I've been trying to find out how Stretch achieves the look of the colour in many of his boards (as per picture below) - I would like to try and replicate it. To me, it kinda looks..... hi tech.
I imagine it's Is it just a pastel green spray job directly onto a sealed/filled EPS blank? if so, do we think it's sealed/filled with spackle or with epoxy/micro balloons? What paint do we think they are using?Acrylic from a can or airbrush? Or maybe they're putting pigment in the seal/filler mix? Or is it some other aspect of their process?
I know that Stretch uses high quality EPS (2lb Marko I think) and I'm sure that helps with the uniform consistency of the colour, but I wonder whether there's something else those guys are doing - from what I can make out from pictures and from memory, you can't make out the voids in the blank.
I'm hoping that there may be guys out there that may have some industry inside knowledge or have achieved similar results themselves - or have had the opportunity to get up close to Stretch boards.
Ive seen people tint the filler as a base and then airbrush so you have a good base before you spray. only downfall is green colored dust. The guy I had seen do this, final sanded outside to not contaminate his room.
I have painted blanks that looked like that. Taped off stringer…used white acrylic and added some green for that opaque pastel look. Sprayed with an HVLP spray gun (more like car painting…air brush will not work that great). I let it dry for 3 days before glassing because the paint was fairly thick. I was using Clark Foam blanks. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on EPS.
Spackle(my method of choice) the shaped blank. Sand the spackled blank. Blow off the blank Mix darker paint of the color desired with white to create the "Pastel". Thin and strain. Tape off the stringer and paint using an HVLP cup gun or Air/Conventional cup gun. White and darker paint color equals pastel. That's it in a nutshell. Notice; I did not use the word pigment or tint.
Stingray. Nice job. That's a keeper. Looks like a tint job?
Thanks McDing - do you have any advice on the type or brand of paint / thinner? It'll be EPS and I think microballoons/epoxy will be my filler of choice because I don't trust the spackle here. It's not that it's no good (I'm in the UK) it's just that it's a different brand to that commonly used for board construction in the US.
Appreciate all your shared knowledge - everytime I get on this thing I'm warmed by the willingness to share - hope one day to have the know-how to give back.
Stretch use dap spackle as you can see it in a video in his website.
In France we found it with plaster, brand polyfilla or toupret or axon, it’s called ultralight white spackle, without sand. It’s really lighter than standard plaster.
Tempra poster paint of the type you can buy in a craft store or online works fine. But honestly most of the time I just go down to the local paint store and buy Interior Latex Flat Acrylic house paint. Interior because it has less acrylic in it. High acrylic and shiny finishes can result in adhesion probs. Thin with distilled water or acrylic sealer. But I have thinned many times with tap water. Thin it enough to insure good sprayability. I always two coat minimal. first coat is sometimes spotty. Avoid paint build up. Two coats should do it. Dulux should be in the UK.
A long time ago a well known pro shaper made some comments online about using Micro ballons and epoxy resin to seal EPS blanks. That was before Clark foam closed. That was low grade EPS foam. I've done some limmited Low Tech testing with Micro Ballons. It does not sand very well. Spackle sands really well......The yellow board I posted was painted with water based acrylic. The gloss job is very Low Tech and not buffed out resin. I've also figured out how to paint a surfboard and make it look like a resin tint with fake cut laps and dark rails....and I recently painted an SUP with a roller...ha ha ha ha.....fun stuff
That 'Patch N Paint' stuff is exactly what I've used. I never could find a local source for the Dap product recommended by Greg Loehr. They're basically the same - an acrylic base with microballoon thickener. Custom (former maker of Patch N Paint) has since been bought out by Dap.
After it dries it is super easy to sand with drywall screen around upholstery foam pad.
Below is an example of yellow tempera (poster paint) mixed with 1/2 and 1/2 distilled water and acrylic floor finish, glassed with epoxy resin, and glossed with polyester resin. It is nearly impossible to distinguish from a standard glass job over polyurethane foam.
By following the advice for mixing pastel colors, you'll be there.
