Vehicle Wrpa: Wildlife Pickup

[Shane Drew]

side views

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Attachments:

[Kevin.Ryan]

good job Shane
are wraps a big thing in Australia?

its took a while here but the last 12 months have gone a bit crazy

keep up the good work

Kevin

[Paul Goodwin]

That looks realy smart Shane.

Did you take all the trim off when you fitted it ?

[Marekdlux]

Nice work Shane!
You know if I ever go on vacation to Australia I am going to have to check out that wildlife park to see all the cool stuff you have done for them. 😀
-Marek

[Lynn Normington]

that looks really good Shane :thumbup2:

Lynn

[Chris Wool]

love it

chris

[John Simpson]

Well done mate, brilliant job done.

Weird looking vehicle thou!

L J

[Simon Clayton]

Fantasic stuff, love the design

Simon

[Robert Lambie]

with great regret, i, and all the mods have decided to BAN shane from the boards. as much as hes a hell of a nice guy, we all think he is a damn show off and we are sick… :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

great work mate, for a first wrap you did hell-of-a-well 😉

thanks for taking the time to show us your work…

how did you find the oracal performed to others shane?

oh by the way… the start of the post was a joke for our temperamental readers :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

[Carrie Brown]

Congrats on your first big wrap Shane :cheer: Looks great, job well done!!!

[David Rowland]

Thats a snappy looking wrap!
nice choice of layout on that!

[Robert Lambie]

quote DaveRowland:

Thats a snappy looking wrap!
nice choice of layout on that!

i am a poet ad don#t even no it! 😉

[John Wilson]

my god…… that is amazing 😮 😀 😀

Did that cost much to produce (?)

[Nicola McIntosh]

very nice job done shane 😛

nik

[autosign]

So how come they didn’t approve the graphic guys design before it was printed 3 times?

Looks good though.

[Shane Drew]

Wow! Thanks for the response friends,

Autosign: they approved the guys artwork on paper, and were expecting the exact result. He should have had a caveat that it was only a ‘design’ in the sense that it could not be replicated exactly. I took all the measurements of the vehicle and sent to him but in the end, he never used them. He made no allowances for the wheels for instance 🙄 (He got the sack since I believe)

Thanks Nik

Thanks JWilson. It cost me about $au2000.00 in Oracal Tape & Laminate alone. The printing was pretty heavy on ink, and of course 4 days labour.

Thanks Dave & Carrie

Rob: Just about choked on my toast when I read that first line 😮 Thanks for the comments tho 🙂 Had a few issues with bubbles laying it dry, did everything in panels so I had no joins. Made life a bit of a challenge.

I was really impressed with the way the Oracal conformed around the curves. As I say the bubbles were more of a problem than with the 3M Control Tack, but it stretches better if that makes any sense.

Oracal here are selling a ‘special’ spray on slip fluid that is formulated especially for the 3951 glue, but none had arrived in the country when I had to do this unit. That is the same stuff the bloke uses in the video, but they don’t make that clear. Apparently bubbles are a thing of the past when you use that.

Thanks Simon and LJ. These are pretty popular here. Twin Cab Rodeo 4×4. Robina Holden have loaned them the unit for two years as part of their sponsorship agreement.

Thanks Chris, Lynn and Marek. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary are in the process of a full makeover, so hopefully I’ll have more to show you in the future

Thanks Mort. The only trim I removed was the plastic over the front guards. Everything else was left on. If I had been more confident I may have removed the door handles as they stuck out a fair bit, and caused me the most grief. The Oracal conformed around it really well in the finish tho. The fibreglass canopy on the rear was outgassing pretty bad too, so kept getting bubbles under the print as it kept curing.

Thanks Kevin. Wraps are getting popular but only being done by a relatively few companies here. Avery are the only ones doing courses too. Oracal are getting the worlds #1 to fly over from europe and demonstrate the fitting singlehanded on two cars for the sydney sign show, australias biggest, in september. Dad and I are flying down for two days to get some tips which may make it easier. Now that I have done one, I would like to see what I should do differently.

