Pro-Line Makes RC Body Selection Easy

Paul Onorato March 31, 2023 Stories

PICK BY KIT TOOL

If you are not one to poke around on a website, you may not have been aware of the very useful “Pick By Kit” feature on the Pro-Line site. It is located on the bottom left of the homepage and should definitely be your destination if you are looking to buy a new truck or car body. Actually it is the place to go to find everything that Pro-Line has to offer for a specific vehicle including wheels, tires, shocks, LED light bars, etc.

By clicking the link, it brings you to the “Pick By Kit” landing page where you will find a list of RC car manufacturers. Then when you click the name of the manufacturer of your vehicle, the “Pick By Kit” tool will then list all the cars and trucks from the manufacturer that Pro-Line offers parts and accessories that can be used on said vehicle. For an example, we picked Arrma which then revealed ten different Arrma models that Pro-Line supports.

Pro-Line Makes RC Body Selection Easy — Landing page of Pick By Kit.

Next we selected the Arrma Granite which revealed 25 Pro-Line products that can be used on this monster truck including seven different truck bodies along with many other cool products. Now we know what you may be thinking, “What if my vehicle is not listed under the “Pick By Kit” tool?” Don’t fret, there are other ways to find a new Pro-Line body that will fit on your truck or car…just read on.

DIMENSIONS ARE YOUR FRIEND

So, what if your car or truck is not listed on the Pro-Line “Pick By Kit” tool? Look and see if you can find a car or truck that is like the one you own in size and scale that is listed in the “Pick By Kit” tool. Then when you find one, check out some of the bodies that are recommended for that vehicle and chances are, they will also work on your ride. Thankfully, Pro-Line will have the length, width and wheelbase listed under the “Specs” section. The width and length are important, but not necessarily the wheelbase. Depending on the body, the wheelbase can easily be tweaked by cutting the wheel wells to match your chassis instead of to the vehicle it was intended.

Additionally a narrow body can work perfectly on your vehicle, especially if you are also changing the size of the wheels and tires like on an off-road truck. And if the body is too wide, you could select wider tires or wheels with an offset that pushes the tires farther out so that they fit within the body. The same logic goes for the length where you could get away with a shorter or longer body by tweaking the chassis with different bumpers. Now don’t forget to pay attention to the shock towers as well as the location of the body mounts because those components can interfere with getting an aftermarket body to fit.

PRO-LINE BODY MOUNTS

Given that Pro-Line sells so many different types of bodies with some having unique shapes you will possibly run into certain circumstances where the stock body posts will not work. A possible solution is checking out the Extended Body Mounts that Pro-Line sells. Currently they sell eight versions and that could work with your chassis so that you can mount up a new Pro-Line body. These bod mounts could give you the length and/or width you need. Here you may need to be clever with engineering a way to install the mounts onto your chassis. First look at the different choices that Pro-Line gives you and there may be one that stands out from the rest in which you can make work.

HELPFUL BODY MOUNTING TOOLS

PROTOform Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit—#6032-00

Among the numerous bodies that Pro-Line offers, there are some that do not come out of the package clear. As you hunt through the vast selection of Pro-Line bodies you will find some are pre-painted or that come molded in an opaque material like Pro-Line’s line of Tough-Color and Bash Armor bodies. Not being able to see through the body can make it challenging to get the body post holes perfectly positioned so the body sits correctly over the chassis. To remedy this situation, you can use the PROTOform Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit (#6032-00) shown here.

PROTOform Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit (#6032-00)

The Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit uses high powered magnetics that allow you to precisely pinpoint the location of the body post holes. One magnet gets placed on top of each of the body posts. Then you take the body and position it on the chassis, being sure to have it correctly spaced both side to side and fore and aft. Next you place a magnet on top of the body approximately where each of the body posts are located. The magnet will attach to the body exactly where the body post is underneath. Now you can mark the body where the body holes need to be located through the hole in the magnet using a fine-tip marker. All that is left is to drill the holes into the body and it will sit perfectly onto the chassis.

PROTOform Better Edge System: Sanding Drum—#PRM610300

The PROTOform Sanding Drum is a great tool for completing a RC car body. It is especially useful to those of us that take pride in finishing off their concours-worthy body. The Better Edge Sanding Drum is the first product specifically made for RC racers to finish off the perfect wheel-well. Just use a handheld rotary tool and the Sanding Drum will smooth out all of the imperfections left from cutting your RC body with scissors. At 1.5-inches in diameter, it’s suitable for use on many scales of body: from 1/12-scale on up to 1/8 or even giant off-road bodies.

PROTOform took the extra effort and gave the drum a red and black anodized aluminum finish and laser-etched PROTOform logos onto it to give it a trick look on your pit table. Each pre-assembled kit comes with a replaceable high-grade silicon carbide spiral sanding band, rubber anti-slip O-rings and a mandrel made from durable tool steel to prevent damage from your rotary tool’s chuck.