dovetailing

[smalltowncrawler]

i didn't know where to put this so i'm putting it here.

i wont to dove tail both the front and back of my clod body. the back shouldn'y be that hard 'cause i'm going to cut out the bed and possibly custom make one. But how do i do the front? is there a certain way to bend the plastic? Also how thick is the plastic on a clod body?

[clod booster]

first off dont mess with a stock clod body, they are a collectable. get the parma plastic clod body on tower hobbies.

just chop out the bed and it should just bend together easy, the front you will have to cut the hood, angle the side in, and trim the hood to fit. then glue with CA (use something to hold it together while it dries) and paint.

[smalltowncrawler]

if it were a clod body, a wouldn't touch it. trust me. its a SUPER clodbuster body.

[Mad Scientist]

Depending on how far you want to bend it or how sharp the bend is, heating it up a bit may help. It'll help it bend more easily without stressing the plastic too much, and once it cools in position it will hold that shape much better.

[sambmx]

It would be much easyer with a lexan body. Cut a triangle shape tapering to a point at the windshield and widest at the front of the body, measure evenly because if you ofset the cut it will look horrible.Spend alot of time geting the joint perfect and glue together rubberbands work to hold the body for glueing.

[Mad Scientist]

But with a hard body you can putty, sand, and paint over the joints.

[Urbanace]

Look for some glue called Bondene. It does a great job of melting the pvc together. If you need some filler you can get some thin styrene rods and the glue will actually disolve it enough to use it as filler. Kinda like using lead on a 1:1 body.

[Mad Scientist]

But will a glue for poly-vinyl-chloride work the same on a poly-styrene body?

There are cements specifically for styrene - I am not so sure it is the same as PVC glue.

[Urbanace]

Yes, Bondene works with both of them. It is made by Plastruct who primarilly manufactures styrene.

[Jim511]

I havent done the front on my Jugg body, nor do I intend to, but doing the bed is easy. What I did was cut the bed out almost completely. Than go to your LHS or go to Tower and get some sheet styrene. Cut it to the triangle or "tail" that you want and fasten it somehow to the body. Now with the jugg its easy for what I did because for the mean time I just screwed the styrene to the bed rails (jugg has a flat spot, clod doesnt really) When Im completely done with the body it will be smoothed out with bondo etc. Heres a pic of mine:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2121951400089022833BIjfOe
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2544644970089022833hUplcX

[trickedoutTLT06]

Hell, i'll buy a lexan one and trade you for the hard one + cash! i need a hard body and no one has one..:-(

[FiremanJim]

whats the going rate for a hardbody?

[Big Ahso]

AS MUCH AS THE MARKET WILL BEAR. Just look at what they sell things on ebay for....