Interestingly, the state manager for 3M came to see me whilst I was doing this wrap in Oracal. He knows I was a big 3M control tack user, and was a little ‘put out’ that I had used Oracal on this job. Told him straight the differences I had found, and to his credit, accepted what I was saying without much fuss. Sending me a whole lot of samples to try and asked me to give my honest opinion when compared to the equivilent Oracal brand. Oracal are taking alot of their clients apparently.

Thanks again for everyones support. I really do appreciate it.

[J_J_O]

Congrats on the job! Looks really great!

Do you make these prints yourself? What printer do you use?

How on earth do you get to $AU 2.000,- 😮 … did you mess up a lot 😉 … I am very curious to see a short specification of that price.

JJ

[Jayne Marsh]

Wow Shane! That is awesome work especially as you fitted it alone 😮
When work gets messed up as it did with this one due to no fault of your own are you able to pass on the cost to the customer or do you just not pay the designer or the printer, in other words how do you manage to make a profit yourself and not have to shoulder the cost of others mistakes?

[Shane Drew]

JJ, Thanks mate. I have my own roland 1370mm SC540ex converted to techinks solvent inks. And I laminated the prints with my ezy taper, so it is all inhouse from that perpective.

Oracal 3951 and 290 laminated costs $59 per lineal meter here. With the reprints, I used 35 metres, so the actual expense was over $2000 for the vinyl alone.

There was a bit of waste because I cut each panel around the vehicle joins (doors, guards etc) and the back was an odd size. I use a 40mm overlap too.

Thanks JEM, I have to cover the cost of the first mistake, as I should have realised the error before printing. They had a tight deadline on the job, and I must confess I believed the designer when he said it was ‘print ready’ He designed it in adobe PS, which I don’t use, and converted it to tif. It was not until I went to fit it that I realised the error.

The second print will be covered by the client as they changed it after it was printed. They didn’t decide to do the roof until 24 hours from the deadline, so I had to work well into the night to get it done, and pray I didn’t stuff up again. 😥

In truth, I did the original job at a reduced rate as part of my ongoing sponsorship, but I had planned on making a little more margin on it than I will now.

It was a steep learning curve tho, so hopefully I’ll learn from a few things and will not get caught again 😳

I was not paying the designer anyway, the client was in charge of that.

Cheers
Shane

[Lee Harris]

Fantastic….what else can be said, Shane. So what’s next…..????

[Phil Halling]

Looks great Shane, if a little busy, but to take on a vehicle of that shape as your first full wrap was certainly brave but you have certainly risen to the challenge. Well done

Phil

[MARTY]

Fantastic !

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Niiice work Shane.
Very attention-getting.
Love….Jill

[Andy Gorman]

Yeah, s’good that Shane. It is busy but I think it’s appropriate for the customer, loads of creatures. You ain’t going to miss that vehicle driving passed you!

[Phill Fenton]

Well done Shane – Brilliant work.

The big question though – did you make good money out of it? I ask this in all seriousness because I’m not sure if the time involved in designing and fitting vehicle wraps is more profitable than sticking with computer cut vinyl. I’d be interested in your (and any one else’s) view on this 😀

[Robert Lambie]

quote :

Oracal here are selling a ‘special’ spray on slip fluid that is formulated especially for the 3951 glue, but none had arrived in the country when I had to do this unit. That is the same stuff the bloke uses in the video, but they don’t make that clear. Apparently bubbles are a thing of the past when you use that.

im really intrested in this mate. not sure how its going to do anything more than say rapidtac 2. but i could be wrong. i personally think its asking for bother as, as soon as any fluid gets in a recess your beat. 😕

i never knew the guy in the video used it either… surely the worlds number one wouldnt need it if he was? 😕

[Shane Drew]

Rob: I asked the same questions in regard to the rapid tac type products. Apparently it is vastly different to that style of fluid. From what has been explained to me, it is gives the substrate a sort of a greasy surface, that remains that way until it is pressed down with a squeegee. Interestingly, you have to make sure all your edges are clean (no greasy surface) and wrap the film around any edges. Heating that edge then seals it. From what I have been told, or understand, the slip fluid should not be applied to the edges. Does that make sense? I’ll have a better idea when I see it first hand in september. From what I am told, the worlds #1 was the co-inventor of the fluid.

