Silly Question--To to Properly Cut Body?

[raj824]

I was wondering if you have any tips or tricks to probably cut a new body to fit a car.

I remember painting and cutting one once before and pretty much ruining it. I guess I'm asking how do you accurately make sure the body post, etc., line up?

[apollo]

there should be little dimples on the body where the holes should be for the mounts, use a reamer or a drill and open them up, lexan scissors come in handy too

[RespirologyRC]

SO you have your body sitting in front of you; take a razor blade or an xacto knife and TRACE along the wheel wells and portions of the body that you want removed. THIS is called scoring. Don't try to use the blade to cut the parts off but rather you are cutting into the body so that when you bend that part in half it will break off. Just remember to apply enough pressure to the blade so that it will cut into the body deep enough. Once you have removed the wheel wells and all that extra crap now you can place the body on top. I usually drill a small hole first and see how it sits. If the body needs to move a little to the left or right you can move the drill/dremel around in circular motions until the hole is wide enough to for the body mounts to stick through. I'll start a thread on removing trim in a few moments.

[designt1]

couple of questions

A. Is this body made specifically for the chassis you are using????

B. Is it already painted??

[curtisp24]

Personally, I prefer to trim my bodies before I paint them. This allows me to easily mark the location of the body posts.

[raj824]

couple of questions

A. Is this body made specifically for the chassis you are using????

B. Is it already painted??

The body I have is a 1/8 lola body that can be cut to fit several types of 8th scale bodies. I'm cutting for a mugen mrx.

Yep. It's painted.

I just don't want to screw it up because the body and paint was not cheap if you know what I mean. :)

[designt1]

raj824, I always use lexan scissors when I trim my bodies. As far as getting around the hole for the engine, you could drill a hole, then use the scissors to trim it out. I haven't done 1/8th scale in a long time, but I do remember just how much I didn't like trimming them:)

What I've done in the past for marking the mounting holes is to trim out the entire body so it fits into place. Take a dab of paint or any material you will be able to see and apply it to the top of the body posts. Now very carefully lower the body down (lined up properly) until it touches the body posts. Lift the body off and you should be able to see exactly where you need to drill the holes.

Good luck!