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Roland Vehicle wrapping course is it any good?
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Me as well Cheryl
Park inn if i can get a room!
Ian
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You will have to be quick and phone Tony Peter, They are taking bookings for after May
Ian
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Can’t believe i’ve only just clocked this….! Really was going to do Grafity P one at some point, but as i used to live that way (ish) a’ll be able to visit home same time!
I’ll give "Tony" a call tomorrow and see what spaces are available and when.Do you think this is "running" before you can "walk" for me? I have done about 5 basic vans (letters / basic logo’s)….as well as my own cars etc…..Really fancy it though, as i wan to do the introduction into digital printing as well….
Can’t beat the feeling of knowing your doing the job right!
Craig
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hi guys you all looking forward to the wrapping course?
ive been to spandex open house to day and had a little go at wrapping with avery easy apply. went well the guy from cast signs was very helpful to.
did anyone else from the boards attend the show?
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how did the course go for everyone?
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Didn’t make it, Course was full and had some family commitments that came up will go on a later one, Really missed going on it 😥
BTW, passed your van on the A77 the other week John, It looked really good!
Ian
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i saw you just as you passed
shame about the course
was down at the caravan at the weekend and stopped past your workshop like the opening hours (old but funny) i will give you a phone and order up some shirts jackets etc
i looked at your web site ian was the van guide prices mail order ?
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Really excellent course, learned alot and worth every penny. would like to have a work shop and print rooms like theirs at Roland Academy, really neat. could not come at a better time either, in the process of wrapping loads of vans, so keeping up practicing!!
totally recommended for people who would like the peace of mind that their vehicle wrap is going to stay in place and not come back with blown and shrunk areas….a real eye opener for myself. A lot more to it than meets the eye, and ive been doing it a while. -
Yes a great course and worth every penny. Good instructor too, nice to know he is local to me!
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quote John Imrie:i saw you just as you passed
shame about the course
was down at the caravan at the weekend and stopped past your workshop like the opening hours (old but funny) i will give you a phone and order up some shirts jackets etc
i looked at your web site ian was the van guide prices mail order ?
Ha sods law! I was working at the farm shop next to te caravan park!!!!
Give me a call any way and well meet up
😀
Ian
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quote Ian Bingham:hi allIve been to walsall twice now, once was not good and the last time was great, had a look around the wraping course and it looks great!, if your interested and we can get a group of 6 of us together, we can get a big discount on it, facilities and tools a great, they wrap brand new smart cars or a class mercs. I would love to go so if we can get 5 more next date is in feb
IanCan I ask what discount you all got? as a group, compared with the standard charge? I did the graphityp course for two days, and wondered how it compared. price wise
Peter
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quote Ian Bingham:Mods can edit if needed
But if we get a group booking of 6 we the cost is 375 plus vat for 2 days, which considering the facilities is, i think great value
IanPS Food is great Too!
Standard price is 550 plus VAT
Ian
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The graphityp price was £260 per person for 4 people for the 2 day course, so even with the discount the roland course does look a bit expensive for six people.
Peter -
Which would you rather have a rabbit or a roland? :lol1:
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quote Ian Bingham:Which would you rather have a rabbit or a roland? :lol1:
Sorry Ian, graphityps course was second to none
that was a rather derogatory statement,
and seeing as you didnt attend, dont see how you can commentPeter
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Peter having been on neither I can not comment in any serious vain on either, and this wasn’t meant as a derogatory comment. I take it you’ve been on both so as to compare and say it was second to none?
Lighten up Peter!
Ian -
Ian, I can only give my comments on my experience,
no I cant compare my course with rolands, but I can compare the price,
Our instructor was one of the most respected in the field, last week he was in Mexico with the GP2 team , next week he is in Bahain for a fortnight with f1 and gp2,
please dont ask if I would prefer a rabbit to a roland, without any knowledge of the subject,Peter
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Brilliant course, excellent instructor, think he used to do the Graphytip course anyway, (yep its the same guy Peter)
Difference I think is we had two different vinyls to compare and got a ‘tour’ of the Roland facilities, lunch was included too.
