THE SCOFF PROJECT Grind BlogThese are the account of Scoffman and his life through the filming and build of a mini mega ramp named The Scoff Project | Time Passes and Patience Becomes a VirtueJuly 8, 2008 Nothing has happened lately. Actually nothing to be exact, ever since the day we were taken off I've been workin my ass off to get things organized again and its not happening. We have no dependable filmers of the moment so I'm currently looking to pick up another local filmer and its hard cause they need to understand its all volunteer work. This project is more than about building some miniature version of the mega ramp. Its about skaters coming together to do something diffrent and for something else besides there own cause. Everyone here has put in alot of time for nothing but maybe a few t-shirts, hats, monsters, and the satisfaction of knowing there in a part of something thats bigger than them. Thats how I feel that it all comes down to anyways. But I'm not letting go of this project! I've put to much into it already and have sponsors to take care of, that have invested there time and brand into me and this film. Plus to wipe the smile off the faces of the local kids/haters that think it will never finish or that its some myth to make myself look better haha To bad they will never relize that this myth is becoming a reality. I just need some more time... Channels: Skate THE SCOFF PROJECT - Day 8: Do Work!April 12, 2008  DAY 8 So finally we get things figured out and got the camera and our usual close knit crew together, minus Shane. The biggest surprise this morning is Jarred is bald! I swear I' (TM)m starting to worry about that kid. An we ran out of Monsters! We buzzed through 12 cases in 6 months! Anyways starting around 9am Saturday morning we started building the last structural pieces for the mini mega ramp. Promoting the recycling and reusing of wood throughout the project we found an old but still solid in piece of ply to use for our siding, it was actually 4 inches shorter and a 1ft less in width compared to there normal 4x8 foot dimensions. But it was just enough for us to cut out the 6 strips that we needed to build the runway after the landing bank and shorted us 1ft in length from the 24ft mark that we made. So now were waiting. We will most likely paint and treat any exposed pieces of wood left and just wait till something happens with the rollin of the Scoff Project. Cause as of now the ramp is kicked off the hill and it may come to be that we will have to build our own levee, on our property to finally finish this project. This of course will put us over out budget so if any of you are psyched to see this little monster get finished, please helps us out and send us a small donation via Paypal. We promise to list you in the DVD on the credits as one of our close supporters. Channels: Skate THE SCOFF PROJECT - The Nightmare BeginsMarch 18, 2008  So one random afternoon Jason was outside working on his car and a city water district truck comes up the driveway. A man comes out and asks him ' Is that your ramp back there?' Jason answered ' Yes' hoping the man was going to admire it and want him to build a ramp for his kid. Well its not supposed to be on the levee, your going to have to take it down' Jason just froze and tried to work things out and give a viable argument to keep the ramp on the levee or just allow 2 days for it to be there. One for the tests runs and two for actual ' Jump Day.' The man said he would call his supervisor and get back to me but as of now the ramp has to be removed ASAP from the levee. This is giving us some set backs which we don't need for the project, Jason has schedule a meeting on Wednesday to meet up with Jerry Lakeman the supervisor/ director for this levee along with their lawyer. Hopefully everything works out in the end. March 25, 2008  So a few days later we weren't able to get our builders to come out and help tare down the ramp. We use to have camera man problems now were having builder problems not showing up and its causing more delays. Besides the point I' (TM)m very greatfull for all there help and the city actually volunteered four of there own workers to help break down the ramp. As you see in the photo above we complete broke down the ramp and shoved it inside the gap and scooted the ramp back 2ft also. The apparent rule is nothing is allowed to be built on the levee or within 20ft of it. So were all sort a bummed at the moment, hopefully things will go better tomorrow as Jason has his meeting with the Fresno Metropolitan Water Control Districts supervisor. March 26, 2008 The Meeting What can I say, Jason had the meeting today at 11am. Got all dressed up, wore the slacks, dress shirt, and tie with a pair of patent shoes. Looking his best to show that he means business and that he was serious about coming up with a solution so the ramp could at least have 2 days on the levee for the ' test runs' and ' jump day' . Trying to work and show the points that the ramp was not hurting the instructional integrity of the hill and that they would be free from liability issues. Even that, were doing this to help Grind for Life the non-profit organization were working with. After much talk and discussion it seemed like they were listening and might be swayed to allow us those 2 days, but no. It wasn't going to happen, the liability