After seeing some great custom scale builds , I decided to accessorizing a Sand Scorcher Project (dune buggy, not crawler) I am finishing soon. I love to surf, and what goes better to a SS Surf Buggy than a scale surf board? The one in the Hilux High Lift kit is too big, and as a shortboarder I wanted to make a 1/10 5'6" 2008 Kelly Slater board.
I am working on a Sand Scorcher that will feature a custom made roof rack, and the car is gonna be done in a surf theme. It has lots of custom made parts made by various people, but I do not want to reveal that car yet, as I haven't decided on colors for the body. So here is a build thread on the surf board work I've done so far.
I started out by finding a birdview pic of the K board, traced the shape in Photoshop and imported the path to Illustrator and resized it to a correct 1/10 th scale measurements for a 5'6". Then a printed the shape and traced it onto a suitable plastic card. I made a couple of smaller shapes as well, cause I was making a sandwich construction with four layers of shaped plastic card, then glue 'em toghether after gently heating and bending them into the desired curved profile.
This is similar to how skateboard are made, not surf boards
Then I have to use a bit of filler, building the body of the board. I laid it on thick and prepared to sand it down to correct shape.
After sanding, and more sanding it was time to start work on the fins. I made shapes the same way I did for the board, using FCS fins (the ones Kelly uses). These are small and not easy to work with, but I only needed a fairly correct shape, apply filler and shape it back to a more accurate shape.
I added a fine coat of primer, filled in some more and sanded even more, then marked up where the fins should go, and used a dremel to make grooves to fit the countersunk fins (the need to be strong and not break later on)
I used an epoxy to secure the fins. Then after curing, I used filler to make a body for the fins, that later will be sanded down a bit.
I hate sanding epoxy, so I used a dremel to remove the excess epoxy around the fins, going really easy in order not to f**k it up.
Now it was time for more sanding and smoothing, working my way from 600 to 1200 grid paper, filling and more sanding, and then some. Dents and ding will be really visible on a thing like this, so it had to be done, before and between painting.
Small ding still visible, so history repeating, more filling and sanding..
Home made hurry paint box Several light coats of pure white...
I wet sanded using 1200 grid paper to remove any orangepeel or dust (didn't really have to, as I prepped the paint by putting it in a warm water bath for a few minutes before use - good tip I learned a while back to limit the orange peel thingy)
Ok, so I skipped taking a few work step pics after this due to some complications.
The next thing was to make a centerline like you'll find on a real board. I masked out a very fine line and sprayed it using a light brown color. Turned out great... but, when I removed the masking tape, I peeled off all the paint AND some of the filler which was laying on there pretty thin after all the sanding done prior. This set me back quite a bit, as I had to sand everything back down to base, fill the transition, sand, fill and more sanding, before repainting it all. I had another Heineken, and it was all good again.
I am pretty upset with the results Tamiya masking tapes has left me with, but I suspect that the tape I have has been stored somewhere at some time, where it has been to warm or something.
Well, I just hade to wet sand the areas where it had been applied.
Then I did several layers of clear coating, light coats is the way to go - but I wanted to get a feel of the depth like a real board, so I did several coats. Wet sanding between approx every other coat. Finally leaving me with a smooth shiny guarding layer, that I polished using the same stuff I use for polishing the clear parts like SS windows and so on.
I plan on get some surf decals (volcom stone, stüssy etc) that I have made in scale size printed out, and apply them to the board.
I am also working on a functional leash...
Here are some pics of the board, placed on top of the Superlative Conspiracy Baja Class SS I have been working on for a while. This is not the car the board will be used on, it's just for a referance of the sizes. The board follow the lines of the body quite well, but it doesnt really matter, as it will be mounted on a roof rack.
More will follow...
I am working on a Sand Scorcher that will feature a custom made roof rack, and the car is gonna be done in a surf theme. It has lots of custom made parts made by various people, but I do not want to reveal that car yet, as I haven't decided on colors for the body. So here is a build thread on the surf board work I've done so far.
I started out by finding a birdview pic of the K board, traced the shape in Photoshop and imported the path to Illustrator and resized it to a correct 1/10 th scale measurements for a 5'6". Then a printed the shape and traced it onto a suitable plastic card. I made a couple of smaller shapes as well, cause I was making a sandwich construction with four layers of shaped plastic card, then glue 'em toghether after gently heating and bending them into the desired curved profile.
This is similar to how skateboard are made, not surf boards
Then I have to use a bit of filler, building the body of the board. I laid it on thick and prepared to sand it down to correct shape.
After sanding, and more sanding it was time to start work on the fins. I made shapes the same way I did for the board, using FCS fins (the ones Kelly uses). These are small and not easy to work with, but I only needed a fairly correct shape, apply filler and shape it back to a more accurate shape.
I added a fine coat of primer, filled in some more and sanded even more, then marked up where the fins should go, and used a dremel to make grooves to fit the countersunk fins (the need to be strong and not break later on)
I used an epoxy to secure the fins. Then after curing, I used filler to make a body for the fins, that later will be sanded down a bit.
I hate sanding epoxy, so I used a dremel to remove the excess epoxy around the fins, going really easy in order not to f**k it up.
Now it was time for more sanding and smoothing, working my way from 600 to 1200 grid paper, filling and more sanding, and then some. Dents and ding will be really visible on a thing like this, so it had to be done, before and between painting.
Small ding still visible, so history repeating, more filling and sanding..
Home made hurry paint box
Several light coats of pure white...
I wet sanded using 1200 grid paper to remove any orangepeel or dust (didn't really have to, as I prepped the paint by putting it in a warm water bath for a few minutes before use - good tip I learned a while back to limit the orange peel thingy)
Ok, so I skipped taking a few work step pics after this due to some complications.
The next thing was to make a centerline like you'll find on a real board. I masked out a very fine line and sprayed it using a light brown color. Turned out great... but, when I removed the masking tape, I peeled off all the paint AND some of the filler which was laying on there pretty thin after all the sanding done prior. This set me back quite a bit, as I had to sand everything back down to base, fill the transition, sand, fill and more sanding, before repainting it all. I had another Heineken, and it was all good again.
I am pretty upset with the results Tamiya masking tapes has left me with, but I suspect that the tape I have has been stored somewhere at some time, where it has been to warm or something.
Well, I just hade to wet sand the areas where it had been applied.
Then I did several layers of clear coating, light coats is the way to go - but I wanted to get a feel of the depth like a real board, so I did several coats. Wet sanding between approx every other coat. Finally leaving me with a smooth shiny guarding layer, that I polished using the same stuff I use for polishing the clear parts like SS windows and so on.
I plan on get some surf decals (volcom stone, stüssy etc) that I have made in scale size printed out, and apply them to the board.
I am also working on a functional leash...
Here are some pics of the board, placed on top of the Superlative Conspiracy Baja Class SS I have been working on for a while. This is not the car the board will be used on, it's just for a referance of the sizes. The board follow the lines of the body quite well, but it doesnt really matter, as it will be mounted on a roof rack.
More will follow...