Cheers
Dave
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Dave, I am asking about the price and value, Ian said as a party discounts were offered, now if it is the same instructor, why would you want to pay a £100 more and have more people in the group?
just pointing out the facts, but if you felt it was good value, I have no problem, just saying, you could have done the same course for less, and maybe had more one to one tuition.
Peter
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I think the grafityp course was very good, i attended the same one as peter and at the same time.
from memory it cost £250 per head based on four for two days.
Lunch , coffee’s etc is also included as is a tour of the facilities if you want one.
to be honest, our time was jam packed trying to get everything included. it covered allot from designing/setting up your artwork to be printed.
being talked through and understanding your vinyls, the pitfalls in bad preparation etc everything else was all hands on…
only two teams of two working on each side of the vehicle. plenty space to get moving as well as plenty of attention from the tutor. this is an important factor… too many bodies means "you loose out" as his one on one time with you is limited by every body added to the course.
we were being taught to use the grafiwrap but we were also shown low cost alternatives for short term wraps and the like. yes, these too were grafityp materials but very good products regardless.
at the end you have a written exam to complete the course.
the one big benefit in the grafityp course is that YOU CAN FAIL.
there are far too many courses on the go handing out false hopes certificates just for attending and handing over your money.what i have said has no reflection on the roland course, i have not attended it but i have been on the oracal course. i am booked in for 3M next as well as mactac and hopefully avery too if i can get my head around flying. :lol1: ill keep you all posted… 😀
dave was your instructor james deacon?
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Yes Rob it as James. we had two cars so plenty of practice between us all working in groups of three and individually on sprinter doors. No test at the end, but also got shown laminating set up and points to note, all part of the wrapping process.
Cheers
Dave
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Hi Guys
The Roland course was very good and served it purpose for the reason I went,
but,
although I have not been on the Grafityp course it sound like it would have been better in most instances besides the fact you only get to use one type of vinyl. On the Roland course we wrapped two Smart cars, one with MD7 and the other with Grafiwrap. We all found the Grafiwrap much nicer and easier to use, the MD7 was harder and the other difference between then was the laminate on the MD7 was much glossier.
I agree about the number of people and feel that it should be limited to 4 or have 3 groups of 2 if you have more than 1 vehicle, it was difficult for 3 people to wrap the same part of the car and therefore you do lose out a bit on certain aspects.
Having said that it was a great learning experience and although more expensive and more people it was well worth it and can definitely recommend, James is an excellent instructor and very helpful. Although you do have to wonder why there is such a large price difference between the 2, the Roland course was £440 inc vat.
Cheers
Warren
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all the courses seem to be worthwhile that includes bp course i attended very good
after coming back from the course i wrapped my own van it cost around £700 in material + printing time and a hard ten hour shift fitting the material we did remove all handles trim etc. it would still have been a hard day f we had left them on
a van the size i have costs around £1500 to have wrapped
doing my sums i think i could earn more easily stress free ! and not worrying if the vinyl is going to hold
I have had a close look at lots of wraps and after time they start to look a bit tired round the edges i seen one the other day where the laminate had started to break away and there was a big dirty patch on the bonnet where the exposed glue was attracting dirt i did not look good
anyway the jury is out for me i will pick my jobs carefully and make sure my customer understands that a wrap is not a respray -
Hi everyone, I meant to write after attending the course in Feb, but just not had a chance.
I found the roland course excellent. Facilities were fantastic and a good mix between practical and theory. I was a bonus using the 2 materials as they both seem to be a high quality and have different applications. When I was on the course we did split into groups of 2 for the most part although not everyone ‘got’ it and some were put in larger groups for the trickier rear quarter.
All in all a good course and the discount was an extra bonus. I liked the idea of not doing a course run by a material supplier but having met the instructer (yes it’s the same one) I would suspect he would be honest anyway. In actual fact this is all a bit of a moot point anyway as I understand grafityp are to ‘wrap’ up the courses and let roland handle it all.
So if you atteneded the grafy course you saved £100 but only used 1 material… do you care? If you do then maybe £100 isn’t too much for the extra experience, if you don’t you got the better deal. Sounds likle both courses aer really good so this is all that seperates them.
Hope that is in some way useful.
G
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Just got back from the wrap course at The Roland Academy.
It was a very intensive two days in which we very rarely stopped.
James the course tutor was excellent as were the facilities.
