The Dragon's Tail (Body)

5/5/2015

Well guys earlier this year I came across information about a proxy race called "The Dragon's Tail" This is where you build your car(s) and mail them in. All the cars are run on the same track by the same driver. Measurements are taken such as the fastest lap, and the most number of laps in an allotted time to determine the winner. That said I thought I would post my progress in preparation for this race next year. The race is a themed race. The theme of the race is a classic road rally. The body must represent a pre-70s car and can either be plastic or resin. So I thought I would use a 1960's Dash Karmann Ghia.

If you would like to know more about this race you can check their web site out here: The Dragons Tail

***Now for my disclaimer... I by no means am an expert on this subject I am merely trying to convey what little I know in order to share so that others may also learn and maybe give it a go themselves.***

The build rules for the body are as follows:

Body must represent a pre-70s car.
Body must be plastic or resin. No diecast.
Body must completely cover chassis when viewed from above.
Body must attach with two screws of any kind at stock locations
Stock replacement plastic front guide pin that will fit original model motoring track.

The Dash Karmann Ghia will meet all those requirements in stock form, however, you know we just can't leave it there. We will have to make a few mods to the body. For me, there are three objectives with respect to the body.

Lowering the Center of Gravity (CG) of the car.
Distributing the weight doing my best to keep most of it toward the center of the car between the wheels. Hopefully this will maximize handling. Much like the superior handling of mid-engine cars.
If possible lighten the body

The Dash Karmann Ghia by design helps with weight distribution at the very beginning. It uses the long wheel base which puts maximum area between the wheels therefore a higher percentage of overall weight between the wheels. That very design will also help to "Push" the wheels further into the corners of the car which will also help with handling.

Thanks to a little research on the internet, considering the layout of the Dragon's Tail track, handling is key since it appears that about half of the track is curves and hills and the other half consists of straights.

Now that we have decided on a car, the first order of business is to remove the glass and strip the paint. So I take my Dremel Motor Tool and grind the tab holding the glass.

I removed the glass from the body and then dropped the body in an rubbing alcohol bath. It will stay there anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. I will regularly check it. I want to remove the paint but not damage the plastic body in any way. After the paint has been removed I will work on lowering the body and opening up the wheel wells.

Take a look at the picture below and you can see the body has been lowered. To do this I shorten the mounting posts, opened up the wheel wells to accommodate the lower body, and put smaller diameter wheels and tires on the chassis . It may not look like much but based on scale it is the equivalent to lowering the car almost 8 inches or 16 percent on a 1:1 scale.

I used a very thin styrene sheet and cut strips to use as the foundation for the fender flairs.

With some additional shaping of the flairs, you get a better picture of where this is heading. Besides the Dremel, I think one of my most used tools in body work is a small flat Jeweler's file. These files come in different shapes to accommodate different curvatures. You can take a look here to see what I am referring to.

Next I use an epoxy putty to blend the flairs with the body. The product I use is Milliput (Super Fine). It's a two part putty that you mix equal parts of the putty. I like this putty because when blended it's like working with clay and you have plenty of work time. By putting a little water on your finger you can get pretty close to the final shape. It's a great product. If you would like more information about Milliput take a look here.

Below is a shot of the car primed. For me primer not only provides the mandatory base coat but just as important it helps point out imperfections that need additional work.

Well guys, according to the rules, I can have two entries so... with a little casting work I will have two entries with the same body but different chassis set ups. I guess we will call ourselves "Karmann Ghia Racing".

Casts cleaned up and sanded... Also drilled and tapped the mounting posts for screws. I will adjust the ride height after the chassis are built. You can follow the chassis build here.

First one fresh out of the paint booth. After the paint hardens a bit I will clean up the lines and the paint seam will be smooth as silk. The great thing is that there was not any paint bleeding under the tape!