"Easy" carbon-fiber bug body

[kuatto]

Would you have to use a wide enough piece to cover the car or could you narrow strips(2-3inch strips sold in hobby stores)and how many layers did you use?Sorry for all the question,just real interested in how its done.

[carzlutt]

good work!

[DUDE]

that thing is off the hook!! awesome dude!

[HBRC]

Kuatto,
The foodsavers have a sealer on them, so you suck out the air, then seal the bag. Ideally, they won't need to pump continously.

When using other pumps, like the hand pumps and a bag, there are sometimes small leaks, which is what necessitates the additional pumping. If you have a perfect seal, you don't have to keep pumping.

For the best results strength-wise, one piece of carbon fabric should be used. If you used multiple pieces, the seams would probably be ugly. The cut ends of carbon fabric are not fun to work with either. It's best to have some overhang to trim off the final product.

I have a few pieces of carbon/kevlar fabric laying around.... This may be yet another incentive to get into vaccuum bagging. (the other is that I also fly and build sailplanes...)

[1BadJeepBruiser]

You never stop amazing me Stu, that right there is totally awesome Hell you even sparked Dannys interest in this one

[balang_479]

this thing is awesome.... is it lighter than the lexan body?

[microgoat]

Originally Posted by kuatto

Would you have to use a wide enough piece to cover the car or could you narrow strips(2-3inch strips sold in hobby stores)and how many layers did you use?Sorry for all the question,just real interested in how its done.

One big piece is ideal, but good luck getting it in there without wrinkling all to hell. I used a small piece for the scoop, a large one for the roof and hood, and one each for the sides. Then doubled it up.

Originally Posted by HBRC

Kuatto,
The foodsavers have a sealer on them, so you suck out the air, then seal the bag. Ideally, they won't need to pump continously.

When using other pumps, like the hand pumps and a bag, there are sometimes small leaks, which is what necessitates the additional pumping. If you have a perfect seal, you don't have to keep pumping.

For the best results strength-wise, one piece of carbon fabric should be used. If you used multiple pieces, the seams would probably be ugly. The cut ends of carbon fabric are not fun to work with either. It's best to have some overhang to trim off the final product.

I have a few pieces of carbon/kevlar fabric laying around.... This may be yet another incentive to get into vaccuum bagging. (the other is that I also fly and build sailplanes...)

Yep yep. The loose strands on the ends are a bitch. Sailplane wings are a much easier shape to bag, and you can really crush 'em too.

Originally Posted by balang_479

this thing is awesome.... is it lighter than the lexan body?

Slightly heavier, but ten times cooler looking.

Originally Posted by j0e

now, what if you cut the windows out of the lexan?
would they fit into this body?

With enough glue they would. The inside isn't as pretty as the outside. But with a little grinding, yeah. On the other hand, how many comp crawlers have windows?

[STANG KILLA SS]

odd question: what does it sound like when it hits the rocks?

[Gula]

THe A4 body is not painted yet. I can't loose it since it's now a vintage and very very hard to find. I already got ahold of Rockwerks and I guess I'll have him make me a few repros. Would have been sweet to have a CF one though. What if you took a body and layered a bunch of fiberglass on the outside to make it stronger and then do the vacuum method. That would keep the body from collapsing right?

[kuatto]

Done more searching and reading after last night and think this might be worth a shot at doing a body for the Bajas .With using strips,do you have to becareful lining up the seams as not show on the finished shell? I know where to get the strips but might have problems finding a piece large enough to do the baja shel in one piece.

[damion289]

fiberglass molds are fairly easy to make. I've done many on my 1:1 65 mustang.. One peice glass hood.. fender both front and rear flares... You have to follow the steps to making a good mold but once it is done you can really crank the vaccum down to get all the resin in and the air out.

[JasonInAugusta]

Looks like you're making good use of the tools at the new job.

I ordered some carbon cloth last week to hopefully wrap up a project. I ended up buying a roll of 2x2 twill weave since I wanted it to look nice.

What resin did you use? I planned on just using some Zap Z-poxy finishing resin for what I'm making. No sense in buying a bunch of the other stuff.


Oh, you're about to lose a shock spring retainer.

[Tuffone]

That is sweet. About how much would it cost to build one of these if you had to buy all the materials. Also if you had two of the same bodies could you glue them together to make them more rigid. I know that it would be more money to buy two bodies but if you were going to make money by building these bodies it might be worth it huh.

[damion289]

you can just add more carbon cloth and resin to make it thicker. no need to glue two together

[microgoat]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

odd question: what does it sound like when it hits the rocks?

Crack! Like a stone hitting a windshield

Originally Posted by GulaVW69

THe A4 body is not painted yet. I can't loose it since it's now a vintage and very very hard to find. I already got ahold of Rockwerks and I guess I'll have him make me a few repros. Would have been sweet to have a CF one though. What if you took a body and layered a bunch of fiberglass on the outside to make it stronger and then do the vacuum method. That would keep the body from collapsing right?

Originally Posted by Tuffone

Also if you had two of the same bodies could you glue them together to make them more rigid. I know that it would be more money to buy two bodies but if you were going to make money by building these bodies it might be worth it huh.

Maybe, but serious vacuum will crush just about anything. Remember there's about 40 miles of atmosphere pushing down on the bag once it's evacuated. A better idea would be to build a box around the outside of the body to support it while it's bagged. You could even use expando-foam or plaster. Make the mold good and hard, and you can turn up the suction. You can't suck it if it ain't hard

Originally Posted by kuatto

Done more searching and reading after last night and think this might be worth a shot at doing a body for the Bajas .With using strips,do you have to becareful lining up the seams as not show on the finished shell? I know where to get the strips but might have problems finding a piece large enough to do the baja shel in one piece.

A single piece will wrinkle like hell in the corners. Better to use a few large pieces, and put the joints on the window posts where they won't show. To make it really bomb-proof, use fine-weave on the outside for appearance and cross-woven structural stuff underneath. Then you can stand on the fawker.

Originally Posted by JasonInAugusta

Looks like you're making good use of the tools at the new job.

I ordered some carbon cloth last week to hopefully wrap up a project. I ended up buying a roll of 2x2 twill weave since I wanted it to look nice.

What resin did you use? I planned on just using some Zap Z-poxy finishing resin for what I'm making. No sense in buying a bunch of the other stuff.


Oh, you're about to lose a shock spring retainer.

I used the 2020 resin, since it's what we have. The 20-minute pot time was enough to get all the cloth laid up and in the bag. The Zap should work fine, just don't mix too much of it. We've found that if you batch more than about 6 ounces it starts to smoke

Yeah, I saw that after I posted the pic

Also, painting the inside of the shell before you lay the cloth in will give you a better finish. You use more resin this way, but it turns out smoother. On the other hand, with more suction, air bubbles wouldn't be an issue. Paint the resin on if you're not going to bag it.

[balang_479]

Originally Posted by microgoat

Slightly heavier, but ten times cooler looking.

thats what matters really

[Racer4Life]

I like the CF body. Nice.

You work at a place that makes UAV. I used to sell to the place that makes most of the parts for the Global Hawks. They have some cool toys!

[kuatto]

Here is one of the Bajas I want to do the body for,as you can see there is really no places to hide seams and the shell is 24 inches long.

[microgoat]

Then you'll need a big sheet. Order a couple yards, that'll be enough, and with the leftovers you can do the wing!

[kuatto]

This will give me something to do during the winter if I can't convince my wife I need to build a scale crawler.Thanks for all the advice.