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Old 2012.12.16, 11:27 PM   #1
imxlr8ed
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Thumbs up UID Secure Side Clips...

I hate body tape! Why would I want to put a strip of tape around that awesome paint scheme?... yuck! And to run a race without some secondary method to secure my body to the chassis?.. I've found that this is extremely detrimental to my next favorite hobby of standing on podiums!

So here's my answer to that problem:


Notice anything different?
I've always looked at those little posts on the back of the chassis and wondered why the heck they never used them. It just seems like they were there for the using so I did just that.

The goal is to keep the body from popping up, it rarely ever goes down, so I've incorporated a little hook under them to help hold things tight.

I've also had to keep them as generic as possible so they would fit with every body out there, so you notice the area where they glue to the body is in a new pattern. After measuring up more bodies than I can count... this pattern worked for all but one (my Original Teile Benz) but I'm sure with a bit of grinding and cutting, the fit could be easily acvheived:


So, onto the install! The parts did need a snip to part them and a bit of a cleanup before install. This was accomplished with a good old exacto.

Next, I popped them onto the chassis to check for fit. I just have them resting on the body to get an idea of how much I needed to take off. I just made sure the car was fairly centered side to side:


Next up, I marked the approximate amount of material that needed to be removed. I left a bit extra just in case... better more than less left to work with!:


I held the two clips by hand and took out my drum wheel sander and cut them both down to just before my marks. This does take skill and finesse but I do not think it's a huge challenge for someone who has worked on a Mini-Z in the past. Just go slow and take your time!

Remove the old clips. This can also be a delicate process if someone used gobs of superglue on them before. I just dig a tiny flathead screwdriver under them and work it in sections. The glue did take some body material with it but that's not a big deal in my book.

Next, I popped the new clips onto the chassis and made sure that the car would be level side to side. Once I was happy with placement I flipped the car over holding it tightly by the sides and marked the inside of the body and eyeballed the placement so I could have an idea of position when I get to gluing them in.



Also made sure that if there was any stretch of the body, it wasn't too extreme. For me, I prefer to have the body fit tightly.

This is my weapon of choice when it comes to securing body clips! It's cheap, cleans off easy and is adjustable with a bit of re-heat. I hotglue almost all of my clips in. Hotglue guns are for wusses! I find it much easier to just roll it around while heating with a lighter. Been doing this since I was around 11 years old (alley model racing days) so I've pretty much made it an artform. Even with all that in mind, I'm sure super-glue would work just the same as it di for stock clips. The material is very porous and bonds well with it:


So, I try to get them both in as quickly as possible. I did one at a time into the body and then quickly popped the chassis in while the material was still pliable so I could use the residual heat to make any adjustments if needed:


And there it is! My 599 with a nice new, lowered stance and a very secure body to boot!


Now this has been tested by me and the first thing I noticed with this prototype was that the fit to the chassis was excellent. How excellent?... THIS EXCELLENT!:


Now that in itself is a huge improvement in my book! No more body rattle!

The parts I have tested are different from what you will receive from my shop, I have added some minor revisions like a positive lock fit to the chassis posts and took away some of the material from the lower corners in the interest of ease of installation. I have also beefed up the material surrounding the chassis as to create a body position that matches stock fitment better. I have these new models for sale in White Strong and Flexible and Polished as well. I ordered both versions and tested with both versions and they both work fine, The polished ones are just a bit cleaner looking and seem a bit stronger.

So, hopefully body taping will be a thing of the past! I can't guarantee that your never going to have a body pop-off ever again using my clips because of all the possible worst-case scenarios that exist out there. But what I can say is that this is a better bet than anything else that exists out there!!! The new model is already in my shop and ready for sale! Make sure you order either MR02 or MR03, they are totally different dimensions from each other and are specific to their respective chassis!

Once again, the shapeways link to my shop is in my signature below. Any questions or comments or even special design requests, please do not hesitate to ask!

Hope you all enjoy them!

No fine print here, just the facts!
I am in no way, shape or form responsible for production or shipping or manufacturing quality of these products. All I can say is that it took 15 days to show up at my house after I ordered it and the quality is top-notch! Shapeways has an excellent record of part quality which is one of the major reasons I went with them for this stuff.
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Last edited by imxlr8ed; 2012.12.20 at 12:31 AM.
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Old 2013.01.05, 08:28 PM   #2
Rune
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Ordered a couple of sets of these, together with some assorted F1 parts

Looking forward seeing the parts in person.
Thanks.
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Old 2013.01.05, 08:36 PM   #3
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I'm curious to know your thoughts/theory on expected flex pattern. I'm glad I held out buying other F1 addendum because this might be another part to experiment with.

stupidly asked this in the wrong thread....meant to ask about your f1 side plates.
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Old 2013.01.06, 04:11 AM   #4
LED
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Hi

How about the MR015 and AWD?
I have a body I want to use on the MR02 (narrow in front) and on the AWD.
Will that work?
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Old 2013.01.06, 05:17 AM   #5
imxlr8ed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LED View Post
Hi

How about the MR015 and AWD?
I have a body I want to use on the MR02 (narrow in front) and on the AWD.
Will that work?
These body clips will not work with an AWD, that would have to be an entirely new design.

