The Tape Job

Today at Altus Boards, Takaaki and I worked on boards number two and three. The first one, as we all painfully remember, was misdrilled. However, we painted it anyway, and it turned out so pretty that James Wang is holding it hostage at his house. We'll get it back, don't worry. I got the second board all taped up and ready to be painted with my design. My design was slightly more complicated than Takaaki's, so it took a longer time to set up the template and tape job. However, it paid off after we sprayed on the first coat of paint because I can already tell it's gonna look great. By the end of this weekend, there's a very large chance we'll have a completed longboard, as long as someone is able to periodically go in and apply 1 more coat of paint, wetsand it, and apply two coats of polyurethane sealant. Here's a picture of me doing the tape job:

It Rides!

Altus Longboards has made a huge step forward today. We finally slapped a pair of trucks on a longboard and took it for a spin, and it feels great. The board itself hasn't been finished, and still has to be finished with a file and fine sandpaper. After that, we will stain it, spraypaint it, and seal it with polyurethane. All that's left after that is to purchase a setup and grip the board, and it'll be ready to set up!

We also finally decided on a design, but we're not gonna be revealing the actual design on the bottom of the board until we bring it to class sometime next week, because it will be completed then. We're experimenting with the design on the bottom of the board that we misdrilled. Here are some pictures from this week.

The beginning of the practice paint job:

Altus Board's first test ride:

We're gonna be working almost all day on Sunday, so hopefully we have a board ready to sell by next week!

Tragedy Strikes

During Spring Break, Takaaki Sagawa and I really put in hours at Make X working hard on boards. We were almost at a point where we were going to slap some trucks on the board and quickly test it out in the parking lot, but we misdrilled the mounting holes. Board #1 has officially been retired as a scrap board, used for practicing staining and painting designs.

Luckily, we worked so hard that we're about to drill holes in our second board, and we're pretty sure we can get it right this time. Takaaki and I are also in the process of deciding a final graphic for the bottom of the board, we plan to make it simplistic, yet recognizable. This weekend, we plan to work long enough for me to quickly test the board out in the parking lot. If we correctly drill the holes in this board and it checks out in the parking lot, it won't be long before that board is completed. Here's the template that led us astray: