Wow! I finally found something those clear Lexan bodies are good for!

All this time we thought they were bodies ready to paint and race. Not. They're actually molds for making "real" bodies. Take one clear Jaguar XT200, paint the inside with PVA mold release, mix and spoon in a little clear (or colored) urethane resin, mush in some 1/4" chopped graphite fiber, keep mushing the goo around evenly until it thickens, let it set for 20 minutes, pull of the Lexan shell and you have a gorgeous glossy hard and strong Jag ready to trim, paint and decal. It beats the heck out of polystyerene!

Using the clear urethane with the graphite makes a really fine looking finish even without painting. Now I'm anxious to try first covering the windows with Silicone, making the body as above, removing the Silicone and filling the windows with pure water-clear resin. It seems like it should work quite well. Next I'll try using a quicker setting cream-colored urethane filled with microspheres and more graphite to see how much more I can cut down the weight.

The body mounting posts here are simply plastic drinking straws filled with white urethane with some microshperes and Kevlar pulp mixed in. They're positioned to fit a Fly Joest chassis since I happened to have one ready to go with a cheetah in it.

Is anybody else out there having this kind of fun? Do you have any tips you wouldn't mind sharing? Please email me (cole@sonafrank.com) with ideas & suggestions!