Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Fish tales




Safety Equipment


Just thought i would point out that i use all safety equipment when cutting or sanding.....glasses and ear buds...The Ryobi jigsaw has had a workout..not bad for $60 from Bunnings! Still have all my fingers intact too..

More than one way to skin a cat...or skin a fish....


Merry Christmas to all , better late than never!. Had plenty of rain over the past few days which has given me plenty of time to slowly glue all the ribs together and finish off the tail piece and glue it together. I also got a tad excited and cut the first skin for the board. This piece will form the bottom of the deck.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Stage two complete - nose and tail









So i managed to squeeze the nose together with some persistance and good cable ties ( reusable cable ties are great for this project). The tail shape was inspired by my 6'4'' Twin fish that i ride most days and is super fast. Overall fairly happy with the shapes at both ends. Next test will be the glueing of it all.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Fish Fins

Had a go at sanding a couple of fins for the the quad yesterday. I used the inside cutouts from my tail supports and they have turned out pretty well as the small fins in my proposed quad set. Grant told us that it is easier to have glassed in fins than FCS because there is not as much structural work to be done on the inside of the board. I have also now shaped the top nose support and begun gluing it in place. This has helped to push the rail band into a more even curve at the front of the board.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Fish Tales (it was THIS big)




Spent some time today cutting out supports for the tail. This meant I needed to make a decision about tail shape. I went with a deep fish tail that hopefully when I couple it with quad fins will be both stylish and perform well. Also started to glue each join piece by piece. The stringer and some of one of the rails is now glued. The board is already feeling sturdy. I'm not sure that the rail curve is perfect but hey, it is my first board after all...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Railbands tied on



After drilling out the holes for the ribs to slot into the railbands I have now cabletied the board together. This makes it look further along than I actually am. Once seeing all the pieces together I have now started sanding back to match up each connection. Exciting times, I wanted to just glue it straight away but after speaking with co-shaper scott I decided that may be rushing it a bit. Am now going to work out a nose shape and then cut a support piece for there. We are using Selleys Aquadhere Polyurethane glue, it expands as it dries so should fill any of the little mistakes made so far on the internals. Hopefully we can minimise these mistakes now that things start to become visible on the outside of the board.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Duncs' skeleton finally takes shape


Well its been a few weeks but I have finally got into gear and cut out the ribs, stringer and rail bands for my board. Scotty has been at this stage for a few weeks, due to work commitments I haven't been able to catch up until now. So here is the board just slotted together. Soon I'll glue it all together and then cut out the deck. I think I'm going to make this board a quad. Will probably cut out the fins this afternoon. I think my neighbours are sick of the sound of the jigsaw, but hey a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Next update coming alot sooner than this one did (I hope).