That's great! Model board - is that like chemiwood? I'm a model maker too. I have to ask, how did you do the knurled grip? Was it done on a larger piece of material and cut to size?
Yes modeling board and chemwood are the same thing. As for the grip I rolled the knurled part of an x-acto handle on some silicone putty and spread some auto body filler (Bondo) on the silicone and you get a little sheet of the pattern. Then just cut it to shape