they said on there end is well establish with a 20million dollar insurance plan, but they didn't want to risk it. (I was just informed a few days later the largest sum of money for a lawsuit case involving skateboarding was only $80,000) That and that they are having to go through a new process of checking the levees and determine there strength for a new certification process they have to go through. So a double ' no' on it now; Jason tried his hardest in the best terms to try to work something out, but it didn't help. He even used the line ' Think about the children!' haha Everyone laughed but that was it, just a friendly way to break the end of the meeting. As of now we have decided to absolutely continue on with the building of the Scoff Project. This set back will not deter us from canceling all the hard work and sweat we have put into this along with our fantastic sponsors been with us throughout the process; it will be finished! March 30, 2008 There's a new development in the project. Someone has come forward with a proposition that might greatly help getting the mini mega ramp back up at its 16ft rollin height. Not sure if it will go through though. If you would like to help us out and be a part of The Scoff Project: please leave a donation for us. We would greatly appreciate it and put your name in the credits of the DVD for helping support us. Thank you! Channels: Skate LINE UP MAG - Original Coverage of The Scoff ProjectYes! Its finally on shelves people. The newest issue from Line Up Magazine a surf, skate, art, and babes oriented magazine. Grab your copy today and look for The Scoff Projects little part in this mag. Originally we had a 17 question interview mainly covering the basis of how to build your own mini-mega ramp. haha So it might be pretty epic for those who are inspired by the project. Anyways they finally got ahold of Gershon Mosley whom they have been trying to get an interview for a while and then killing the interew they had with us and moving us to half a page. No worries though any coverage is good coverage.  Heres the spot we got in Line Up. And since it was never released heres the full original interview with Line Up. Enjoy! How to build a Mini-Mega Ramp Justin McLeod Where did the idea come from? The idea came almost 2 years ago, when I was just surfing the forums of our local mag Paying in Pain, and one dude posted photos of this narly set up he made in his backyard with plywood, old washing machines, and other crazy stuff. I thought it be sick to build my own backyard ramp and since I had a hill in the back and old ramps, I piled them all up to make some mutant form of a ramp haha Do you need a physics degree for any of this? Ummm, naaaaw. Just a piece of paper, a pencil with an eraser, that' (TM)s very important, and a crazy idea. Any lost fingers? Haha what? That' (TM)s the question I usually get asked when I tell people I make fireworks from scratch. But last month my dad actually shot a nail through his middle finger. Ouch! How much cash is involved? Well depends how much do you want to spend? The first version of the Scoff Project cost me $50, built it entirely from scrap wood that I picked up from construction sites and old ramps. I actually met a really cool super-intendent who' (TM)s son skateboarded and hooked us up with so much wood, it was pretty sick. The one were building right now we' (TM)ve already spent $350 on, it' (TM)s a mix of fresh wood and some scrap 2x4s we' (TM)ve picked up. Any good ways to finance it? Well if you and your buddies are strapped for cash, you can kidnap your next door neighbor' (TM)s dog and hold it for ransom' ' Or maybe not, scratch that. Just save your money, sell some of your old stuff, maybe try panhandling and selling your old board or trucks. Or get a job that always seems to work. For us at Scoff we put some of our own money down plus we have sponsors like Monster Energy, GrindTV, and Grind 4 Life that are supporting the film. How much time got invested into it? In the ramp we' (TM)re building right now, damn! We' (TM)ve spent 5 days building it so far, I think I spent a good 2 days designing it on paper and trying to estimate the angles and cost of wood, drinking monsters, and prepping. I say a good 8 days and counting. How many people do you need to get it done? Just 2, but it makes it a lot easier if you have 3-4 people which is what I suggest. We' (TM)ve had 3 builders at all times, one to cut and 2 to assemble. Works pretty smooth that way Any way to get some good wood cheap? Ah there' (TM)s tons of ways! You won' (TM)t believe it! We go over this in the film but I guess your going to get a sneak peak into some of our tips. 1 is hit up some local construction sites that you see piles of wood at. Go up to one of the workers and ask them if you can speak to the framing super-intendent (he' (TM)s in charge of the wood) and simply ask him if you can pick up his scrap wood for him. Most won' (TM)t really care except for your safety, just make sure to respect them and make sure not to make a mess after you take the wood you want. Number 2 most people don' (TM)t know is called dunnage. Find a local lumber yard near a railroad and call and ask them if they have any dunnage they want to get rid of. Now most of you are thinking what the heck is dunnage? Its pieces of wood (usual 2x4) that separate sheets of