Vehicle Wrap : VW Beetle

[Paul Goodwin]

That looks realy cool.

How long did it take you and did you encounter any serious problems?

[Dave Bruce]

Stunning 😮 Scott.

Like Mort says love to know the time taken, makes me cringe just thinking about it with only one chance to get it right!

Thanks for posting and get ready for the rush of work coming your way.

cheers

Dave

[Bill Dewison]

Nice one Scott! 😀 That should bring some business in, amazing design 😀

Cheers, Dewi

[Steve Madley]

WOW! How long did it take? How many swear words did you use to apply it:)
Steve.

[Nicola McIntosh]

that is very nice!! 😆 😆

well done!! 😆

Nik

[Robert Lambie]

brilliant work scott.. you did real well mate.
what part did you find the hardest. if i remember right i thought it would be the roof then the wings?

thanks for showing mate.. top class 😉

[Nigel Fraser]

That looks great Scott, a tricky one to fit I bet !!

What kind of film/printer did you use and was it laminated ? Also did you apply any of the text after or was it all printed in one go ?

Like to see some more of your stuff, keep it coming 😉

Nigel

[Mobilewraps]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the good comments.
We did this one over a 2 week period, fitting it in when we had a spare hour or so. Probably took about 20 hours, but there were lots of interuptions in between.
We did the design in photoshop and printed it ourselves on a Roland Soljet (the one with the Eco inks). It is laminated, I would now never do one not laminated – after trying wraps earlier with liquid laminates a film laminate gives a much better finish and protects the prints much better.
The hardest parts were the front and rear bumpers as the curves go all directions. Each of these is done with one print and no overlaps or joins.
Second hardest was the wings. The roof was actually the easiest, it only took about 15 – 20 minutes to apply plus trimming. It was nice and “flat” (well compared to the rest it was) 🙂
Number of swear words used…. none, I was too busy holding my tounge in a funny position.
All the text is a part of the print – it did mean we had to be on the ball when lining up the panels, but they need to be straight anyway. We will put some cut lettering around the wheel arches, I thought they might get streched out of position while fitting if we printed these.
Yes I did have one serious problem, the first attempt at the rear bumper failed 🙁 I had printed the text in the wrong position and this became evident part way through installation. There was no way to fix this as the text is in the print, so I had to re-print it. The print for the rear bumper is about 2.5 metres long so I learnt the hard way $$$.

Thanks

Scott

[Robert Lambie]

Hi Scott, thanks for the feedback mate. What type of vinyl & laminate did you use? Is it still Avery you use?

quote :

We will put some cut lettering around the wheel arches, I thought they might get stretched out of position while fitting if we printed these.

Yep.. Very good point mate. Lots of folk do not take this into consideration and the text goes all roads. 😕
From memory when you posted months back i was suggesting the bumpers be difficult. A few days later i came along side a beetle at traffic lights. The couple of min i had to look made me think the roof was a huge “dome shape” with this in mind i thought that would be most difficult.
I read you thought the roof was easiest! 😮 Can i ask how you tackled it mate? What i mean is did you apply in one piece and stretch into the dome shape or did you apply it all with one slit at a point to take up the excess vinyl puckering?
Ive never touched a beetle let alone wrap one so ide be interested in your methods.
On a whole, from what i can see in the pictures, you have done a damn good job on a very difficult vehicle to wrap.
Well done Scott.. 😛

[Chris Wool]

hi scott
thank for the insight and it certainly looks the do dars
i had my sol modified to EX ok so far
i have a smart car to do soon and as robert says whot laminates etc please
also could you explain about problems with liquid laminates cos i also have a problem and extra input would be very helpful cant mention the product at present only fare till i know the answer pm me please TA.

chris

[Mobilewraps]

Hi Robert,

I still use Avery 1005 cast and Avery DOL 1000 laminate.
The roof…
we taped it into position, removed the tape from one side and folded the vinyl back in half (while still leaving the other side taped in postition so it wouldn’t move). We then remove the backing from the folded half and cut it off. At this point we have half the print with the backing still on, taped in position on the roof, and the other half folded back with the the backing cut away.
We then start to apply the piece of vinyl (with the backing removed) from the centre of the roof working our way to the outside. As you get towards the outer edge of the roof you may need to use a little heat to prevent creases / puckers (shrink them). Once you have done one side, remove the tape and backing from the second half and start to apply this side working from the inside to the outside.
Using this method we are able to apply it in one piece without any joins or overlaps. The theory is to start in the centre so that the distance from the starting point to the finish point is always kept as short as possible.
This way you can usually work out any creases / puckers with a little heat and not get any overlaps or joins.
Of course there are a few little tricks and techniques involved when applying but basically this explains it.

Hope you can understand my instructions.

Scott

[Robert Lambie]

yep. i understand perfectly mate. thank you 😉

how do you find the avery “super cast” then? you obviously like using it and it does seem to be doing a grand job for you?

how do you find it for removal?
lets say that part you did on the rear. did it strip easily without glue residue?

have you ever tried mactacs MACfleet vehicle wrap?
just wondering how you think they compare.. 🙄

[Mobilewraps]

The Avery 1005 is not a supercast (well I don’t think it is)
The supercast is a 900 series or something similar.
I havn’t tried it, I suppose I should, even if just to compare.

The removal was no problem, when I discovered that I had mucked up the first print I had it about 40% applied. I walked out in discust (it was late on a Friday night so I shouldn’t have been there anyway!) I didn’t start to remove it till Tuesday evening (4 days later) and it came away easily, well with a bit of pulling. I didn’t use heat and there was no residue adhesive left behind. It came away in one sheet. I just cleaned it down and strarted to apply the new graphic.

One reason I havn’t tried other materials is with a wrap there are several things to consider…
1) printability, not all vinyls print the same and getting suitable profiles for the vinyl is not always easy.
2) durability how strong the prints are, scratching / fading etc.
3) laminating there must be a suitable match / type of laminate and vinyl
4) application how easy the vinyl is to install.

When you do your own prints there are a lot of additional things to consider other than just the application but it sounds like you are about to find out about all that 😀
I guess thats why when we get a combination that works we don’t want to have to re-invent the wheel again with new vinyls….. or mabey I am just lazy 😮

Scott

[Simon Clayton]

Looks Fantastic….
How long have you been doing wraps?/how many have you done?

Simon

[Carrie Brown]

Cracking job!! 😀

Looks great.