Phil: Fair question mate. I can not tell you what I charged as my opposition also read these boards, but yes, I did make a reasonable profit on the job, it would have been better tho, if I had not had to worry about the reprints 😥

I would have made better money if I’d stuck to computer cut, but would not have got anywhere near the impact, and in reality, the client would have gone searching for a wrap if I had not put my hand up, resulting in no income at all. I think in the short term, with the price of material here in OZ, only the larger progressive clients would consider spending a few thousand on getting a van done in a full wrap. As prices become more competative, that will obviously change, but my present client base would not, on an average, probably go down this path too quickly.

Big G: I have real concerns, and have expressed them to the client, of the vehicle being rear ended. So many people are entranced by the big croc on the rear, they may not stop in time. 🙄

Thanks Jill, Lee & Marty: Stay tuned, they have more in store if the board of directors like what they see. Talking about getting the whole fleet done in the same wrap. Mainly utes tho, so should be easier… I hope…

Phil the fitter: I think I was more naive than brave. Didn’t really have a choice tho. Being a sign sponsor for the sanctuary, there was a certain amount of pride in the decision to give it a go. I certainly would have preferred my first attempt to not be so difficult, and I am not going to pretend for 1 minute that I was all that confident when I started. I would have loved to have someone with your experience beside me, but unfortunately that was not possible. Never been one to walk from a challenge tho. 😮

In retrospect I’d do a few things differently on the next one.

As always, I appreciate all the comments. Thanks again

Cheers
Shane

[Jon Fields]

:thumbup2:

looks brilliant..well done..especially on your own.

Jon

😀

[Simon Kay]

Hi Shane,

The wrap looks excellent. Well done.

Sorry I wasn’t there! Doesn’t look like you needed any help though. :lol1:

Scoz.

[Russ]

Top class Shane, I’am sure I would have had kittens doing that job, at any point did you loose it, rip a piece off, dance on the ground and sing the yelling song, not that I ever do you understand. Looking at the photo’s I take it you did the wrap where the vehicle stands and only had the canopy for cover. May I ask how did you have any trouble with dust or direct sunlight in other words external conditions. If you are looking for a busman’s holiday in Ireland put me first on your list.

Regards Russ

[Shane Drew]

Thanks Jon,

Scozzie, almost called you a few times for moral support. I had my dad of course, but in his eyes I am the best there is 😳 , so the thought of failure never enters his mind. 🙄 Pretty good having your own cheer squad. Looks pitful in a bikini tho 😳

Thanks Russ, I must confess I ‘dropped my bottle’ when I realised I had done the first print wrong. Regained my composure pretty quickly tho. The realisation that it would not help the situation was fairly quick, plus my dad saying “she’ll be right son, you can fix it” seemed to give me added confidence 😳

Had losts of trouble with dust. Finished just before our legendary August winds started, so I was happy about that. I cleaned and preped each panel just before I did it, but I’ll put up canvas walls now that I realise how much problem the dust and wind can be. Only got caught once with a gust of wind while doing the back passenger door, got a little piece of dirt under the tape in an out-of-site area, but I did learn some valueable lessons. I’ll look at doing then in the shed next time, got some serious rearranging to do before then tho.

Thanks again.

[Steve Coyle]

Awesome job Shane. Cant wait to try a bit of wrapping my self, though for a first job, maybe something a little less complex!!!