I’ve just finished shaping a board for my daughter - an 8’7" longboard - PU blank to glass with polyester resin… Its the third board I have made. It was looking good, smooth, pristine white. But my daughter wanted colour and artwork. I was not keen. I have no experience of this and am aware of the risks. I decided not to go for the big rice paper decal she wanted and 2 colours on the foam (vibrant pink and green). But I but went ahead and started spraying the foam with pink acrylic spray paint from a can I got from the hardware store. It looked terrible. Blotchy, patchy. The only way I was going to get an even colour was to use loads of paint so I decided to stop after doing the rails and part of the bottom deck. I immediately regretted even resorting to colour. I sanded some of the paint off but now I’m afraid of destroying my shaping hard work. The rails and bottom deck look terrible - stained pink. How do i remedy this? All i want to do it produce a clean functional board.
Keep sanding but the water paper is pink and smears the foam more. I could afford to lose a few millimetres all round if there was a clean way to do it and the paint has not gone too deep.
Spray the foam white but the pink might still show through, I’ll add weight to the board, cover the stringer and increase risk of delamination.
Use pigment? An opaque pink or red to hide the foam blemishes? Do I add it to the lam or the hotcoat or both? Don’t want to weaken the board.
In hindsight I would have liked to make a plain board and I think I my daughter would accept that now but is it too late?
I’d do a red opaque bottom with a wide cutlap to go over the rails. The odds of any pink paint showing through are slim… but you could do a resin swirl with one or two other colors and that will mask it even more. Cover it up in the lam…
Don't use paint out of the can. Next time use an acrylic aibrush paint to spray on. Do what keithmelville suggested or foam stain with an opaque red or pink. anothe option would be to tape off the sringer and wipe or spray(not from a can) airbrush paint over the entire board and color in the lam job. sand all bumps or drips before attempting this.
Thanks for the advice. I managed to get some opaque fluorescent pink pigment today. I did a 6 oz lam on the bottom deck just now using 5% pigment. Its come out translucent which is good because you can still see the stringer and it looks nice. One or two darker patches of the pink spray are still showing through - not too noticeable. Should I add a bit of pigment to the hotcoat to cover it a bit more or just live with a bit of artistic imperfection in order to have a stronger board?
I did not bother with a cutlap. I’m going to do it pink all over and then when I’ve done the hotcoat think about drawing / painting / stencilling on the bottom deck with acrylics and then cover it with a gloss coat. Going to add weight though.
Howzit iloveabrina, After reading the last post all I can think about is"Danger,Danger,Wil Smith" . First don't add pigment to hot coat since uneven sanding will make different shades of the color. Second is you should do cut laps when using tints or pigments because where they overlap is going to be darker and it is really going to look odd. AT this point just finish the board and give it to your daughter and don't say a thing about Dad making any mistakes and she will love you or making her a board.Aloha,Kokua