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RC Rock Crawler Wrap Losi MRC

Monday, November 16th, 2009

dsc_6679I have been involved in the sport and business of rock crawling for many years.  I built an internationally known business building real rock crawlers and parts for them.  Along the way I found an interest in radio control rock crawlers.  RC rock crawling over the years has developed from people who have the real ones to those who only do rc.  I never thought I would meet someone who knew nothing of the full size industry but I did.

I have owned many different rc rock crawlers.  I have even built a few custom tube chassis my rc rock crawlers.  While messing around with the cars I began printing wraps for them.  Wraps are graphics printed on 3M vinyl just like we use to wrap a real car.  I bought a Losi MRC 1/18 scale rock crawler for my son.  I left the hobby store and went straight to my shop to design and print a custom wrap for him.  At the time I was still involved with Blue Torch Fab so the wrap has BTF all over it.

The graphic kit pictured can be purchased from here on 509 Media or through TCS Crawlers. It is a quick easy way to change out the boring graphics on the stock Losi MRC.  Installing the wrap is very easy.  First remove the factory stickers.  Clean the lexan body with a little alcohol.  Make sure it is dry.  Then place the wrap on each panel and make sure to push any air bubbles out.  You should not have an issue with bubbles because of the vinyl used.  It is the same 3M Controltac vinyl we use to wrap vehicle and trailers. btf_losimrcwrap

Losi is a great company.  I was introduced to Bill Jeric, the president of Horizon Hobbies / Losi in 2008 at the Off-Road Expo in Pomona, CA.  After the show Bill and I got on the phone and exchanged ideas through email.  When the 2.2 Losi Rock Crawler was introduced a few months back we help with a promotional giveaway on Pirate4x4.

if you have an RC body and think there is a need in the rc industry for a wrap kit please contact me.  In the message please include what the body if used for and the model of the body.  We can also build graphic kits for RC planes, boats, and more.

Categories : RC Car Graphics
Comments (3)

Full Color Banners and Wall Graphic for Pizza To Go in Dothan, AL

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

pizza_kastle_wall_wrapPizza Kastle in Dothan, AL located at the entrance of Sam’s Club expanded to a local Pizza To Go and Ice Cream.  The satellite location is located on the corner of Main Street and South Alice.  They are serving pizza and ice cream to go.  It is a locally owned restaurant and not a large franchise organization.  Be sure to drop by and pick up your five dollar pizza.

The owner of the restaurant contacted me through a friends sign shop here in Dothan to print a pizza to go on the wall behind the cash register.  The pizza was to be 52 inches wide and roughly 36 inches tall.  The image going on the wall is a high resolution image suitable for large format printing.  The pizza printed for the wall was printed on 3M Controltac and laminated to protect the inks. We have a couple other digital prints we are working on for the pizza restaurant.  Two full color banners will be placed outside the store.istock_000001929314largepizza

The first banner printed in a 40 inch wide and 60 inch tall banner that will be placed on a brick column outside the main entrance.  The banner is printed on 13 oz banner to withstand the elements outdoors.  The second banner will be 36 inches tall and 96 inches wide.  It will feature store information including the telephone number. If you are interested in seeing the banners in person be sure to visit the Pizza To Go location in Dothan, Alabama.

pizza_banner_3The use of full color digitally printed banners can provide a more professional look for your business while keeping the warm small business feel.  When compared to vinyl cut lettering I feel digital prints win.  Today while driving around town I was looking at local banners advertising this service or that event.  A common problem with most of them was the banners had far too many words.  Who driving by the banner has time to read a book.  The banners should pick 1-3 key things to convey and no more.  When using images along with text you create an appealing banner that draws the eye to it.  Banners, billboards, and print ads with too many words will turn off the majority of people.  The first banner printed for the Pizza To Go place has no wording.  it is just an image.  The building already has the logo all over it.  I thought the banner would speak more on it’s own.  After all what do you think when you see a pizza picture?  You think pizza.  With the company name one signs all around the image there is no need to repeat it.

