I have a 10’ longboard that I love, its a all white/clear sanded finish epoxy longboard. At the time when I had it made, I couldnt afford to add some color to it, just a couple stripes maybe. I was curious if it possible, to add a couple stripes to her, and how I’d go about doing this. and if it would be possible to not only add some stripes but gloss coat over it ? Any suggestions? Thanks!
there was some type of paint that could be applied on the gloss coat or before, and it would stay on until you rubbed alcohol on it i just can’t remember the name but from what i remember it worked
original,
After failing miserably several times with artwork on foam, I do all of my artwork on the sanded hotcoat. You can sand off any mistakes this way, and the colors are very vibrant with only a gloss on top of them (I also can’t do very clear laminations, especially on rail laps, but am improving).
Go to Micheal’s or Hobby Lobby, and get some paint colors you like. Delta Creamcoat, FolkArt, DecoArt, Liquitex, all have been good to me. I prefer the DecoArt’s metallics. They are more pearl than metallic, but I like the effect, and they mix well together for different shades. Also get some Future floor sealer (SC Johnson), some Krylon crystal clear, some 3M 233+ masking tape, and some masking paper. If you have a spray rig, even better, but these paints can be brushed.
If you have a sanded finish, hit the board lightly with some 220 grit to rough the surface up for the gloss coat. Glossing on too smooth a board causes the resin to want to run off like water on a newly waxed car (ask me how I know).
Wipe the area to be painted down with denatured alcohol, and mask off your design. Then push down the tape with a toungue blade or similar instrument (preferably not your fingernail, as it could introduce oil to the surface, negating the denatured alcohol wipedown). Then I hit all the tapelines with the Krylon Crystal clear to seal them and avoid paint bleeds under the tape. If you are spraying, mask off the rest of the board (masking paper), and make an apron with the masking paper so that overspray will not find its way to the underside (like taping off for a hotcoat).
Thin the paint from the jars/tubes with the Future floor sealer, until you get a good spray, or if brushing, so that you will get a good level-out with no (or less) brush marks. Testing works wonders at this stage, so that you do not have to sand off your mistake.
Paint the sucker. Since you are not spraying on foam, no worries on laying the paint on too thick. Make it as opaque (or transparent) as you would like. Not too much though, as any large edges/humps you introduce to the surface will give you trouble when you are wetsanding your gloss coat. Clean up any bleeds under tape with the edge of a razor blade.
Wait for the paint to dry, and repeat the steps for any other colors. When all colors are dry, hit them with some scotchbrite or other gentle abrasive to roughen them up slightly for the gloss coat. Then wash the board with Dawn dishwashing liquid to get the oils off for glossing. DO NOT use alcohol or any other solvent, or you will find out the hard way that it takes your paint with it!
I hope this helps,
JSS
Here are a few pics of a board I did this way, the little paipo quad, and the pinline/turtle on the pig (check out the 7/8" pinline, due to my cutlap prowess!) The quality of the pics suck, so you can’t see how nicely this method works…
Awesome! Thanks for th responses. I guess I’ll start stripping the wax off and pop the fin out of the box and start sanding her up. I do have a spray gun, so I’m sure I’ll try using that first.
So you use that floor stuff for the final gloss coat?
For a final gloss, you have many options. I prefer to do an epoxy gloss coat on top of the graphics to protect them, and then I do one of two things: 1. wetsand and polish the epoxy coat (careful not to sand through to the graphics, especially on the rails!), which takes forever, but looks AWESOME; or wetsand only with 320 (400 on the rails) to smooth things out and spray/brush (if brushing, 220/320 rails sanding is all you need) with an acrylic (Krylon Crystal Clear or I now use Aervoe Acrylic). You can then wetsand/buff the acrylic, but I like the finish out of the can. If you brush the Aervoe stuff on (you can get it in gallon cans), you may need to clean up the tape line with some wetsanding.
There are other options from the boatbuilding folks, like System 3’s WR-LPU, a 2-part water reducible polyurethane (still have a quart of the stuff I have yet to try), and Interlux’s Perfection Varnish (2-part polyurethane). Both can be sprayed or brushed on, but the Interlux stuff should not be used in your house, being a solvent reduced polyurethane, it will smell awful and not too good for the lungs, actually, I wouldn’t apply anything other than the Future waterborne acrylic in the house, and only if brushed/wiped on. The 2-part polyurethanes are quality chemicals (from what I have heard) and are commensurately expensive, running over $100 a gallon. They are polyester polyurethanes, and are more durable than acrylic polyurethanes (like what is found on most most automotive clearcoats)
The acrylics (Future, Krylon, Aervoe) are not as durable, and do not advertise any UV protection, which probably means there is none. The polyurethanes (Interlux, System Three, and others) do offer UV protection.
I’m sure there are folks out there that just spray or brush acrylic right on top of the grpahics, but I feel that the acrylic will not be thick or tough enough to prevent scratches and nicks from messing with the paint, but I have never tried it. It takes me a while to do graphics, so I protect them.
In the post above, the little quad has a coat of epoxy and spray acrylic on top of the graphics, and the pig has a coat of epoxy with a sanded finish (600 grit, if I remember right) and some car wax. The green and white board was my last attempt at spraying graphics directly onto foam and realizing my lamination skills are lacking (the color was so great before I clouded it with my overworked, frothy lam!) with the same 600 grit and carwax, and the rightmost one is all pigmented epoxy graphics on the hotcoat with a polished epoxy gloss on top of the graphics. It is bulletproof, with a 6x6x6 oz deck and a 6x6 oz bottom, and two 1/4" balsa stringers.
Hope this helps, and definitely post some pics when you are progressing/done.
JSS