"Recessed" wheels

[JackBauer]

Hey all,

I've seen on some cars where the wheels are recessed, so they don't stick out past the body. What is the best way to do that?

Thanks.

[woodworx]

Jack,

You need to add sides to your block to form the wheel wells. Balsa is a good lightweight choice. We have done a couple cars with fenders, but we used pine which i believe was too heavy looking back on it. Hopefully Bubba will chime in he seems to be the balsa master as far as i've seen.

[sporty]

Balsa is the way to go,

I use it alot, sanding can be a pain, but a wood sealer helps with this also. and then further sand prep paint after the sealer has dried.

I have done 8 balsa cars, some with sides.

my mach 5, mr. king, the car on my pic header on the upper left hand corner of my posts.

A few open class cars and I am working on a fast and furious car. cars, lighting mcqueen also.

so, balsa is a good way to go, I cheat and use the wood sides that you can buy for doing my shapes of the wheels.

but the wheel itself works good also. wood blue works well, some weight on top to press it on and allow to dry.

just have to keep in mind, sanding by hand is best, dremel sand and wow the wood is gone fast !!

i use my x-acto to just out the wheel wells or my fine blade scroll saw.

Sporty

[Darin McGrew]

I often build such designs using thin sheets of basswood (which is usually right next to the balsa at the craft store). The visible car body is just a hollow shell, which is attached to a slab of pine cut from the original block.

[Go Bubba Go]

Jack,

You need to add sides to your block to form the wheel wells. Balsa is a good lightweight choice. We have done a couple cars with fenders, but we used pine which i believe was too heavy looking back on it. Hopefully Bubba will chime in he seems to be the balsa master as far as i've seen.

ROTFL. The "Balsa master"

Thanks for the vote of confidence. It is true that we have done a few "Balsa builds" like Mr. The King and The Chicken Caddy, but from one "grasshopper" to another the title of "Fender master" (sometimes Balsa, sometimes not) is much more suited to someone like ah8tk IMO.

Check out these recent posts of his for pictures (including sweet "in process pics") on the subject that are worth a thousand of my words:

Other 2008 cars-parent cars Lincoln Continental & Dodge

The 2008 car - a 1966 Marlin

Lightning McQueen, Flo & Doc Hudson pinewood cars

Bubba

[Nitro Dan]

I think I may have discovered something lighter and just as strong (and workable) as Balsa wood. It's blue insulation foam (sometimes pink). You can buy it at Home Depot and Lowes in 4' by 8' sheets and it is used for insulating outside walls in homes against brick or beneath dry wall. The ratio in weight seems to be about 3 to 4 times lighter than Balsa wood, which helps those fast looking cars do just that. It cuts easily with Band and Scroll saws, and sands easily to a smooth surface. It also cuts easily with a "Wonder Cutter" hot knife so you can make some very cool designs from it.

I'm currently working on a car design where I'm starting with a quarter inch plank of pinewood and using blue insulating foam to build up the rest of the car. I'll take some pictures as I go along and post them in a few weeks.

-Nitro Dan

[ah8tk]

Bubba, thanks for the kind words on our cars. We have always used pine as I do not like working with balsa (if you make any small mistake with balsa it is hard to fix). With pine is sands well and holds paint well and if someone touches it with their fingernail it still looks good (with balsa it would leave a mark). But next year we are going to use the Bubba method of cutting out the bodies before attaching the sides Bubba's First Car w/new replica this would really help to lighten the body, and we would be able to move the weight around.

Andy

[woodworx]

Nitro Dan,

That is very interesting idea you have there. Will the styrofoam take paint and clear coat?. I might have to do some tests and see what paints will work.

[Nitro Dan]

I did a test with some Zinsser BIN primer. It took the primer just fine (bonded well). Enamel spray paint and sealers should go over the primer without a problem. I haven't yet tried doing enamel spray paint directly onto the foam, but I'll test it and let you know.

-Nitro Dan

[Nitro Dan]

Ok, I tested the enamel spray paint directly onto the foam and it pitted the foam. You'll definitely have to put a coat of primer down first before applying any spray paint.

-Nitro Dan

[GravityRacer]

I seem to recall from the dim and misty past that you can seal foam with thinned white glue before painting. That makes sense, because the spray paint won't touch the water-based glue. I'm not too worried about it, since I won't be using foam.