There were 7 of us split into a 4 and 3. We had the opportunity to wrap every part of the smart cars using both materials (MD7 & Grafityp).
Excellent communication with the tutor, excellent advice in methods and technique.
I have completed a couple of wraps over the last half year and only wished I knew then what I know now.
I fully recommend this course to anyone.
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I had a friend in the sign industry and he taught himself vehicle wrapping, he said it wasn’t hard to do. He told me about this tool have a look on youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Z4YSMH06l4
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the rollepro will do nothing for vehicle wrapping mate…
i have one in my kit, there is knack to using it for rivets and the like, not easy as they make out, the youtube demos do not highlight this.
as for your friend, wrapping not hard to do? how much experience does he have and how many cars/vans has he wrapped on his own or taking lead role as fitter with helper?
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I am not sure, I can’t imagine it is easy at all, I have trouble putting dry etch on , he he he :lol1:
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If "he" thinks it so easy, you should get him to show you his technique’s mate… better still he should start his own school… 😀
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as said in an earlier post i felt the course was very basic we had 7 people on it inc me i did not complete the course as i and my boss thought it was a waste of money and time no satisfied at all, The tutor was James very nice person but not much 1 on 1 time,
we will be trying to get our money back
if u are a beginner and have never done any part wraps or digital printing i would recommend this to u,
personally THIS IS my opinion . (chat.) -
hi phil, sorry to see you didnt finish the course.
although a lot of the stuff covered was quite basic it just helps to see someone elses methods and ideas.
We have been wrapping for a couple of years but having had no formal training i am very glad i attended the course and am sure we will benefit from what was taught.
Although i must say most of it is just understanding the correct methods and then getting as much hands on practice as possible.
Excellent tutor, very experienced and didn’t try selling us one particular product as a "favorite" which is nice and makes a change…
we have just had some of the pics back of the finished cars.
cheers
stephen
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I recently completed the Roland Academy vehicle wrap course too – in fact I think I worked with Craig who has posted above (hi mate! Thanks for putting up with me!!).
I’d never been on a wrap course before and had not much experience either. I personally found it very informative and it made me feel confident enough to at least have a go – and that’s what it’s all about. Having said that, I had nothing to compare it to either.
James is obviously good at what he does and he informed me he used to run the Grafityp course too before joining the Academy.
However, I felt the course notes provided were a little thin on the ground. We were given a folder that contained only 8 pages of text relevant to the course.
This text had the following headings (without much detail contained therein): Practical (6 lines), Theory (4 lines), Benefits of Wrapping a Vehicle (13 lines), Storage (11 lines), Before Printing (3lines), After Printing/Lamination (12 lines), Cast Material V’s Calendered (6 lines), Calendered Films (9 lines), There Are Two Types of Calendered Films (7 lines), Polymeric Calendered Films (12 lines), Cast Films (12 lines), Recognising the Vehicle Surface (6 lines), Recognising the Type of Paint on the Vehicle (3lines), Pitfalls (5 lines), Preparation of the Vehicle Surface (22 lines), Preparation of the Environment (8 lines), Felt Squeegees (3 lines), Hard Squeegees (7 lines), Rivet Brushes (2 lines), Knives and Scissors 5 lines), Heat Gun/Hairdryer (3 lines), Masking Tape (3 lines), Tape Measure (2 lines) and Double Sided Tape (3 lines). So all in all, not much detail. At the moment, I’m craving knowledge and felt these notes could have been more substantial in structure and more informative.
There was no textual information/pictures/screen grabs on artwork, scaling, importing images into software etc., etc.. James did cover some aspects of this verbally in front of the class, but I felt he assumed the listener had some prior knowledge of this. I would have found it useful to have had some course notes to refer to when I got back to refresh my (already fading!) memory as and when needed.
Without doubt the course location and facilities were excellent and presented in a professional environment. An extra day would have been even better!
I talked with James and expressed my interest in having course notes on the design and production side of things and he took what I said no board.
Apparently, we are to receive something to go on the wall to confirm we have attended. James said that everyone who had ever attended would get one eventually!
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hi Stephen glad to see you finished the cars we worked on they look gr8
i had a lot of work back at the ranch i must admit
as i said great tutor and good skills thanks for posting the finished car
well done m8
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