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(December 2007) posted on Thu Dec 13, 2007

Service Vehicle Winners

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By Steve Aust

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FIRST PLACE

This design carried quite a hook. CSI and Boldwater teamed to decorate this truck for a local charter fisherman. Using a collaboration of CADlink’s SignLab, Adobe’s Illustrator and PhotoShop, and Onyx Graphics’ ProductionHouse software, Manderscheid and Redwine developed a marine-worthy graphic. To fabricate the wrap, CSI prepped the surface with automotive cleaner and output the print on its 64-in. HP DesignJet 9000s with 3M™’s Controltac™ IJ180-10C film. Installers adhered the print with 3M’s Fineline® tape, heat guns, squeegees and utility knives, and clearcoated the job with 3M’s 8518 gloss overlaminate.

SECOND PLACE

Fenway Farms’ owner Ken Kelnhofer ordered the trailer to showcase Nanning, Fenway’s pure-bred Friesian stallion – one of only 100 left in the world. Cates said, “I wanted the design to emphasize the horse’s strength and elegance,” and, to accentuate that, he created a Western scenic backdrop and an intricate tangle of tribal art (and, of course, Fenway’s logo). Cates designed the graphics using CorelDraw X3 and Adobe’s Photoshop. Appleton output the system on its Mimaki JV3 solvent-ink printer using Oracal USA’s Orajet 3951RA 2-mil, cast film, which it protected with Oraguard 290 cast-PVC overlaminate. Later, Kelnhofer returned to have his hauling truck decorated with the Fenway logo, while Cates designed the truck’s rear to transition to the trailer’s front with similar colors and tribal-art designs.

THIRD PLACE (TIE)

The judges appreciated this RV’s highly detailed rendition of an upscale, well-manicured estate as a selling tool for new-home tours. Coppola and Musawwir developed the graphics with Adobe Photoshop and executed the print with Onyx’s PosterShop® RIP software. Wrap This produced the print with its twin Mutoh Toucan LT eco-solvent printers with 36-, 48- and 54-in.-wide Controltac IJ180-10C media; 8519 luster-finish laminate protects the print. Salamacha said Wrap This also decorated the vehicle’s slide-out sections and completed the project in six days.

THIRD PLACE (TIE)

As the real-estate market continues to plummet, and homeowners investigate how to improve their homes to meet their needs, companies such as Shelves that Slide must differentiate themselves from competitors. To that end, vehicle wraps are an ideal, cost-effective advertising solution, as evidenced by this Scion xB. Nisbet, the shop’s lead designer, devised the graphics using Adobe Photoshop®. Arizona Color output the print on its Mimaki JV3-160SP with 3M Controltac media with Comply™ air-egress embossed adhesive. To protect the graphic against environmental hazards, Arizona Color used 3M’s 8519 luster-finish overlaminate.

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