Tuesday , 26 March 2024

Building Tips: Remove Flashing From Parts

Building Tip - Remove Flashing

Beginner’s Guide to RC – Building Tips

When building your kit, you will, at some point, need to remove plastic parts from their ‘trees’. There are many ways to do this, but the preferred way is to carefully cut the parts off with a sharp pair of sidecutters (or scissors).

Once removed, you may see a little bit of plastic left over. This is known as flashing. This ‘gate’ (the technical term for where the plastic flows into the part) needs to be trimmed completely off. Failure to do so could hinder the movement of some of your parts.

It’s a good idea to get into the habit of ‘cleaning’ off all of your parts when building a kit. This will help minimize any handling problems your car might have.

We recommend a set of the Tamiya Sharp Pointed Side Cutters or Craft Side Cutters. Both will work perfect for this application.

About Tony Phalen

Tony Phalen - As an avid RC enthusiast, Tony has been building, bashing and racing RC Cars for over 30 years. He has participated in every kind of surface racing events - 1/18 scale trucks, 1/10 scale TC, Rock Racers, Rally - if it had wheels, he's raced it! He's also worked on both sides of the industry fence; collaborating with many major manufacturers (as well as being a sponsored driver) to working for a high-profile industry magazine. During this time he has learned many tricks, tips and techniques and is sharing that knowledge on CompetitionX - the most informative RC website on the internet!

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