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STEP 2.

I started with a piece of plastic that would be large enough for at least two scoops. I removed the protective sheeting from both sides because it could melt or even ignite. The larger half of the mold is the female half. I placed it in the center of a folded towel to prevent it from moving around and to protect the surface underneath.

STEP 3.

I used the male half of the mold to cover the “active” area while I sprayed the gel on to pre- vent the surrounding plastic from getting too hot.

STEP 4.

With the heat gun on the lower of its two settings, I waved it slowly to and fro about an inch off the surface until I saw the plastic begin to soften.

STEP 6.

Even with the gel, this is what you get when the plastic has cooled. I’ll flatten this out during the next couple of steps.

I put the scoop back into the mold and turned it face-down on a hard surface. (Make sure that the surface can handle heat without melting or being scorched.) I heated the edges until they softened and then used the other half of the die, placed on its side, to “iron” out the wrinkles. I did this to all of the four sides while keeping constant pressure on the main mold.

STEP 8.

Using a metal ruler and a sharp hobby knife, I cut out the scoop leaving about 3/8 inch all the way around.

STEP 9.

I used my Dremel tool with its cut-off wheel to open the scoop. You can get creative here. I was going for the hood-scoop look; you can open it wider if you need more of an airflow. It’s now ready for paint. Silver was handy, so silver it was.

STEP 10.

After determining where I wanted the scoop to go, I put masking tape on the surface and traced the male half of the mold on it. I used my Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to remove a section and allow the scoop to come up from the inside of the body.

STEP 11.

I secured the scoop with heavy-duty, double-sided servo tape on both edges.

STEP 12.

The final result looks good and provides another place for cooling air to get under the body.

Off the bench …
The Air Induction System can be used to put air intakes on a flat surface on any car or truck body. Use it to add hood scoops, side-window vents or, on a truck bed, even rear-facing scoops to vent heat out at the rear. It will take some finesse and a little practice to heat the area you need to heat without affecting the surrounding areas. But when you end up with a scoop that looks as if it was an original body part, you’ll know it was well worth the effort. Even though Blue Groove RC Concepts designed this product to integrate the scoops directly into the body, I found it great to retrofit scoops as described. My next body will be treated to a few scoops before I paint it, but for now, I have plenty of scoops that are ready to be installed.

My Mini LST2 now has a roof scoop that sends air directly onto the motors.

Links

Blue Groove RC Concepts, bluegrooveconcepts.com