wood while there in the train. Once they unload they usually toss the spacers in pile till there picked up sometime in the month and disposed of. These are usual perfect pieces of wood. Or you can go on craigslist.org and a see if there' (TM)s anyone in your area that' (TM)s selling some wood or maybe giving it away for free. Its like eBay, but its local, so you just pick it up instead of having to ship it. Did you make friends with the local lumber yard? Actually I made friends with the girls behind the checkout counter at Home Depot haha What is your set up like? Well we have a nice 16ft rollin down a bank. Fairly close to the design of Burnquists mega ramp. Then we have a nice 12ft flat bottom, its very important that you have that otherwise the person will not have enough time to set up for the jump. Like our poor friend Rob, he hasn' (TM)t skated the same since. And then we have a beautiful ramp that' (TM)s 8.5ft tall and 16ft long. Total length from the rollin to the tip of the ramp is 72ft. Did you use any templates? Nope, none at all. For a ramp of this size there really is no templates or guidelines to follow. We just took the basics of building ramps and then put a drastic edge on it. We learned from our mistakes on the first version we built in January 07, and took that knowledge and rebuilt it. The radius for our new mini-mega is 24ft! And it looks beautiful, like you' (TM)re going to just float off of it or something. I would say on making your own template use something close to a 3 to 1 ratio. If you want to build a nice smooth 5ft ramp use a 15ft radius on it. As for the rollin start with making twice the height of the ramp, if you need or want more speed you can always add onto it later. How much did your spot help you in price? A lot! Because I have a levee in my backyard, and building it up that 10ft levee meant we didn' (TM)t have to buy all those extra 2x4s to build a massive framework to support it. It probably saved us a good $400-$600. That and our mini mega probably would have never been built if it wasn' (TM)t for the levee. It came with conditions though. Did it make the build more difficult? Yea it did actually. Cause we had to custom build the ramp to the side of the levy and try to make sure that everything was level and straight. We practically built the ramp around the levee like a glove. It was the hardest part of our build and then making sure everything was structurally safe also. The thing looks like a roller coaster now! If you don' (TM)t have a levee, are there any other places to start a build? Hmmm well that I can think of, try to find a hill of some sort will definitely work to your advantage. If you have the space, you can build it flat in your backyard or in a warehouse. It will cost a little more money or more hours scrounging for wood, but it will be sick none the less. Also building it somewhere it can' (TM)t be seen or hard to be seen. Cause you don' (TM)t want uninvited guest tearing up your ramp. Luckily for us ours is in the country so we don' (TM)t have to worry too much about that. Is it better to build in pieces? Yea it is, because if something happens you move or need to move it, you can break it down in to however many pieces and move it. Like The Scoff Project, the ramp itself is constructed into 7 different pieces main reasons why is because of the levee its built on is actually shared property between the city and us. See were not allowed to have anything built on it. So the days we do use it takes a about 45mins to take the 4 pieces an assemble it. When it' (TM)s not in use we break it down, so not to get in trouble with the city. It simplifies things that way. They also have these giant tractor things the grates and mows the whole levee in a single sweep, its pretty crazy looking! What' (TM)s good and bad about it? It' (TM)s mainly all good. It' (TM)s portable! Imagine if we had a mini mega tour across the US, all we had to do was break it down in its pieces and load up a big rig. You know, that be pretty sick! Anything negative might be that if it' (TM)s broken down multiple times, the pieces might not fit as well as they use to. How much air can you expect out of a ramp of your size? Wow I' (TM)ve been trying to figure this out myself. This is where you need physics degree. Were expecting about a 16-20ft gap and maybe 12-14ft of air. We really don' (TM)t know for sure. I' (TM)m one of those people that aren' (TM)t really good at advance math in general unless it applies to me personally. I searched all over Google trying to find equations to help me figure this out and it was insane, my brain hurt afterwards. I had to find the equation to find the amount of speed the object will generate from a slope at X height and X angle with X weight. Then I had to take X speed and figure it in with the amount of flat space we have to see how much the object slows down too. After that I had to figure the new speed, decreased by gravity at the steepness and length of the ramp, then take X speed and figure it in with the angle of the ramp. I came up with the number 14' Which I had no clue what it meant. haha Maybe it was the number for the gap, the air you might get, or maybe how many hours I was going to have a migraine for. End- Channels: Skate THE SCOFF PROJECT - In Between Build Days
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