Experienced Guidance Needed RE: Multi Layered Vinyls

[audisnapr 0]

hey guys - I hope this is the correct forum for this question; I am also showing the beginnings of my work.

here's the moc-up...

this is what I did last night after I got home from work - I know, not a whole lot to show, but it's a start...

here's my question...

as you can see from the moc-up, many of the vinyls will be multi-layered; namely the number plates since I'm working on them at the moment.

aside from sticking each layer of a multi-layered vinyl on the car using the registration marks for location (really hard to locate the reg marks through the transfer tape and even worse if the vinyl backing is on), is there a better way?  I have a nice big light table which would really help locate the reg marks and lay each layer down on top of one another before I put the whole thing on the car, but how do I pull each layer of transfer tape off the top vinyl without pulling up all the vinyl layers from the backing of the very bottom layer (if that makes sense)?

I had no problem putting the

[routesmith 0]

I wish I knew the answer to your question but I am still new too, but that looks like a fun project!!

Wayne

[audisnapr 0]

yes - I am very excited about it  .  it's gonna be a huge learning experience.  I've only done little things here and there and all have been single layer decals.

[firemalt 10]

Have you seen this before?

[polarkiss 1]

lol I knew that was coming!

[audisnapr 0]

no, but a very cool vid if not for only the music - haha

2 layer vinyls I can do.  it's pretty straight forward because you don't have to pull up the transfer tape...

...oh wait... I think a light just went on in my head.  I had always figured I would be starting with the bottom vinyl and stack on top - each time I would have to pull the transfer tape to put the next layer on top.  However, if I start with the top vinyl and apply it to the layer below, and then apply those two to the layer below it and so on, the transfer tape at the very top will always remain.  At least that sounds right in my head 

the number plate is layered as follows from bottom to top

- large, white, overall background

- smaller black outline background

- smaller white background

- black numbers outline background

- red numbers

[polarkiss 1]

Here is a great 4 layer vid  (Same guy, same music)

[audisnapr 0]

perfect - thank you guys.

I'm still glad I laid down the big white background on the car.  Had I done all 5 layers at once and screwed it up, it would have been a lot of wasted work/material.  this way I'm only laying down the 4 top smaller layers at once.  should make life a lot easier.  thanks again guys!

[SmallSigns 23]

I love it when the light comes on!!! I have had so many of those moments while figuring this stuff out. This really helps keep this old gray matter working sharp!

[Guest fivestar]

Or you can just do them wet, one layer at a time on the vehicle.  That's what I would recommend doing, way less bubbles that way.

[Guest Terry]

Or you can just do them wet, one layer at a time on the vehicle.  That's what I would recommend doing, way less bubbles that way.

I do the same as fivestar and have never used reg marks. As long as it's wet you can slide it all over. I spray the vinyl and the vehicle.

[Guest fivestar]

Me too Terry, then when I got it where I want it, I squeegee it and then spray the transfer tape and rub my hand over it and you can literally feel the glue releasing from the tape.

[audisnapr 0]

thanks again for the help guys.  I didn't catch fivestar's post until after I had already got one side down, so I will try his suggested method on the passenger side.  I did get some bubbles on this side as you can see in the pics, but many of the little ones will shrink when it warms up I'm sure; I'll try to work out any of the big ones tonight.  all-in-all, it went down very easy and they all came together pretty nicely.  anyway, here's some progress.

[bk2design 1]

Looks good! one question though, what are you going to do about the star?

[audisnapr 0]

the star will be in 3 separate pieces.  I didn't want to see the star outline behind the number plate, so I'll just shimmy each piece up real tight to the number plate and hope for no obvious gaps.  this is the only situation where this will happen - in all other cases, I'll just overlap layers as required.

[bk2design 1]

cool! That car is going to look sweet! Just don't wreck! 

[Guest Terry]

Looks great, but you will get NO bubbles if you wet it as suggested and slide it.

[audisnapr 0]

I will try the other side wet.  as a side note, this is my first ever vehicle application and even more so, my first large size vinyl application.  I did the big, white background wet and still got some small bubbles.  So to be honest, probably no matter how I go about this, I'll get bubbles since my application experience is so limited.  trial by fire

[Guest rvgraphixs]

Looks great, I would say wet and also build it on your work bench not the car, when its done install onto car.

[audisnapr 0]

so a few differing opinions on how to go about this huh?  I think what I might do on the other side is:

1. install the big white background solo

2. marry the white square and the black background square on the workbench, then install

3. marry the red number w/ the black background numbers on the bench, then install

sort of a hybrid of the two install theories.

[audisnapr 0]

couple problem areas, but surprisingly, the big star laid down pretty well (minus a little alignment issue with the point of the star).  I may redo the lower left point of the star.  it was a complex install and I

[bk2design 1]

Lookin' real good!!!

[firemalt 10]

I see what you're saying about the star being off a little in the last picture, but I think for what you're using the vehicle for, and for the size on the decal... that's a minor problem. From 10ft. away that would probably completely un-noticeable.

Nice project to tackle!

[audisnapr 0]

I see what you're saying about the star being off a little in the last picture, but I think for what you're using the vehicle for, and for the size on the decal... that's a minor problem. From 10ft. away that would probably completely un-noticeable.

Nice project to tackle!

thanks guys.

yeah, def.  very minor imperfection considering the scope of the project.  I was just pointing it out before everyone else did   There are plenty of imperfection in the car's paint (which I also did) that the imperfections of the vinyls will fall right into suite   And you are right, considering what the car is used for, it looks FAR better than any of the other cars we run with - in fact, too nice.

I'll keep you guys updated as I make more progress.

If any of you are car-nuts and want a really LONG read, I do have a thread on another forum where I posted the entire car's build.  It was a 10 month project ending with one race at the end of Oct. of '07 (car was stripped down to its shell and rebuilt as a dedicated track car).  Obviously, you can skip all the forum chatter and just look at all the pics.  Enjoy: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3030108

[audisnapr 0]

cool! That car is going to look sweet! Just don't wreck! 

we'll try our best