Rob's RCR40 Build

[molleur]

DO NOT USE ACETONE OR LACQUER THINNER! These will creep under your tape line & ruin the part. If you must, use steel wool as suggested or a schotch bright pad to lightly scuff the area to be painted. Any good enamel will work okay. I prefer automotive grade paints, not rattle cans.

[Rob]

Chuck,
I absolutely agree with Molleur, lacquer thinner and acetone will bleed under the tape line. I would strongly not suggest trying this. I still say best approach is sand blasting. A small project like that can be done with a little hand held jobbie that you can get at Craftsman or Summit and can be done standing in your yard or driveway, no cabinet needed. Use a fine silica sand and just give it a dusting to take off the gloss. I also agree about the type of paint used. Don't suggest rattle cans for any body surface type finishes for that matter..... :-)

[Jason Ferraro]

Tamiya make paint in small spray cans specifically for spraying under lexan remote control bodies. With proper preparation this paint sticks very well to the clear plastic. Trick is to apply a few light coats to build up the finish as the gloss level is not important on the back of the plastic.
This is what I intend to use when I'm up to this stage in about 15 years!

[Rob]

Finished the head light buckets this weekend. Ultimately decided that there was only one way that I could do it that I would be OK with. So, jumped in prepped, masked and painted the bucket lips. Took all weekend, but I can feel good about the result, and won't regret the end appearance.

For the record, I did do a test panel of sand blasting and painting. It looked good. From the top side the luster was beautiful. This would be a totally OK way to go. What I didn't like was that it "looked" like the underside of the plexi was painted, as there was a missing perception of depth and gap between the two surfaces. This is not what I was looking to achieve.

Anyway...once that was finished I got back to the wet sanding and rubbing out the paint. Probably about 60% done with first pass at this point.

[Chuck]

Rob: looks very nice. Neat, trim lines, very professional.

I was a bit unclear about your intentions. Do you plan to paint the edge of the plexi on the back side or leave it as is?

Chuck

[Rob]

Hi Chuck,
Nope...plan to leave it exactly as is. That is why I circled back on the paint work. Bottom line: I didn't plan ahead well enough, and there was only one way to "fix" it that I would be satisfied with.

[Mark Clapp]

Rob, awesome job trimming and fitting the plexi pieces. They look great on the car with the black-outs.

[Chuck]

Rob:

Another question: Did you use a gloss, satin or flat paint for the light wells?

[Rob]

Thanks......

I used the same paint as for the car, so it was base coat black with clear. I wet sanded and buffed out the black just as with the balance of the car.

[Rob]

I Had the Mach I on track on Sunday, so took advantage of the photo op with the 40....

Thought I'd share.

[Craig7L]

great job...great photos....build finished?
cheers

[Chuck]

Rob:

Beautiful pics. Note sure how you are going to ever part company with that GT.

[Rob]

Thanks guys.

Reeaaallly close Craig. Just some tid bits left...carpet, finish buffing, etc etc

Chuck, admittedly....it will indeed be a tough one to let go. I find myself just standing in the shop staring at it. She's just so damn cool looking.

[EGLITOM]

Magnificent Job, Thats a awsome looking car.

The advantage of painting the back of the headlight covers is also that any dirt and dust going inbetween it and the body ( And i know from my motorcycle windscreens that there will be a lot of things going there especially in this exposed area) will not be visible. As cool it looks, i believe it won´t stay like this for long if the car is driven.

But with the setup you have right now, there is always the opition to repaint also the covers.

TOM

[Rob]

While bringing the car out onto the track on Sunday I accidentally passed the spot I wanted to take the pictures at .......twice

Actually, I bought a new camera to capture a couple laps since the other videos sucked so bad. So ... here it is...this time crystal clear.

Waterford Hot Lap

[Dutton]

Rob,

It was worth every bit of the 20 minutes needed to download the file to finally see the video. I raced in Formula Ford years ago, and that track looks like it would be a bunch of fun. What's it measure?

You are going to SO miss that car when it's gone...

T.

[ijvpet]

OOOHhhhhh...... my favorite livery. Looks fantastic.
More pics please, especially engine shots.

[Bill Musarra]

I know it's got tro be bunches more fun when its at full throtle. You didn't seem to have any trouble getting it up into the revs this go round!!! Excellent video. What equipment did you use for the video??

Bill