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Best Transit Vehicles of 2015

The wrap on the bus, it sells, sells, sells

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FIRST PLACE
Fabricator

360 Wraps
Dallas
(817) 789-3464
www.360wraps.com
Designer
Tommy Strader
Client
PGM of Texas

Given a dearth of graphics applied to traditional bus, subway and other means of civic transit, this year’s Transit Graphics category expanded to included RVs, motorcoaches and similar behemoths. Strader designed a 30-panel, 1,000-sq.-ft. wrap for PGM of Texas, an enterprise that recycles
catalytic converters (as if their supersized depiction in the wrap left any doubt), using Adobe’s Creative Suite software. 360 Wraps decorated Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions’ MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS film on the shop’s HP 360 latex-ink printer. Window-graphic applications entailed 50%-perforated film. Using an Enduralam laminator, the shop applied a protectant layer with Avery’s DOL 1360 glossy overlaminates. Heat guns and 3M Gold nylon squeegees were the final tools in executing the project.
“Besides their obvious size, another major challenge is supporting yourself while wrapping the cab,” 360 Wraps president Tommy Strader said. “We usually install scaffolds on either side, with a plank to walk between the two.”

SECOND PLACE
Fabricator

Absolute Perfection Vehicle Wrapping
Sykesville, MD
(866) 390-6790
www.vehiclewrapping.com
Designer
Tony Semanick
Client
Confidential
This RV will undoubtedly turn heads in tailgating lots outside M & T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore Ravens’ home field. Any fan willing to invest in a 747-sq.-ft. wrap for their personal vehicle is certainly a first-class devotee. Absolute Perfection’s Tony Semanick designed the program using Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop software, and the shop generated the graphics by imprinting 3M 40C intermediate-grade vinyl using an HP DesignJet L26500 latex-ink printer. 3M’s 50%-perforated window film adorns the windows. With 3M’s 8508 intermediate-cast, high-gloss laminate, the shop used a Seal 54 EL laminator to impart high sheen to the Ravens’ signature purple. Absolute Perfection cut panels on a Graphtec FC-8000 cutting plotter, and hinged graphic panels using R-Tape Conform 4075-RLA transfer tape while applying them with 3M PA-1 squeegees. Absolute Perfection’s Madison Lantz said the most challenging aspect involved applying vinyl to the bus’s awning and ladder-clad rear end.

THIRD Place
Fabricator

Signarama
Redding, CA
(530) 224-9655
www.reddingsigns.com
Designer
Derek Highet
Installers
Dylan Miller
Matt Williams
Client
Tag 1 Racing
This dirt-bike racing team’s RV journeyed far from its New Jersey home base, and was wrapped by John Robbins’ Signarama Redding team. Highet designed the program with Adobe software, and the shop produced the gargantuan wrap on its HP L360 latex-ink printer with 3M Controltac IJ180-10Cv3 with Comply air-release media. Clear Focus Imaging’s film and laminate bedeck the windows. A layer of 3M Scotchcal 8518 gloss-finish overlaminate, applied using a Ledco laminator, will keep the wrap’s red vibrant for years to come.
 

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