Pro-Line RC bodies and wings

Clear or tough-color

A clear body is raw polycarbonate: you trim it, mask it, paint the inside and apply the decals. It is lighter, it is yours, and it is the only way to build a livery nobody else has. A tough-color body is molded in color, trimmed at the factory and ready to bolt on. It will not chip, because there is no paint to chip.

Both start from the same molds. The choice is really about how you spend an evening. If you came here searching for ProLine bodies or ProLine Racing shells, this is the same catalog — the hyphen is the only thing that changes.

Weight, stiffness and where a shell cracks

Light weight shells are drawn thinner so a race car carries less mass high up. They are quicker and they break sooner. Standard thickness is the sensible bashing choice. Where a shell will be landed on — monster truck roofs, crawler cab corners — we add material rather than hope.

Window edges, body post holes and wheel arch corners are the three places a polycarbonate shell fails. Trim arches with curved scissors rather than a straight cut, reinforce post holes with washers from the start, and a shell will outlive the chassis under it.

Pro-Line Racing RC tires and bodies on the same rig

A shell and a set of tires get chosen in the same breath, because both are picked from the platform name rather than a measurement. The latest Pro-Line Racing RC tires and bodies are molded for the same named chassis, so a licensed truck body and the matching truck tires carry the same fitment promise. Pre-mounted sets are glued to a wheel at the factory — black Raid 12mm hex wheels under monster truck tires, or black 1.9 beadlocks under a scaler set — and bolt straight on.

Under a crawler shell I run belted 1.9 Class 1 rubber: BFGoodrich Krawler treads and Badlands compounds hold a line on rock, and a belted carcass keeps the sidewall round at speed instead of ballooning. Under a monster truck body the same logic runs bigger — Badlands MX on 17mm hex wheels, high performance shocks to carry the extra mass, and a 1.9 scaler set left on the shelf for the slow laps. Pro-Line Racing cuts the tires, the wheels and the bodies to one scale standard, which is the whole high performance argument for keeping a racing rig on one brand.

• Pre-mounted Badlands MX on black Raid wheels — the Pro-Line Racing pairing I bolt under a monster truck body for bashing.
• Belted BFGoodrich Krawler T/A KX in 1.9 — a scaler set where the belted carcass holds its shape under a heavy crawler shell.
• BFG All-Terrain T/A KO2 on 1.9 beadlocks — the scaler look, with the same hex and the same offset as the rest of the range.
• Pro-Line shocks and a 17mm hex at the rear, because the latest high performance truck tires load a racing chassis harder than the old ones did.

What the rubber asks of the body

Bigger tires change what a shell has to clear. A taller monster truck tire wants the rear arch trimmed high and the body lifted a few millimeters up the posts; longer shocks and stiffer springs do the rest. Pre-mounted sets weigh more than a glued-at-home set, so the rear of a light weight racing shell sits low until the springs are matched.

BFG and Badlands treads throw stones, and a black tough-color shell hides the scuffs a painted white roof will show after one afternoon of club racing. If a set of truck tires rubs, the fix is arch shape and shock length, not a thinner body.

• Clear racing shells — paint the inside, keep the weight low, and accept that Badlands and BFG treads will scuff the nose.
• Tough-color black shells — molded in color, no paint to chip, the honest bashing choice under pre-mounted truck tires.
• Licensed truck bodies — cut to a named chassis, so the hex, the wheelbase and the Pro-Line Racing tires under it all agree.
• High performance wings and scoops — a Pro-Line wing is a tuning part, and the first thing to break in a rollover.

Wings, scoops and the parts that come after

A buggy or truggy wing is a tuning part: it adds rear stability and slows the car down slightly. An on-road wing does the same with more authority. We sell them separately because they are consumables — a wing is usually the first thing to go in a rollover.

Decal sheets, window masks, light buckets and body clips live alongside the shells. The small pieces are what make a finished car look finished.

Do I need to trim a clear body myself?

Yes — a clear body ships untrimmed so you can set your own ride height and wheel arch shape. Cut along the molded guide line with curved lexan scissors, then clean the edge with a sanding stick. Pre-cut tough-color bodies arrive already trimmed.

Will a Pro-Line body fit my chassis?

We name the chassis each shell was cut for, including the wheelbase in millimeters or inches where it matters. Crawler bodies in particular are sized by wheelbase — a 12.3 inch shell will not sit right on a 313mm rig without moving mounts.

Which paint goes inside a clear body?

Polycarbonate paint only. Standard model enamels and lacquers crack the moment the shell flexes. Our airbrush and aerosol colors are mixed for polycarbonate and are painted on the inside surface so the outside stays glossy and protected.