DIY Back to the future Hoverboard prop supplies

[replicaprops]

The multiple 150 page Hoverboard threads are great but I have yet to see the following questions definitively answered for a hero hoverboard prop replica

What are the dimensions of the board and What thickness should it be? Answer: Using the known measurement of the hook and loop as 1 inch wide I looked at this image, and calculated the width was 8 inches wide or 203.614mm wide x 743.974mm long. As far as thickness it appears its 3/4" but its hard to tell . I can't recall where I found the document but i'm using a downloaded PDF for the art. Here are the non gaffer tape and velcro decals. for cutting on your cricut. Here is the link to the pdf BTTF_HOVERBOARD.rar

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What angle cut for the rear part the bends up Answer 15 degrees
Where do you get the color hook and loop velcro
Answer:
Green DuraGrip® Brand - 1" Neon Green Hook Sew-On
Pink DuraGrip® Brand - 1" Neon Pink Hook Sew-On
For the Lenticular sheet what is the closest alternative Answer: I found this looks pretty darn close. I picked up 3 feet of it to test. https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_rolls/clear_honeycomb/449

Is the edge beveled or rounded over ANSWER BEVELED
Is the edge inset for lenticular film or is it painted silver
Where to buy the pink fur foot strap material. Amazon.com

Thanks in advance to all the experts who have this stuff memorized, hopefully for others wanting to take a crack at making their own hero version this thread will help.
Rob

 

[replicaprops]

Updated some answers

 

[Grey Area]

I found this pink fur in either "the range" or Hobbycraft (UK)..but you have to shave it...no I'm not joking it's too long. I set my Wahl trimmers with a number 6 comb...

Confirmed it's from The Range...but on the website you can't specifically select pink...it's one of four colours and they send you a random one. Don't ask me who made insane decision!

https://www.therange.co.uk/arts-and-crafts/papercraft/decoupage-and-scrapbooking/scrapbooking/decoration/art-studio-fur-trim-assorted

 

[Grey Area]

Also, I think those decals are off...I think the underside isn't the same as the top...but I may be misinterpreting what a "hero" prop is...maybe it's one where it's how it OUGHT to have been...with things fixed that were wrong in the actual movie?

Oh by the way the last three inches (75mm) of the board looks "right" if kicked up by 15 degrees. The edge of the board is chamfered, not rounded, and there is no rebate to take the lenticular. In some shots you can clearly see it's lenticular - but looks plain silver, not pink - and it's just bonded on to the edge. I'll be fixing this on my 3D printed version. I have converted the arbitrary "inch thick" to 25 mm and split it into three layers, king of like a sandwich! The outer layers have a 7.5cm chamfer, which since they are 7.5cm thick gives a nice 45° edge. The centre 10mm has an 8mm high, 1mm deep rebate all the way round, so you could recess an 8mm tape and worry less that it's going to debond.

Still lots to do, including the boring but of writing out all the instructions...but I can't do that until I've actually built my first one!

In the move

 

[BeaminScotty]

The multiple 150 page Hoverboard threads are great but I have yet to see the following questions definitively answered for a hero hoverboard prop replica

What are the dimensions of the board and What thickness should it be? Answer: Using the known measurement of the hook and loop as 1 inch wide I looked at this image, and calculated the width was 8 inches wide or 203.614mm wide x 743.974mm long. As far as thickness it appears its 3/4" but its hard to tell . I can't recall where I found the document but i'm using a downloaded PDF for the art. Here are the non gaffer tape and velcro decals. for cutting on your cricut. Here is the link to the pdf BTTF_HOVERBOARD.rar

View attachment 1942120View attachment 1942121View attachment 1942122x2View attachment 1942123x2View attachment 1942125x2View attachment 1942126

View attachment 1942118View attachment 1942119
What angle cut for the rear part the bends up
Where do you get the color hook and loop velcro
Answer:
Green DuraGrip® Brand - 1" Neon Green Hook Sew-On
Pink DuraGrip® Brand - 1" Neon Pink Hook Sew-On
For the Lenticular sheet what is the closest alternative Answer: I found this looks pretty darn close. I picked up 3 feet of it to test. https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_rolls/clear_honeycomb/449
View attachment 1942128
View attachment 1942129

Is the edge beveled or rounded over
Is the edge inset for lenticular film or is it painted silver
Where to buy the pink fur foot strap material.

