Side Art on the cheap

[Sir Headless VII]

So I work at a place that prints maps and so I have access to a large plotter.  So instead of spending hundreds of dollars on printed side art I will spend 0 and print them at the office. We can do paper and we can laminate that paper but that's pretty much it. So my question is this,  what should I do to attach it and keep it from looking stupid. I figure I can stick it on (with that spray glue stuff) and either have it laminated and hope that's good enough or put it behind plexi. I'm not really keen on the plexi because it seems like alot of work and expense especially when i am planing on putting laminate on the sides already. Is there something i have overlooked? what do you guys do? If I just laminated the paper and stuck it on there would it be hard to get off it it started to look bad? If its easy to take off theoretically i could just replace it when it starts to go.

[1UP]

I've done this in the past, and didn't work well.  Printed side art at Kinko's and spray mounted it to the sides.  Problem is, you need a good adhesive, and a lot of those spray adhesives are rubber based, not acrylic.  The rubber adhesives tend to start bubbling pretty quickly, and within weeks, it was peeling at the edges with large bulges throughout the surface.   

If you can get it done free, might be worth it for some cheap, temporary art, but as cheap as some of the packages are at mamemarquees.com, you might as well get something properly printed to begin with.  They have done some stuff for me before, and they do a really nice job, and can print on various types of surfaces, and can print your custom art as well.

Also, I would not recommend putting plexi on the side of your cab to protect the art.  Would look a bit odd and not worth the expense if you have a good print job with good materials anyway.

Good luck on your project!

[iscariot]

If you have a plotter why not do a set of stenciled side art?  Ms Pacman looks great and that side art was painted on

[Erik]

I printed dragon's lair 2 sideart on a plotter (huge!) and I was happy with how it turned out.  Just like you I wasn't sure how I would adhere it to the cab or the details of laminating.  So I ended up buying some NOS sideart and side by side I thought the printed sideart looked a little better.  The colors were a little more vibrant if I recall.  When I build the cab I still may use the printed sideart and sell the NOS if I can work through the issues.  Good luck and let us know if you give it a shot!

[BASS!]

I say do what I did, when I worked for a similar company. Call up a supplier, and see if you can get a 20ft sample roll of some high gloss photo paper for your plotter. Calibrate it with the first foot or two and run it on high photo gloss settings in your printer driver. When you are done are you talking about Hot laminates or pressure sensitive? If you use pressure sensitive, then just feed one roll with the laminate, and use an adhesive for the back side. If you don't stock pressure sensitive adhesives they are the only way to mount to foam core. You may want to just print the paper out and see if there is a reprographic shop in town that can turn it into a big sticker for you. Something that big would probably only be at most 15-30 per side.

[Spacejack]

I also worked at a place like that... we used a double-faced sheet tape for heavier mounting of laminated material.  Takes some serious rolling-pin action but it's pretty sturdy due to the large surface area.  Just trim the tape along with the art.