My neighborhood is on a slope and a few years ago they repaved every street and most of the alley-ways. There’s also a skate-park less than a mile away, and a lake to cruise around near by. I wanted to make an esk8 build that I could use to exploit the local area and make it into my own esk8 play-ground. A kick-tail is my preference for the job so this is what I put together.
I started with one of my integrated deck designs, the Murder-hornet 32.5" kick-tail. You can find out all about those here http://tomiboiesk8.com/skateboard/. In short, it’s a bamboo/fiber-glass, composite deck with a big hole in the middle and a kick-tail.
I used the Flipsky Dual 6 plus for this project. Because it’s compact and has a built in power switch. It’s a nice space-saver dual vesc that works well here. It might be a little overkill for this project, but it fits well. Also, I might do a more hi-fi build with this deck in the future.
One of the most exciting parts of the build for me are the hubs. I’m pleasantly surprised by the performance. They’re more powerful than I expected and a lot of fun. I don’t know about $400 fun, but they’re a riot to ride on this deck. Programming them was a breeze. I just used the FOC wizard in the VESC tool. It worked seamlessly. The hubs are quiet. The wind-up and breaking a smooth too. I’ve reached 20 mph on them. With this specific build I actually have a lot of fun at 10-15 mph. I hope hubs like this continue to improve. If you like esk8s with all of the old-school feels, they’re a good way to go.
Being able to use you’re favorite old-school trucks is great. I’ve got the hubs paired with some Tracker Dart 219mm trucks here, super-wide TKP slalom trucks. They’re a little squirrelly at high speeds, but very agile on side walks and fun for tight carving. The board can turn on a dime. The deck is almost impervious to wheel-bite, so I can really lean in. I’ve got some surf-skate trucks and a few different pairs of RKP trucks that I’d like to try out as well. RKPs will make it whole new board.
This is my first battery build. I bought some efest cells for a deal back in january, they seem like a good cell for this. There are likely better, but I had these on hand. The motors need 20-40A to do their thing. These cells should be able to handle that. The finished 10s3p pack has 10.5 Ah capacity which is almost luxurious for a mid-powered, get-around build. I rode this thing all over today and I’m nowhere near charging… which is good because my charger only charges at 1.5 Ah per hour. The added capacity also helps with battery sag when climbing hills. We’ve got a few of those in Colorado 
I used three pieces of 15mm wide x 0.15mm thick nickle-strip on the series connections and 10 awg wire. The BMS is the Daly 10s 15A. I’m thinking of upgrading to the 30A, but this one fits, it was available and so far so good.
The remote I’m using right now is the Flispky VX2. Honestly, I think I hate this fucking thing. The thumb-wheel sucks and there is no possible way to see the screen in any rendition of daylight. It also seems a little fragile. I haven’t tried pistol whipping anyone with it yet, but it’s certain to explode. I’m working on a custom remote right now. It should be a sizable up-grade.
The entire build cost less than $1200. I’m amped about the results. Now I can piss off all of the old people in my neighborhood. There are two old-folks homes here, so I have work to do.
Next, I’ve got a build that I’m doing with an AWD elofty set-up. I got some of Janux’s hubs for pneumatics to use with it. I’m still dreaming up the deck for it. Most likely it will resemble a mid-sized, top-mount rendition of my Pale-horse deck… or maybe I’ll just use the Puppin’-Pop.
I’m also working on an AT build. I’d like to do a 35" rendition of the AT deck that I make with an MBS matrix II set-up.
I’m excited for the next build. It’s time for powah. 
The VX2 is touchie at low speeds. The thumb wheel just feels cheap. Also, if I apply the breaks while I’m not on the deck, it goes into reverse.
You can follow the nickle strip in the poorly drawn diagram that I provided. THey are represented by pencil lines. Most of it was straight forward except group 10. On that one I welded the positive end and then bent one of the cells around. Then I welded nickle strip with a tab to the negative ends and connected them with wire.