Thanks in advance to all the experts who have this stuff memorized, hopefully for others wanting to take a crack at making their own hero version this thread will help.
Rob

Sommers provided the material for the movie with a pink tint to it. If you call them and ask about the pink, they might tell you there’s a quantity limit as it would be a custom order.

Honeycomb-Clear LIR 24" - LENTICULAR IN ROLLS HONEYCOMB - SPECIALTIES

Rigid polycarbonate extruded into 24" wide lenticular in rolls with dramatic, 3D honeycomb effect. AS SEEN ON "Back to the Future" hoverboard with pink color underlay.

www.sommers.com

I used the tap plastics stuff on my board just because the Sommers website was down while they transitioned to a new owner. But it’s back up now. I’m going to order some soon and compare it to the tap plastics material. Regardless, I can’t tell the difference in pictures so I’m happy.

Here’s my board that I’m nearly finished with. I just attached the hover pads this morning, in fact. I still need to do the strip of lenticular around the side and make the “hover board” stickers.

It’s not screen accurate as I never intended for it to turn into a serious project. Now that I have the process and materials down, I’ll make a better one.

I’ll post a thread of the build process and materials later this week.

 

[Grey Area]

Nice shine on those magnets...almost mirrored.

 

[BeaminScotty]

Nice shine on those magnets...almost mirrored.

There’s so many great vinyl wrap materials out there. I have the brushed aluminum to make it screen accurate if I wanted to. This stuff is an iridescent chrome and the rainbow pattern just looks so cool and fits with the aesthetics of the prop and the film. This board was the wrong shape and size to begin with, so I took liberties since it became more about working through process with the materials.

I actually attempted to use hot pink vinyl wrap instead of paint on the board body. If I can perfect that process, I’ll try again on the next board as it looks amazing. Really drives home the idea that it’s a mass produced toy.

 

[BeaminScotty]

I found this pink fur in either "the range" or Hobbycraft (UK)..but you have to shave it...no I'm not joking it's too long. I set my Wahl trimmers with a number 6 comb...

Confirmed it's from The Range...but on the website you can't specifically select pink...it's one of four colours and they send you a random one. Don't ask me who made insane decision!

https://www.therange.co.uk/arts-and-crafts/papercraft/decoupage-and-scrapbooking/scrapbooking/decoration/art-studio-fur-trim-assorted

I got pink fur from Amazon cheap and used fabric glue to apply it to white nylon strap (similar to seatbelt) like one of the original props had.

I also had to shave mine down considerably. I just kept changing the razor attachments until I got it down to the length that looked close enough to the original.

 

[replicaprops]

I found this on amazon for the fur

Amazon.com

 

[BeaminScotty]

I found this on amazon for the fur

Amazon.com

Here’s what I used- https://a.co/d/a58yGdj
I found it nice to have enough material to allow me more control.

 

[replicaprops]

Here’s what I used- Amazon.com
I found it nice to have enough material to allow me more control.

That looks much better. The dense pyle is more accurate

 

[Grey Area]

more about working through process with the materials.

...is exactly where I am. This ostensibly was a "one-off"; I heard a friend was getting the DeLorean for his wedding car and as I can't go personally thought... there's got to be 3d printable files SOMEwhere for such an iconic prop...

...and there were...but all had something not quite right about them...like they were over 800mm long, or the decals weren't quite right or they were simply unfinished. I thought it was just going to be me, since threads were up to 16 years old in some cases, I thought no one cared.

