Homemade aluminum shell?(need metalworking help)

[Lowking716]

Hey guys just finished a job and acquired a roll of some aluminum had the bright idea of taking the extra material home to make more work for myself and was wondering if any metal workers out there could give me a few tips on how to shape the shell, wheel wells/fender flares more specifically. But also rounding out front bumper and giving it a popped out sort of look. All information is welcome thankyou

 

[Wilson]

It may be a little hard being your first body but it could definitely be done, it will just take time and some figuring. I would suggest picking a body shell you like and get some measurements off of it. You wouldn't have to make it exactly to the body shell but it might help you out some getting started then you would have something to work off of. Then I would probably just rivet the panels you make together.

Another idea that may end up being a little easier is picking up some steel rod and making like a exo cage out of it. Then once you have the shape of the rod bent you could cut your aluminum sheets to make body panels.

The main problem with any type of metal on a big rc is when you crash, plastic flexes and metal does not but exo cages really make the truck cool looking.

 

[Lowking716]

Great ideas! i think I'm gonna do the exo forsure any tips on wheel wells? Or how i could shape a fender? I'm not totally lost just want as much info as possible so i don't have a bunch of "doh!'s"

 

[Wilson]

What I have done is get metal clothes hangers and built the whole cage out of those. Once you know you like the shape just bend the bar to the shape of the hanger rod. It will be a lot cheaper making a mistake using hanger rod lol

If you would use brake line you can get away with a regular brake line bender but a solid rod will require some heat and some sort of jig to get your bends.