TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:33 pm

crazyman1 wrote: Looks great. You interested in doing another set of stickers?

Like I stated in the PM I sent you a back in May, if you're willing to give a small (or large) donation to me for all the long nights and lost weekends it took me to tediously design 1:1 scale decals from tiny 1/10 scale decals, then I would consider sending you the vector/eps files. The files can then be given to any print shop, and you can make as many as you want. It was a lot of work, and I'm not just gonna give them away! :lol:

In all seriousness, when I started this project a year ago, the idea of buying someone elses decals came to mind. I searched the internet high and low, even writing to Bugbox about aquiring their designs (never got a reply). I was willing to pay a couple hundred bucks just for the decal files.

So I taught myself Adobe Illustrator, and after studying photos of the original Tamiya Sand Scorcher decals, obsessively designed vector files of most of the decals that came with that model, plus a couple of custom one's like the fake RPM gauge, and "caution hot". The only one thats on my car that I had them make was the Autohaus decal. Here's jpegs of the original 1979 decal sheets (vintagercweb.com), plus a jpeg of my custom decals:

Of course I didn't end up using all of the decals on my bug, but I've got them in case I want them in a future project. I ended up paying the print shop around $125.00 to print the decals on 10 year vinyl sheets, plus change some of the colors.

By the way, the decal files can be printed in any size, meaning you can have original decals for your re-issued or vintage Tamiya Sand Scorcher kit, instead of the lame non-product decals that come with the new kit:

Just a thought... :wink:

Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:46 pm

Sorry I never receved a pm from you about that.
Let me talk to my local custom graphic guy and see if he can use or open the file. Sorry have never herd of it. If not can you switch it to jpeg?
What kind of donation you looking for? PM me a amount yopur thinking please.

Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:48 pm

Thanks for answering my question. I'll definitely do a little research before I go there!

Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:18 pm

i LOVE that bug. there was a replica in the volksworld show and i just stared at it for ages.

something about the colours thats so right.

nice ride.

Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:27 pm

crazyman1 wrote: Sorry I never receved a pm from you about that.
Let me talk to my local custom graphic guy and see if he can use or open the file. Sorry have never herd of it. If not can you switch it to jpeg?
What kind of donation you looking for? PM me a amount yopur thinking please.

Hmm... Must have been another crazyman/guy. :)

Anyways, I'm sure whatever print shop you decide on knows about .EPS files. It's the standard file format for printing graphics and text. They might have to tweak the colors I chose though, depending on the color settings on their monitors. I also have the files in .AI (Adobe Illustrator), but essentially you can convert the file into just about any format, including jpeg. When you find a shop, have them print out a color wheel on white vinyl, for selecting decal colors. The yellow in the pennzoil decal was actually a mustard yellow. If you're a perfectionist like me. :roll:

As far as a donation goes, it's what you feel these files are worth to your project. What would you pay to have these files? Like I stated before, when I started my project a while back, I was willing to pay a couple hundred bucks for files or more for printed decals. Not everyone shares the same enthusiasm as me though.

To put it in perspective though, printing shops typically charge $50.00 to $75.00 an hour to design graphics, including converting low resolution jpegs taken off the internet to be used as large scale graphics for a vehicle.

Go ahead and PM me for any other questions, I'll be glad to answer. But it's up to you to make the first move with a price. I don't think you want me to decide that. They're priceless in my mind! :lol:

Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:29 pm

JDub113 wrote: Thanks for answering my question. I'll definitely do a little research before I go there!

Sorry I get into rants sometimes with my followup answers to questions. All in all, they did a great job. Just be sure to take out your Gene Berg shifter and replace it with a stock beater before driving to their lot.

Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:53 pm

carlos_magnum wrote: I really like what you did on the headlights. Great job!

Oh man, those headlight beauty rings were a pain! I had to surf craigslist and ebay for months to find a decent used pair to begin with. I'm too cheap to buy new ones. At Bugformance I think they're $28.00 each!? I have better things to spend my money on.

Once I got them I had to figure out a way to mount them. The tabs that normally hold them on stock VW's are part of the fender. Basically, the top "hook" is an L bracket, typically used for picture framing. I bent them another 90 degrees to grab the inside lip of the ring at the top, then mounted the bracket directly to the headlight assembly. The bottom of the ring is held on by a bolt, with a 3/4" nylon spacer, and nut on the inside of the body. They are a pain to get off for bulb replacement, but also a pain to rip off, if you know what I mean.

Mon May 21, 2012 6:42 am

Hi,

Am starting to plan my version of the Tamiya Sand Scorcher in the UK - yours is excellent by the way.

As per your comments regards decals am keen to make a donation for these files so can you email me on richard_avenell@yahoo.co.uk so we can have a chat?

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Richard