These are the tools necessary for body construction. A cutting board available from most craft stores, an accurate ruler, scissors, a non permanent marker various hole punches and a spoiler bender.

Note the hole punch with the purple handles is a 1/16 monster and is an absolute necessity to go fast!

Probably the most important things that you will ever purchase for racing is the body tape. The first roll is 3M 863. This is a light weight strapping tape used at the rear of the car and is typically used for stiffening the wings to remove flutter. The second roll is 3M 898 and is used on the front of the car for reinforcement. The next roll is a 3M 2 mil transfer medium, no tape just glue and is used to stick things together like fingers and wings and spoilers to bodies. Roll four, the big fat one, is used to cover other tape, front only, and stiffen the front of the wings.

After you gather all the tools the first step is to cut your body to the correct dimensions. I am not going to give you exact dimensions; instead I will provide some guidelines to go by. The reason is simple, tracks differ and body dimensions differ with them. Cut the length approximately 1 inch longer than the lead length of the chassis. For your track you may go shorter (faster) or longer (more stable). A starting point for the rear height is approximately 1 3/16 inches. Taller for more down force (stuck), and shorter for more speed (loose). The bottom line is that you have to experiment for the best combination at your track. When you make the cut leave approximately 1/16 inch body height at the front to accommodate the diaplane and always cut the length first. When cutting the length remove material from the front of the body only. The rear should be trimmed leaving a slight lip of original plastic; this adds stiffness to the rear of the body.

The next step is to construct the diaplanes. Use a stock model from your wing kit and cut it to look like the ones at the left. Open on the left, C12 on the right. Use adhesive transfer tape on the part that contacts the body. Always do a dry fit to make sure that the bend and the length are correct. All holes should be punched after the tape is on. Notice the strategic location of the small holes to control weight distribution and air flow!

When the diaplanes are complete carefully remove the adhesive backing and place them under the nose of the car as shown. After placement check the angle of the diaplane in relation to the bottom of the car. The diaplane should angle down approximately 1 degree. If the angle in not correct, use your bender to adjust the angle.

The next step is to add the wings. The first step is to add the adhesive transfer medium. I like to angle it from the lower front to the top of the rear. This gives maximum coverage from one strip of tape. Before placing the adhesive mark the location of pin holes and rear wheels. This will aid in the trimming process. I actually punch the pin holes in the basic body before applying the adhesive.

Trim the adhesive from around the body with a sharp xacto knife. Be careful with the knife, nasty little thing.

After trimming it's time to punch some holes in the sides to lighten the load. It's not the weight; it's the impact on other racers. Scares em!

Now that we have the adhesive applied it's time to attach the wings. Remove the backing tape from one side. Align the bottom of the wing with the bottom of the body, be careful not to let them touch when they are out of alignment, they are very difficult to seperate. Move them together very gently, when they touch and are aligned properly press them together with pressure from the inside of the body. I lay the body on it's side wing down to do this. You now have a body that has basic air contron installed less the rear spoiler, that comes later.

The next step is to reinforce and stiffen the front of the body. Cut two pieces of .007 spoiler material and apply the adhesive transfer material. Bend the plastic as shown at the left and apply it to the body and wing. This prevents the wings from lying down in the straights, which boxes less air and equals more speed. This works well on most modern king tracks, if you need more down force spread the front wings slightly at the track.

Use another piece of .007 spoiler material to reinforce the front body mounts as shown at the left. This along with the additional steps that are illustrated make for a very strong front body mount.

One of the most difficult to illustrations is the taping sequence for the front. There are a total of 5 pieces of 3M 898 on the front. The first goes across the underside of the body and up the sides approximately 3/8 of an inch. This looks like it is swept back slightly when viewed from the outside. The second and third pieces are placed inside the wings along the front edge and continue across the body and diaplane where they are trimmed off. The fourth and fifth pieces are interlocks and run about 1 inch along the sides of the body and are then folded across the front of the wing crossing the other tape. Trim these at the rear of the tape that comes down the wing crossing the body. The finished tape is shown in the next photo. We are going to add another illustration to clear this up. Also catch me at any big race and I will show you how it works.

Use a peice of 3M 898 tape to reinforce under the nose allowing the tape to extend up the sides of the body. Eliminate this tape for the Cobalt 12 class.

Use a peice of 3M 898 as shown to tie the wings to the body. This also stiffens the front of the wing.

Refer to text in 10B.

Use another piece of 3M 898 to tie both peices of tape together as shown. This creates the strongest joint possible. Notice that I do not use staples and have never had this joint fail. In fact this joint along with a cab over body mount completely eliminates failure of the body in a crash. The solder joint holding the pin tube on will go first!

Refer to text in 12.

After the front is completely taped it is time to cover the front tape joints with clear packaging tape. I use 3M or anything else that is available. Cut two slits in the tape to allow it to fold over, press everything together to complete taping the front.

The last step at the front of the body is to add two layers of clear packaging tape to stiffen the wings. The first layer should be back about 1 1/2 inches. Add the second at a 45 degree angle as shown. Trim any excess tape.

Spoilers, depending on what track and what class you are running tells you what to use for a spoiler. I use everything from a .005 on a viper for Cobalt 12 to .007 on a Phantom for opens on tracks of the modern era. Would you believe that I used 15 thou aluminum a few years back, 1963 to be exact to win a big race in Owensboro, Ky. The one I am going to illistrate here is a stepped .005 for a Peugeot. This is the most common open car spoiler that I use. For C12 and 27 cars use a .005 X 1.5 with 1/4 inch of material to mount to the body. That's a total of 1 3/4 inches.

This is a completed stepped spoiler. 5 thou spoiler material, sticker and clear tape. The sticker goes halfway up and the tape goes 1/8 above the sticker.

Use three peices of 3M 863 lightweight tape to reinforce and stiffen the rear wings. Notice that the first peice goes from the body down across the wings, this ties the body to the wings. Add the two long peices to lock everything together.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

These are the tools necessary for body construction.

With a lot of careful work and attention to detail a Cobalt 12 body should come in under 7 grams. 27 and Open bodies will weigh between 8 and 9 grams when completed.