How to Make a Scale Looking Interior in a 1/10 Scale Rc Car

Hello, I will be showing how to make a semi-realistic interior in an rc car as the title says. In this instructable The reason for doing something like this can vary and be helpful with miniatures in photography/videos to give a more real look to a scene. It's also a great way to showcase your favorite vehicle at a local get together.

Just for safety's sake, Please be sure to take great care when using glues. You should be in a well ventilated area as it can cause headaches and other side effects. Be careful not to glue yourself to other parts and most importantly use EXTREME CAUTION when useing an X-Acto or other "hobby" knife. They can and will cut your finger off before you feel any pain or see any blood!

Materials:

Xacto knife

#11 blades

Various markers or clips

Sheets of .030 styrene

Bondene styrene glue

Super Glue

"Green stuff" filler

Acrylic paints

Fabrics of your choice in color

A harder type foam

Paintball tube for paintball pistols

Night light cover

Sculpey

Old ribbon wire from a pc

Led Strips

Fiber Wire

Action Figure that closely resembles yourself

Step 1: Starting the Dash

When doing this part as well as the rest make sure you have plenty of reference pics available.

First thing is to get measurements for the front body posts. Take 2 small strips of styrene and cut/drill holes in them that will allow them to fit snugly over the posts.

Once these are made you measure the inside of the body to find the dimensions for your dash. When you have your measurements sketch them out on styrene and cut them out. be sure to mark and cut any holes for dash vents or the dash cluster as well if you are going to go that detailed.

Now that all your pieces are cut out, use the Bondene in a well ventilated area to glue everything together. Once everything is dry you should now have a basic dash built. Be sure to check and double check that it fits under the body just right. It's always easy to take some material away but very hard to add more in such small amounts.

Once everything seems to fit correctly you mark where the mounting tabs will go for the body posts and glue them to the under side of the dash.

Step 2: Dash Details

Now that the basic Dash is complete it's time to add vents, gauge cluster and steering!

For the vents if you chose to do this detail simply cut out the shape your wanting to make them and patiently glue tiny strips horizontally one by one to give the effect of the vent fins. Once done, glue them over top of where you marked for your vents to be. Make sure they're just a hair bigger than where you marked if you cut them out so they will fit just right!

For the steering wheel, Take a small piece of round plastic rod (I used a piece from a model kits parts tree) and slowly heat/bend it to the shape of the steering wheel you choose.

Now trace that onto some styrene and sketch out where the center of the steering wheel will be and cut the shape out. Then craft the center of the steering wheel with some sculpey and bake/assemble.

Nos Gauge is very simple to make. Just take a small triangle of styrene and heat/bend it to the correct shape. The cut out a small piece to act as the gauge backing and glue it in.

For the gauge cluster simply cut out a small piece of styrene a little larger than the hole you made for it and glue it in from the back.

You can cut out detail parts and paint them for the glove box door and center console now too.

Once everything is assembled glue it to the dash where you want it and now paint the dash how you see fit and add the little sticker pieces or paper details. You can get these by simply searching online and just scaling them down and printing them out.

Step 3: Shifter/Center Console

Take your night light cover and cut it to fit.

You can drill out a small hole and add some styrene to the underside to make a little shelf in it.

Next cut a small hole a little towards the front and make a small shifter knob out of sculpey and bake the knob.

Use a piece of round plastic for the shaft, Glue everything together and paint!

Step 4: Seats/Door Panels and Back Dash

Now take your hard foam and cut out the shape you would like for the seats. Simply put some fabric over it and sew directly through the foam.

For the Door Panels, Measure out how the overall shape needs to be and cut that main shape out in the styrene. Once you have the shape you can sketch the detailing/dividing lines of the doors on it.

When that's done you can either paint them or go one step further  and individually cut each piece out and add a bit of fabric to spots.

Make "L" shaped brackets out of styrene by heating/bending small strips and use them to attache the door panes and seats to the base sheet of styrene you're using for the "floor".

To make the back dash it uses the same steps as the front with the exception of speakers. For the speakers just trace a soda bottle cap on styrene and cut them out and paint. If you want speaker covers trace the cap twice more and draw your design on the inside of that circle. Then very carefully cut out the design.

The NOS bottle is used from the bottom part of the paint ball holder. Just cut it to the length you need and add a small styrene cap to the opened end. Flip the NOS bottle over and add some small circles of styrene that you either cut out or used a hole puncher to get. Glue all the pieces together and then paint. Add a sticker and some small gauge wire for a hose and your done!

On my back dash I wanted to make an Amp. Instead of scratch building one which I could have done I opted for utilizing parts already on the car...The ESC! The heatsink on it made a perfect looking Amp so I simply cut a hole and mounted it to the under side of the dash.

Now that everything is assembled, simply paint to match and your done with those pieces!

Step 5: Intercooler/Exhaust

For the Intercooler, sketch out the basic shape and cut out the front, back, top, bottom and side pieces. Make sure they all fit together nicely and glue them together. Now take your ribbon cable and cut a piece to fit in the center of the intercooler on the front and the back and glue them into place. Paint it silver and your good to go.

For the exhaust simply take a piece of styrene and make a little panel to attach to the frame in the rear. Hot glue some small pieces of metal tubing to it and you're done!

Step 6: Lighting

Take your small LED Strips and add them to the sides UNDER the edges of the interior. These will act as ground effects. From the front LED on the driver side, Use a little hot glue and glue the fiber wire to the tip of the LED where the light is most concentrated. Now run the other ends of the fiber wires to the dash cluster. To get them in the correct spots I used a lighter and a sewing needle and heated the needle  while holding it with pliers. Once hot enough I just poked it through the paper and plastic to make the holes for the fiber wires to sit in.

Once all the holes were done and the fiber wire fit I put just a small drop of super glue on each one to hold it in place.

Step 7: Finishing Up!

When it's all said and done you can then take the action figure of your likeness and customize them how you see fit to resemble you more if needed. Once done you need to cut them off at the waist and secure them to the bottom plate of the interior.

NOW YOU'RE FINISHED!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this instructable as much as I did doing the project. This is by far the most detailed build I've done on any of my rc cars and it just gets more and more in depth!

Thank you for looking and feel free to ask any questions. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.