DIY Carbon Fiber… on a budget!

[ARRMA-GET’M]

You can make up to (15) front splitters wrapped in vinyl carbon fiber.. that’s just an example of how much building material you will get out of a $30 purchase. Based on a three pack (3) of expanded PVC foam board at $26 and (1) roll of carbon fiber
vinyl wrap at $8. So far I’ve made two front splitters and four side skirts for two of my 1:7 ARRMA vehicles. Enjoy the content

 

[Sheed85]

I've used similar for graphics, you can even die cut it if you go deep enough nice job wrapping those splitters.

 

[Greengaunja]

If you're going to use wrap,make sure you get the right ones. Most sold on ebay or Amazon are garbage. Some go on nice at first but will prematurely peel or pull itself off. My experience has been 3M makes the best wrap and its not that much more.
3M 1080 for flat areas with slight curves and 3M Di Noc for curvy and stretched areas. If only buying one, you can't go wrong with Di Noc.

 

[Sheed85]

If you're going to use wrap,make sure you get the right ones. Most sold on ebay or Amazon are garbage. Some go on nice at first but will prematurely peel or pull itself off. My experience has been 3M makes the best wrap and its not that much more.
3M 1080 for flat areas with slight curves and 3M Di Noc for curvy and stretched areas. If only buying one, you can't go wrong with Di Noc.

I've had pretty good luck with this stuff, especially for a basher RC car. I would NOT however use this on any 1:1 cars. Maybe for a couple interior pieces, but that's it. I would also not use this to fully wrap complex surfaces. However 3M or not, will just as easily get scratched or torn in event of a crash or roll/skid in RC cars. But you are spot on using 3M! They make great films that are easy to install.

 

[Greengaunja]

I've had pretty good luck with this stuff, especially for a basher RC car. I would NOT however use this on any 1:1 cars. Maybe for a couple interior pieces, but that's it. I would also not use this to fully wrap complex surfaces. However 3M or not, will just as easily get scratched or torn in event of a crash or roll/skid in RC cars. But you are spot on using 3M! They make great films that are easy to install.

Also a bit more durable than one would think. One sec, going to run to my car and take pics of two bodies that been through hell. Luckily I have them for an after work speed run
Ok the Senton body is at home but this is a good example. It's bubbled a bit because of the heat, but that does go away on its own without pressing. What is important is the roof. That's 3M Di Noc flat black. The body has flipped, rode along the roof, and hit more curbs than I can recall in almost two years. I'm just happy it hasn't ripped through yet. The carbon fiber wraps are 3M 1080.

 

[Sheed85]

Also a bit more durable than one would think. One sec, going to run to my car and take pics of two bodies that been through hell. Luckily I have them for an after work speed run
Ok the Senton body is at home but this is a good example. It's bubbled a bit because of the heat, but that does go away on its own without pressing. What is important is the roof. That's 3M Di Noc flat black. The body has flipped, rode along the roof, and hit more curbs than I can recall in almost two years. I'm just happy it hasn't ripped through yet. The carbon fiber wraps are 3M 1080.View attachment 318704View attachment 318705View attachment 318706

Nicely done it's much thicker than regular vinyl so it tends to hold up better. For those little areas that tend to peel up (edges corners) lay down some 3M edge sealer upon initial installation of vinyl! Helps keep it down and keep debris out. It does show slightly as clear though

 

[Greengaunja]

Nicely done it's much thicker than regular vinyl so it tends to hold up better. For those little areas that tend to peel up (edges corners) lay down some 3M edge sealer upon initial installation of vinyl! Helps keep it down and keep debris out. It does show slightly as clear though
View attachment 318708

Nice to know this is a thing. I used a very thin layer of PL Premium on my perimeters, but it was too thin to have much effect. Will order some now for sure just to have on hand for next body.

 

[ARRMA-GET’M]

If you're going to use wrap,make sure you get the right ones. Most sold on ebay or Amazon are garbage. Some go on nice at first but will prematurely peel or pull itself off. My experience has been 3M makes the best wrap and its not that much more.
3M 1080 for flat areas with slight curves and 3M Di Noc for curvy and stretched areas. If only buying one, you can't go wrong with Di Noc.

Valuable and useful info thanks.. I’ll remember the info is on this post.

Nice to know this is a thing. I used a very thin layer of PL Premium on my perimeters, but it was too thin to have much effect. Will order some now for sure just to have on hand for next body.

Thanks for letting us know you found the hack useful I recently found that you can buy carbon fiber as thin as 1mm, 0.5mm, 0.3mm…. The next
Performance Limitless body im doing is the D1 and “technically” it was designed with 4 functional aero air brakes. I might not use the panels that came with it bcs I want to use carbon fiber.

 

[ARRMA-GET’M]

Nicely done it's much thicker than regular vinyl so it tends to hold up better. For those little areas that tend to peel up (edges corners) lay down some 3M edge sealer upon initial installation of vinyl! Helps keep it down and keep debris out. It does show slightly as clear though
View attachment 318708

Thank you so much for the tip! Thanks for sharing the link too, that’s going to be very useful in areas I wouldn’t want to use zap glue.

Also a bit more durable than one would think. One sec, going to run to my car and take pics of two bodies that been through hell. Luckily I have them for an after work speed run
Ok the Senton body is at home but this is a good example. It's bubbled a bit because of the heat, but that does go away on its own without pressing. What is important is the roof. That's 3M Di Noc flat black. The body has flipped, rode along the roof, and hit more curbs than I can recall in almost two years. I'm just happy it hasn't ripped through yet. The carbon fiber wraps are 3M 1080.View attachment 318704View attachment 318705View attachment 318706

Wow you’re right… lm looking at it like it’s rubber-ish now definitely delivered performance

 

[ARRMA-GET’M]

So while we’re talking about wraps, I’ve been using the vivid forged carbon fiber on the skyline build and it has not peeled. It’s not lifted on the splitter either. It was difficult to catch an edge to peel it off from an old broken part. Adhesion has stronger than what it was the moment I was installing the wrap to the pvc expanded foam board. So the forged vivid wrap is this good as far as this application goes.. So the traditional style carbon fiber wrap I’m using in the video is not vivid brand or 3M brand so we’ll see. When shopping, all the 3M ones looked like it had s texture surface, or that it was a matte finish. The reviews on the wrap I chose was not the best reviews and complained that it would go bad from water exposure and from sun exposure but was great for interior. This wrap isn’t going on a hood so it should last long enough. So I based the decision on having the MOST pop and no one complained about the adhesion. So let’s put it to the test compared to the vivid wrap that lasted.