I am not sure about the MR015 as I do not have a chassis on hand to test with. I'm guessing that they'd be somewhat similar to the MR02 clips but I will not know for sure until I get one to test with.
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Old 2013.01.06, 05:25 AM   #6
imxlr8ed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rune View Post
Ordered a couple of sets of these, together with some assorted F1 parts

Looking forward seeing the parts in person.
Thanks.
In racing last Sunday, I had my first body pop off using the prototype clips shown in this thread... funny thing is though, the clip was still in the chassis! The glue connection is what gave way! One clip stayed with the body, one stayed with the chassis. I didn't use too much hotglue on these to install them because I wanted to keep them somewhat clean for the install pics, so after this, I used my typical liberal amount of hotglue and I don't see them popping off again. I made it through the rest of the day with the car without a single incident of body-pop.

Let me know how it goes!!!
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Old 2013.01.15, 11:01 AM   #7
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I have just recieved my current versions of these clips and I am pleased to say that this newer design fits way tighter (as if that was possible) than my previous prototypes did.

If you have ordered these, please give me some feedback... the only thing that I think I could do to make them even more secure would be to increase the positive lock around the chassis post a bit more to give them more of a "click" when they get installed to the chassis.

One thing I will be changing is the length for the 03 clips, I built these models using the 02 clip design as a basis and forgot to lengthen them (the mounting legs) to the same distance as the 02s. I have fit them to Corvette body and they are a near perfect fit but I think this could be an issue when trying to fit to wider bodies, although I'm not exactly sure of that. Better safe than sorry though.

If you order the unpolished clips, make sure you take the time to knock the dust out of them with the Exacto before you install them! Every little corner and nook can have this powder in there, a simple scratch out takes care of this right away.

Here's a pic of my protoypes in this process:
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Old 2013.01.15, 11:31 PM   #8
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Keeping you all in the loop... I have revised these both the 02 and 03 files for these clips.

After some testing and fit-out I realized that the 03 clips may need some more length to them to install into wider bodies. I apparently based the leg for the 03s on the 02s, not taking into account the fact that the 03 chassis is around 0.14" narrower on both sides.

The previous design should still fit most bodies though and if anyone runs into an issue where they come up short, please post about it right away!

I have checked them with the 599 and the Vette and they seem to have enough length for both of them:

599


Vette


The 599 is one of the widest out there so I'm hoping this is just me being too uptight about my designs! They should fit into both cars without issue. Either way, I am all about getting these designs to the best they can be so I had to update them.

I really like the lock on the clips I have too, but I really think it could've used just a little more bite to it so I did increase the tightness of them for this revision.

Once again, if you have an issue with the previous version of the 03 clips coming up short, send me pics and I'll do my best to help out!
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Old 2013.01.17, 07:42 AM   #9
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I'd test them on my Viper GTS-R. The inner width from side to side is about 6.2cm. I'd like to them on a dummy chassis. What must I order? MR02 or MR03?
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Old 2013.01.17, 09:00 AM   #10
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Quote:
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I'd test them on my Viper GTS-R. The inner width from side to side is about 6.2cm. I'd like to them on a dummy chassis. What must I order? MR02 or MR03?
The files are revised so they will work with any body out there now.

The clips can only be used for their specific chassis, if you have an 03, order the 03 Clips... an 02?, order the 02 clips. Due to the different post locations and side profiles between the MR02 and MR03 chassis, these clips cannot be interchanged.

For a dummy chassis though... I would guess that either would work. I am still working on a generic, do-all clip set design, but the lock feature may not work as well as what I have on these current designs.
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Old 2013.01.21, 02:09 PM   #11
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Another day of racing and no body-pop... pretty cool when things actually work!

Also... I checked an MR015 chassis out and the MR03 clips should work with them. The post does seem a bit off-center but I don't thimk it would take much work at all to open up the post hole on the clips.

If I get enough requests, I'll work a specific design for the MR015 chassis so it will be a direct fit.
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