Great Scott! It’s another Hoverboard build thread...

Retrograde Orbit

Retrograde Orbit

Well-Known Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Okey dokey, this thread will detail my first attempt at making a 1:1 reproduction of this iconic movie prop... (Actually, my first attempt at scratchbuilding a prop of any kind)
Lots of pictures to follow and I will try to be as detailed in my ruminations as I can. :D

Just wanted to add that this would not be happening without all the others that have done similar builds here. You have all been instrumental with giving me inspiration, ideas and information. Thank you one and all.

Please feel free to comment on anything and everything I put up. Good or bad, I wanna hear it... Of course one would prefer good! ;)
 
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Right then, this is what I started with, a 12mm thick sheet of MDF which I cut in half and glued, screwed and clamped together to form a piece 24mm thick. It was a very hot day so I left it outside to set with a bunch of weight on top to help bind it together...
255jjq1.jpg
 
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Here’s the first cut made after the glue had dried. As you can see, I’ve already marked out for the chamfers.
Trouble is it looks too big... But the measurements were taken from a vector graphic found online. Which stated the board is 1 inch thick, 9.5 inches wide and 37 inches end to end with a 25 degree angle for the tail piece.

20kayhg.jpg



Hah! Further research indicated the true measurements for the board are 1 inch x 8 inches x 28 inches...
some rapid recutting was performed. Luckily I hadn’t done any chamfering...
 
Here it is after the recut, chamfers are done. Left a 10mm straight edge around all of the sides as it looked about right. Tail end is propped up from underneath at the moment to show the actual finished angle.
Will need to think about how to attach these together as I don’t believe just gluing them will give sufficient strength.

1537mg1.jpg
 
After giving the tail joint some thought and discounting the idea of using nails or screws, I was worried about splitting the mdf or not getting it lined up correctly. I decided to go with a tried and trusted solution that is the staple of build it yourself flat pack furniture...
Holes and dowels!
I bought some 6mm dowel for under £1 from B&Q which seemed an apt size as I have 24mm MDF.

I marked 4 holes at roughly equidistant positions on the tail and estimated the angle I needed to drill so that the corresponding holes in the main part of the board would be perpendicular to the board, giving a good fit. Here’s what happened...

ibcght.jpg

14b6mtk.jpg


The dowels were cut and rounded off at one end, after that glue was applied to the holes and dowels, then the dowels were knocked into the holes on the main board.

346baps.jpg
28jws5g.jpg
 
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MattgomeryBurns said:
Awesome work man. Keep the BTTF spirit alive!
Click to expand...

Thank you Mr Burns... :D
Hopefully it will be as interesting or more so as it goes on!


My word, that glue and dowels really did the trick. It’s like it is one piece...
Here’s a dry fit photo I forgot to put up before.

1z5uhjt.jpg
 
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Fill, sand, repeat... Good grief I hate this part. But I also know the more time and effort spent at this point, the better the paint job is, so...

1115m6c.jpg

2ahd1z5.jpg

2ijq9z7.jpg
 
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DB537 said:
Just a suggestion, but I'd recommend trying Roland's hoverboard decal art. It's very accurate to the film version.
(You'll want to scale it up so that the decal goes all the way up to the chamfer on all sides for it to fit properly like the original.)
Link: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=67267&p=2384684&viewfull=1#post2384684
Click to expand...

Just had a quick look and, oh my, are they awesome... Will have to take a proper look when I am home and see about using them on my board. Thanks for the link. :thumbsup
 
I just remembered that they should already be scaled right to fit a correctly sized board, so you probably won't have to resize
 
Time to get a coat of primer on the darned thing. I used a light grey primer first which did not seem to cover well. So no picture!
Bought some dark red primer which went on much better. Here’s after the first coat

e0mt6c.jpg

2celsfa.jpg


Then the obligatory filling and sanding...

rs7yv9.jpg
 
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