Body Wraps

[6666hotrod]

Please, someone explain (in detail if possible) Slot Car BODY WRAPS ! If it keeps me from having to paint, I'm all for it ! How does this Work ??

[Bill from NH]

I never heard of body wraps for slot cars. I know they do it all time in 1:1 scale racing. Teams print large sheets of peel & stick vinyl, then cut & fit it to their race cars. I've also seen it used on a company's vehicles for advertising. Is someone printing body wrap in 1/32 or 1/24 scale for slot cars & model building?

[GTOking]

Pattos Place has wrap style vinyl peel and stick decals. Good quality, fair price and for a variety of scales. They are intended for the lexan bodies he produces so not perfect fits for standard slot car bodies but close enough to make work with little effort.

[Bal r 14]

You could use lightex covering film for model airplanes.

[RichD]

Pattos wraps for HO bodies are sized to fit 1/64th scale diecast cars, they are not likely to be a perfect fit on regular bodies. HO bodies tend to be shorter and wider than scale. I used some Pattos peel and stick decals on HOST NASCAR bodies and I had to cut them up and piece them together. With Pattos decals you can specify a non-standard scale, the last ones that I bought were 1/72nd scale. Pattos will also print just the graphics, if a body color is included in a wrap that might not be a perfect match for the paint on the body.

[Doubl-B]

Here is a Pattos vinyl decal set on a Scalextric NASCAR. Not a wrap per se, but big chunks of vinyl. The whole side, the whole roof. Have to paint the right under colors but the vinyl is super easy to work with and very durable for club racing.

[strangebrew]

I print "wraps" on my inkjet printer.....Sometimes on vinyl, sometimes on decal paper.
As long as the surface is relatively flat they work fine.
A short pass with a heat gun can help with a corner or minor body curve.

[6666hotrod]

W o w : Thanks, guys !!

[cjperry81]

Something that I thought of when I read your post was "hydro dipping" if you have ever seen that. I've seen it done a ton of large scale stuff like car parts and have even seen it for RC bodies. So I just did a quick search and it looks like there are quite a few videos on youtube about how to do it with model cars. You essentially dip the body into liquid but the water had the graphic or film floating on the surface and it just adheres to the body when you submerge it. Just a thought.

[6666hotrod]

Thank you !

[RichD]

I don't know how well hydro dipping would work when things have to line up.

[6666hotrod]

Good point !

[cjperry81]

Yeah you couldn't do a specific livery and have it line up but you could do initial base color and or patterns and then lay your decals over it for numbers/sponsors etc. But you're right to do a traditional race livery that already exists wouldn't work.