I know there's a few board builders/repairers out there. Thought someone might be interested...
I've been making my own boards for a few years, but made the ugliest ones for a 300km radius (at least) using expoxy with tints. I got tired of this, and bought a $50 airbrush, expecting to make ugly airbrushed boards.
It turned out easier to do an ok paint job than I thought. The pictures below are of a surfboard I bought a few years ago for $110, previously repaired and covered up with a bad paint job, then dinged and had fin ripped out by me.
Now patched up, $30 worth of airbrush paint done in the back yard, topped with automotive clear coat from a repco spray can. (Two pack epoxy is better but a bit tricky and toxic). In the photo you can see all the remaining dints, but in the real world the pattern camouflages that pretty well.
If anyone's interested in details, I could send more info.
Before...
After...
Oh, it does actually work as well...
when was that video made.. I live at that golden spot. and have seen you out there a few times over winter. but that has got to be a nor easter.
will come and say gday next time i see you out..I ride the black + white T3
holy **** man that looks sick.....you MUST have done that before 
i would love some more info on how to do that. also where did you get the $50 airbrush from???
Some more details....
That was my third board, but first was ok (practised on a bit of chipboard first) - picture sequence below...
I bought the airbrush from a local hobby store, but I've since seen similar ones in Bunnings. It is a 0.3mm nozzle, but 0.5mm might have been better for kiteboard sized work. I think gravity feed is best. Plenty available on the net (see site below). Of course you need to own or borrow a compressor.
I've been using AutoAir paints from www.airbrushwarehouse.com.au/ They have been good to deal with. The paint is water based and not toxic. The blue flames needed 'Sealer - Dark', 'Semi-opaque White' and 'Brite Blue Candy Colour' using about 90ml, 5ml and 60ml respectively for surfboard size.
I took some sequence photos of my first project. What I did was a base coat (or two) of Sealer Dark. Then a layer of flames using SemiOpaque White. For this I copied a few templates from www.chuckbauman.com/true-fire-stencils-templates-shields.htm and just cut them out of plastic folder dividers. The paint drys to touch in seconds, so you just hold the template against the board in one hand and spray around the edge with the other a few times. Wait a second or two, move the template and spray again. You have to wash the airbrush out with water between coats.
When done, overspray the white layer with Candy Colour - Red for normal flames, Blue for blue flames. It's like a dye and you can't see it on the black areas. Then do another layer of flames on top - similar but offset a bit. Then another layer of candy colour - Orange or Yellow for normal flames, the same blue again for blue flames. The extra layer of candy colour over the bottom layer makes it look darker and sort of 3-D. When done, an hour or two in the sun to cure, then clear coat.
I found the clear coat the hardest to get right. The air brush paint looks a bit dull and flat till the polyurathane clear coar soaks though it and reacts. Thin layers of clear coat don't form a continuous layer and are bumpy and 'orange peel'ed. Too thick and they fog over. Either way (and I had both!) you can sand it out with wet and dry. About three coats if you don't sand it and it looks ok. If you start with a good board finish (ie wet rubbed surfboard finish) you can use maybe six coats sanding in between coats with 1200 grit W&D and get an automotive quality finish. (But too much effort for me)
Finish with a rubbing compound on a rag or sheepskin polishing disk.
Is it worth the effort? Probably not unless you enjoy the actual process, but there have been plenty of windless days to while away!
There are lots of airbrushing techinques out there, this is just one - some websites with info, or try typeing airbrushing tutorial into youtube and stand back!:
www.chuckbauman.com/true-fire-flames-how-to-instructions.htm
will come and say gday next time i see you out..I ride the black + white T3
was just looking at buying the pentax w60,not sure of the difference between the w60 and w20,,will have to start doing a bit of research.
cheers
A great job done on both the boards and the vid.
you must have spent a bit of time editing the footage to get such a good result, which soft ware are you using?, all the woobling and turning is gone, amazing.
Can you give a bit of info on how you did it.
Cheers
Ray
nice vid. thanks for putting it up. such amazing colours from the air. some nice waves too
Nice work. have you done any paintwork on kites? I'm trying to find paints that hold. I just sprayed my kite after some repairwork but it's flaking off in sections
What a great job on the board. I to have one of those cheap surf boards that has been picked up for next to nothing, and looks like crap. Just a few questions if you could answer them that would be great.
-How well did you clean the board off before you started?
-The finishing spray, how well has that sealed the board and paint job?
-Does it hold the wax or do you personally relie on the foot straps.
-If i was to do the blue fire, what paints did you use specifically
-And to do with your video which was great, i to have the W20 great little camera, what progra, did you use for the video editing? and can you only capture in quicktime?
Thanks
Shane
Have put my spray job on, and are at the sealing stage. I used some epoxy resin and used a roller to put it on. Gives a nice even finish. Will need to apply about 3 coats to get some thickness to it. For an old piece of crap board is starting to look like something i can take out in public. Photos to come.