I know my Parkinson's sends me into "passion projects" and I get blinkered...so when I was talking about shaving the pink fur I thought...yeah, I'm gonna get some ribbing for this...but then...

I also had to shave mine down considerably

I'm home *sniff*

 

[Grey Area]

By the way, one good reason for keeping your board width down to 200mm...A4 is 210mm..."cut your clothes to suit your cloth", as they say...

 

[BeaminScotty]

That looks much better. The dense pyle is more accurate

Did you see my post above with the link to purchase the original lenticular used in the movies?

One tip I have for the lenticular: put magenta permanent vinyl on the back of it because any adhesive you use will mess up the lenticular pattern in nasty ways.

I used 3M adhesive sheets on the board, then put the magenta vinyl surface down, sticky side up. Peel off the vinyl backing and put the lenticular down.

Make sure you get permanent vinyl that has color on both sides. The stuff you get at the craft store for cricut or silhouette usually is like this, but automotive stuff often has a special backing that is gray in color.

I trimmed mine to the edge which was easy. Doing it right with a 1/8” gap to the edge would be more challenging but doable.

 

[BeaminScotty]

By the way, one good reason for keeping your board width down to 200mm...A4 is 210mm..."cut your clothes to suit your cloth", as they say...

I didn’t use a printer for anything. Only rolls of permanent vinyl for the color lines and the color backing for the lenticular. I don’t like being limited by size of material if I can help it. An X-acto knife, large cutting mat, and a long straightedge were my most used tools on this project.

 

[Grey Area]

I didn’t use a printer for anything. Only rolls of permanent vinyl for the color lines and the color backing for the lenticular. I don’t like being limited by size of material if I can help it. An X-acto knife, large cutting mat, and a long straightedge were my most used tools on this project.

Ah you're a hands on kinda guy. I respect that; I would be if I could, but the Parkinson's can be cruel and capricious. I can take my time and fight it to produce a smooth curve on screen, but the material I'd waste doing it by hand would be enormous. Even shaky as I am I can still hit "print"...

Well, nine out of ten times ...

 

[Grey Area]

I trimmed mine to the edge which was easy. Doing it right with a 1/8” gap to the edge would be more challenging but doable.

Why would you want the gap?

 

[BeaminScotty]

Ah you're a hands on kinda guy. I respect that; I would be if I could, but the Parkinson's can be cruel and capricious. I can take my time and fight it to produce a smooth curve on screen, but the material I'd waste doing it by hand would be enormous. Even shaky as I am I can still hit "print"...

Well, nine out of ten times ...

That’s terrible, brother. I can’t imagine going through something like that.

Why would you want the gap?

The screen used ones have a gap. I’m not a stickler for screen used level of detail. I’m ok telling a slightly different story with my props. Maybe mine is a newer or previous model of the same board. It doesn’t have to be the exact duplicate of what’s on the screen, but I’d like it to at least look like it came off the same assembly line. I also don’t like to get hung up on details where reproduction is outside of my skill level. I’ll try and get there but at some point I have to move on. I have too many things I want to accomplish in the near future and I’m not making these for someone else.

 

[BeaminScotty]

Ah you're a hands on kinda guy. I respect that; I would be if I could, but the Parkinson's can be cruel and capricious. I can take my time and fight it to produce a smooth curve on screen, but the material I'd waste doing it by hand would be enormous. Even shaky as I am I can still hit "print"...

Well, nine out of ten times ...

Did you see this thing? It looks good enough for a wedding party for sure. I nearly bought one myself. It’s cheaper than making the one I made.

Amazon.com

They have a bundle with the hat for $20 more. You can also get the sports almanac on Amazon for around $15.

 

[Grey Area]

Did you see this thing? It looks good enough for a wedding party for sure. I nearly bought one myself. It’s cheaper than making the one I made.

Amazon.com

They have a bundle with the hat for $20 more. You can also get the sports almanac on Amazon for around $15.

I can't be sure, but I think that's the one where the purple block (what I always call the CPU) is just painted on, so... oCD says no