No matter how hard i try i seam to always get little nicks along my trim line. How do you get rid of those things. Yes I use cruved, lexan sissors but my edge still stinks.

Fine sandpaper

Not sure how far along you are in the process, but I cut the entire body out with a hobby knife. You can follow the body lines pretty easy with a NEW blade and not press hard (seriously, not hard at all). Once you've followed the entire body line, including wheel wells, you then just fold the lexan along the score and walla(?), it makes a perfect break, much like cutting class. Once the body is painted, I take a dremel with a 5/8 sanding drum and smooth things out, if needed. Then, take sandpaper and run along the edges, carefully.


Works great on 1/10 and MT bodies, the shock-tower cutouts on 1/8 I do with a dremel, since they are such tight corners.

Hope that helps. I got tired of using lexan scissors, although they are great for quick jobs at the track.

SuperXRAY I will give that try. Lexan scissors are hardly a price tool. So you paint first?

Nope, I paint after everything is cut, including the body holes. I use Bob Dively's paint mask to mask the entire body, using an Automotive Detail gun.

Why an auto detail gun? Paint flow...It takes about 30 seconds to mask the entire body with a good solid coat. Do NOT use a detail gun for actually painting the body, though.

Cut out the designs, peel and spray with an airbrush. I'll post some pics when I get a chance of the last body I painted.

No matter how hard i try i seam to always get little nicks along my trim line. How do you get rid of those things. Yes I use cruved, lexan sissors but my edge still stinks.

Those little nicks you refer to are caused by the ends of the scissor blades. Try not to ever let the two blades completely close as thats what is twisting the lexan resulting in the nicks. Try it on a scrap piece of lexan with even a straight pair and you'll see what I mean. Dont make complete cuts and you will end up with smoother wheel wells and trim lines in general that require less clean up.

There is a big difference between good body scissors and cheap ones. I have a set of Duratrax ones that just plain suck and a set of Thunder Tiger ones that work great. The Thunder Tiger ones have a much straighter blade.

You can also cut just off the trim lines and then use a sanding drum on a Dremel to smooth it down to the trim line.

If you are cutting wheel wells out, the Olfa circle cutter works awesome.
It basically looks like the old compass we all used in grade school to draw circles.
Instead of a pencil it has a blade at the end. You basically score the circle then you can just tear it off.

Save yourself a few bucks on the circle cutter and go to Michaels or AC Moore, they are $6 there.

Dont Close The Scissors All The Way, Also R/c4less Sells A Circle Cutter For Perfect Wheel Wells Everytime... They Are A Sponsor Too.

Here's a couple pics, somewhat low-res, but decent. Cutout the way I described and masked entirely with liquid mask. The flames were cut on my CNC cutter, applied to the outside, then I traced them on the inside with a hobby knife (cutting the liquid mask). Body took around 8 hours from start to finish, because each square of the checker-board, near the flames, had to be removed individually so the shadow could be applied.

Point being...take your time! Especially if it's a show body.

if u have a drill press put a sanding drum in the chuck and use that i use that when i go to trim the body and it comes out great

Here's a neat way to do your wheel wells. Get a rough opening with an x-acto, then I use an axle with a 2.22 tire and wheel mounted, with skate board grip tape on it. Spin it on a drill to open the wheel well to size, and now you have PERFECT wheel wells :thumbsup:.

Later, Bret