cleaning up a thrashed body

[onebullet]

i picked up an f350 body from another member, this is going to be my intro to scale crawlers for myself and an attempt to get my fiance interested also.

I wanted to pick something up cheap and expected it to be somewhat trashed, this would give me a chance to re learn some model making skills and learn some new things as well.

Here it is (its sitting on my pro comp build just for shiggles


It came with some fiberglass dually fenders that somebody either glued on in a hurry or got fed up with and slathered with epoxy, it has huge runs in the black area and big clumps up top. As most could probably tell it was painted without primer, so ALL that paint has to come off.

What i could use some advise on is this. What grit should i use to sand everything (biggest concerin is the epoxy) down? I was thinking of using like 220 grit but im not sure how that will go with the plastic and im worried about using filler primer on it.

Here is the top side, lots of holes to that need filling.


Any advice on how to fill the holes and things correctly and not make more work for myself? I was thinking of trying to get some sheet in there as flush as possible and then just going over it with green stuff or milliput (depends on how deep it is).


Any friendly hints, tips or ideas are welcome.

i plan on doing this is a class 2 scaler, not sure about chassis yet. I really want to do an exo cage

[struhall]

I would start with 400 unless you're trying to take it way down. That's what I'm using on mine right now sanding down the filler and it works fast enough without being too abrasive. Also, red scotch Brite sands pretty close to the same as 400 grit but molds enough to get the small places.

[onebullet]

scotch brite, i swear i cant think of anything anymore. Great idea, that should help get all the flakey stuff off too. Thank you!

[struhall]

The green stuff is a bit finer than the red so it won't sand quite as fast. It's hard to get super even that way because you're not using a block but if you're doing stuff like inside the bed or where the fenders meet the rest of the bed then it's perfect. I use it on the whole body once everything is finished and ready to paint to make sure everything is sanded.

Ninja edit: I just searched "scotch brite sandpaper grit" and this was one of the first things I found.

Scotch Brite/Abralon/Sandpaper

[snapon boy]

I use the hard back foam that comes in automotive parts boxes for a flexible sanding block. Free and work just as good as my snapon one materials look close to. Hit up u tube videos or scale builders guild for videos on filling holes with styrene

[SPLATT]

I'd use some brake fluid to get the paint off and then just use the sand paper on the epoxy.

[onebullet]

Originally Posted by SPLATT

I'd use some brake fluid to get the paint off and then just use the sand paper on the epoxy.

wouldnt that melt the body?

[snapon boy]

I've tried it once it somewhat works. Made mine cloudy I tossed it. Make a balsa wood bed hide it

[onebullet]

Originally Posted by snapon boy

I've tried it once it somewhat works. Made mine cloudy I tossed it. Make a balsa wood bed hide it

this is a hard plastic tamiya body, not a polycarb one.

[msd44]

Goof Off works well with plastic bodies as well with steel wool. Doesn't take off all the paint, but plastic safe and pretty damn effective.

[SPLATT]

Originally Posted by onebullet

wouldnt that melt the body?

Brake fluid not brake cleaner. I used some old DOT3 brake fluid to strip a Clodbuster body and it took 99% of the paint off with no plastic damage.

[snapon boy]

If you look at the wood bed I made in my thiokol sprite build it very thin balsa wood 1mm. On another note komacel styrene etc can be cut and used to fill the holes or even to cover the bed. You could even cut the bed floor out and drop it a bit them make a new floor out of styrene. Just a thought.