... Now back to the drawing board...
Great Ideas for future reference.......
V
W racing said:
There are two types: Monokote and Econokote.
Mono comes in rolls at 15 $ each, and requites a hot iron that are about 20 each.
Econokote comes in 4 x 24 inch strips and has an adhesive backing, and cost about 7 $ per strip. It does not require a hot iron, although I frequently use one anyway. It is slightly thicker, but not enough to matter. Model Air enthusiasts use the Econokote to patch holes on Monokote wings.
So get the strips if you don't want to invest in tools.
Both are available on line and at model airplane shops.
I use both all the time on PW's. You can hollow out the bodies, thus reducing weight up front. Also, it us not so messy as painting, and much fater to complete. No waiting for paint to dry.
Opa, would you be willing to post a photo or two of cars you've wrapped in monokote? I bought a roll of Ultrakote that looks like carbon fiber and can't wait to give it a go. Instead of the regular sized iron, I bought the smaller trim iron based on a recommendation on an earlier post. Another question; do you smooth out the wood with filler and sand prior to applying the mkote or is it thick enough to appear smooth without prepping the wood?
W racing said:
I personally seal both top and bottom with an iron I bought at a model airplane shop (boat shaped 1/5 x 2.5 inches, and best with a cloth glove). However, you must alway seal Monokote, but econokote is optional, but I always iron it on also, because it makes the seal tighter.
Basically, I rout out as weight pocket behind the rear axel (1/4 inch deep). Then another between the axles, and sometimes in front of the front axle, depending on the shape of my car.
Then I do one of several things based upon my mood:
1-Thin down the block so the top of the car has only 1/32 wood above the weight pockets.
2-Thin down the block to 1/4 inch, so the weight pockets become holes in the body and glue a 1/32 (or 1/64) thin piecd of balsa on top of the car. Using balsa makes the car a bit lighter B4 weighting.
Sometimes I just put two pieces of Monokote or Econokote without using the balsa at all. This works if when you become good at shrinking the Monokote, however sometimes I get too many wrinkles, and have to strip of the MONO and start again (which is easily done). If you do this, the final result must have the Mono tight as a drum, or it won't work.
Note, with Econokote, you usually don't have trouble with wrinkles.
The beiggest reason I went to Mono or Econo, is to do away with the painting process, which is messy, too time consuming as you wait for multiple coats to dry, plus the final paint with moutiple coats is too heavy.
jator359 said:
Somewhere on this site are pictures of my cars, so let me just describe how I apply mono or econo.
I apply the Mono in two steps. First the bottom and sides together, and then the top separately.
I alway have a flat bottom on my cars. So I just cut a piece of Mono with an extra two inches on the sides and ends.
I then iron on the bottom first (not the sides) while using the extra on the sides and ends to pull it tight while ironing.
Then I wrap the extra mono up over the sides and iron it on one side at a time. Because the bottom is flat, there will be no wrinkles on the sides.
Then using an exacto knife, I trim off all the extra mono all the way around.
Lastly, I cut and iron on the top layer, often a different color than the bottom and sides, and trim of the extra with an exacto knife.
NOTE: Keep in mind that I am not the fastest guy on the block in this league, so this is only my method. There are a lot of painted cars that are much faster than mine, but probably because the are better at axle prep, wheel prep and tuning. I only started doing this because I build lots of cars, and wanted to do away with the painting process. But it does definately have weight advantages.
Oparennen do you put the mono in the weight pocket or do you trim the mono and leave the pocket bare wood so you can glue in your weights.
CraigP said:
I bring the car up to weight first, then put the Mono over the entire bottom. No Mono goes into the pockets, the mono is flat tight on the bottom of the car, as well as the top. In other words it looks like paint.
To bring the car up to proper weight, after body is complete, put body, wheels, nails on the scale, determine how much weight is needed. Put the weight into the car. Then Mono, last wheels and nails.
Hint - after putting weight into body, test run the car to see if it tracks right, i.e. back wheels gravitate to outside, dfw wheel gravitates to inside. Then if car is right, pull wheels and nails, apply Mono, then finish with wheels and nails. Then set steer (veer). 12 to 14 in for SS and SP over 8 ft.
To be safe leave car a bit light, then add either a thin piece of lead on bottom or other flat weight to bring car up to 5oz, even that lead putty stuff
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