[mp3z24]

i havent made any myself, but i believe that the general idea is as follows...

1. generate some sketches or at least know what you are doing before you start. the last thing you want to do is change mid-modification and have to toss out your work.

2. use styrene sheets to build up large areas. trim away whatever is necessary to get the base shapes and planes. cutting out the existing body panels/bumpers usually helps so that you can have places to mount your new kit. it also allows you to build on the side of the car. (good if you are making only 1 kit, bad if you are making a bunch of kits). use a brush on styrene bonder to glue the styrene together or to the car body.

3. use an epoxy type putty to fill in gaps, and make detailed shapes or other complex spots that the styrene sheets would be hard to use for. putty can be sanded and filed just like the model plastic, so you can perfect your shape after the putty dries. epoxy putty requires mixing, so dont mix the entire tube at once. only mix what you expect to use in the sitting. also, do not use 1 part putty (tamiya basic putty) as it is only designed for smoothing and filling, and it WILL shrink.

4. after the putty dries you can file/sand/shape any way you want. if you mess up, clean the sanding dust off the car, dry it, and reapply some more putty. then you can essentially start over.

5. have patience and take your time. this is not going to be super easy, but you will see that once you get going, you can do a lot more than you expected. also, start small.... dont try to do a full body kit right away. try making a new bumper, or ground effects/sideskirts. if you try to make something too complicated first, all you will do is get frustrated and then you wont want to try again...

hope that was helpful...

also, try to look around and see what is actually on real cars, or check out body kit manufacturer pages for ideas. it is usually easier to copy something than it is to come up with new ideas.

~mike