Looking for help/info on making bodies

Hi all

I've spent the day searching everywere looking for info on building car bodies from scratch. Can anyone help me out??

Hoping to be able to build a few cars like Morris Oxford, the old british Ford's etc.

Each body has a variant in how it will be built. I had not known people to make bodies before so I just developed my own way to doing so. The best thing to do is think on your own and do what will work best for you. Everyone has their own way, but I can help you get on the right path.

First thing to do is draw it out. Get some pictures and technical drawings of the car, or even a different scale model of it. Draw it out to scale and detailed as possible. I use CAD systems for this. The most noticable thing on a model is the body, if its out of proportion the models is a pile of plastic junk. This is often the most criticized piece since its the largest and most viewed. Make sure you get everything scaled and designed correctly. Triple check. You must have it planned out well to lead to a great success. Now here are a few methods of construction.

For curved parts, like old fenders on hot rods I build a buck first, then vacuum form. The buck can be built out of a variety of materials. Wood, such as bass and balsa, then smoothed over with a glaze. Some completely out of putty, or foam. Some people use a combination of all. Then the part is vacuum formed with styrene. Now the whole body cant be vacuum formed at once, so the buck needs multiple sections.

Some things you can build entirely out of styrene sheet. Like I plan to build a large scale 05 Mustang soon just using sheet styrene. The roof will be bucked and vacuum formed though. Sheet styrene is good for things that have mostly planar surfaces, without a lot of compound curves.

Another method is to completely build out of putty and styrene. This method has been done before and is often done for building masters to be produced. The only downside is cracking.

If you cant vacuum form you can use a technique called thermo forming. Which is basically vacuum forming without the vacuum. You evenly heat a piece of styrene sheet, and pull it over a sturdy mold. Its very tricky to do.

I hope this helps you see some light at then end of the tunnel.

if your leet at carving you could find a large chunk of plastic and go from there. i know someone posted a link to this dude who scratchbuilt a Lambo, and some F1s look back some posts and see if you can find it.

Check out my thread! http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=451793

mike, I know this is off topic. but if you see it, what are you using to vacuum form? if you want. shoot me an e-mail at r_d_butler@sbcglobal.net

Thank you for the info Mike.
looks like i'll have to get a lot of balsa in and go from there thou i wont be able to vacuum form as i cant afford the prices of a vacuum former as i'm saving like mad for new digicam n lathe

Hayden.

if your leet at carving you could find a large chunk of plastic and go from there. i know someone posted a link to this dude who scratchbuilt a Lambo, and some F1s look back some posts and see if you can find it.

Yes saw that site the other day would have been nice info on there, if it had been in english.

Thank you for the info Mike.
looks like i'll have to get a lot of balsa in and go from there thou i wont be able to vacuum form as i cant afford the prices of a vacuum former as i'm saving like mad for new digicam n lathe

Hayden.
Assuming that you have a vacuum cleaner and a kitchen stove, all you need to buy are...
* a cheap wood jewelry box of about 1.5 inches tall, partitioned inside. Drill holes on the dividers, so that the air gets sucked out from every cubicles.
* mesh sheet that goes on top of the box where you place the master part
* duct tape to make the box tightly sealed.
* a picture frame to hold the styrene sheet
* a pvc pipe to connect the box and the vacuum cleaner
* some clamps to hold the styrene to the picture frame.

You'll need to do some cutting and drilling to make the box, but that's pretty easy.

Yep, Hiroaki is correct. Vacuum formers are simple, and inexpensive to make. I've seen numerous home build vacuum formers all over the web.

SirWelshy - I've sent you a PM with some linxs you might find useful.
HTH