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Categories : Banners, Vinyl Graphics
Comments (3)

Nicole Johnson’s Rock Crawler Wrap

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

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Frank and Nicole Johnson have been friends of mine for many years. Frank and Nicole have been in and around the sport of rock crawling for many years.  The Red Bull Rock Crawler team headed up by Dustin and Becca Webster call on Frank for his world class spotting abilities from time to time.  Frank was Becca Webster’s spotter for Team Red Bull in the past.  Things have changed.  Now Frank is spotting for the popular driver Nicole Johnson who also happens to be his wife.  They make a great pair.  It is always a good time watching henderson3them work together.

Frank and Nicole Johnson compete in events such as WE Rock and King of the Hammers under the banner of Johnson Motorsports.  Be sure to visit the Johnson’s website for more info on the team and tons of pictures.

Nicole’s first buggy to compete with was as huge four seat chassis going up against smaller purpose built buggies.  Even with the over sized buggy Nicole found her way to be competitive. One the first buggy I designed and printed a couple different wraps for the buggy to feature her sponsors, and give the buggy a little more color for the magazines. The wraps just covered the side panels.  Check out the pics and leave a comment below.  In her second season they bought a new buggy from Shannon Campbell which put her finishing a lot better and gaining even more attention from sponsors and media.

Categories : Vinyl Graphics, Wraps
Comments (0)

509 Media Viewed From iPhone

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

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I added a theme to make the site load a little faster on mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone.  If you have an iPhone take a look and let me know what you think.  Post a comment below.  FYI, you can turn off the mobile theme from your iPhone at the bottom of the page while viewing in Safari.  I am trying to decide if I want to leave the mobile theme in place so let me know what you think.

I also added a icon that will show up if you choose to add 509 Media to your “Home Screen”.  While viewing 509 on your iPhone press the + at the bottom of the screen.  It will then add the 509 Media icon to your home screen.  You can choose to move the icon around on the phone just like the apps installed on the phone.  This will also work on the iPod Touch.

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Categories : News, Web Design
Comments (2)

Jeep LJ Rock Crawler Half Wrap

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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Jeep LJ Rock Crawler Wrap

English Dave was a great guy to work with.  The half wrap on this Jeep using all custom graphics.   The client wanted to add some “color” to the Jeep so we suggested a half wrap.  We wrapped the sides of the Jeep LJ, the rear, the custom roof panel, and the center of the hood.  The wrap was printed on 3M Controltac Vinyl and laminated to protect the ink.  A wrap like this one is a very easy way to change the look of a vehicle without painting.  The wrap will help protect the paint from tree limb scratches. The vehicle wrap can be removed easily.  As long as the paint on your vehicle is in good shape it will not harm the paint.  Be sure to contact 509 Media for more information on the wrap.

If you want more info on the Jeep LJ here are the details as I remember.  The custom cage was fabricated by Blue Torch Fab.  It works with the half cab hard top manufactured by GR8TOPS.

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Categories : Vinyl Graphics, Wraps
Comments (1)

Do It Right Lawn Care Truck Wrap

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
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Do It Right Lawn Care Truck Wrap

Do It Right Lawn Care based out of Dothan, Alabama recently contacted me about wrapping a “new to them” truck to advertise their business.  After discussing the many options from plain vinyl cut lettering to a full vinyl wrap it was clear a wrap was the direction we would take.  The owner of the company is a long time friend of mine.  I suggested to him a few ways to use the wrap to make money and keep over all cost down.

On the bottom 1/3 of the wrap I suggested he sell advertising space.  The truck is highly visible around town and the space does have value.  I broke the ad area up into three sections.  The large ad space would sell for more than the smaller ones.  I told him to go out and talk to people he knows about buying the ad space on a one year agreement.  So far he has two of the ad spaces sold and the wrap cost nearly covered.  If the advertiser decides not to renew we can simply put a new ad over the old one. This is a creative way to wrap your company vehicle and save on your advertising budget.  If you decide to do this make certain the advertiser does not overpower your message.  After all you are wanting to spread the word about your company to increase your bottom line.  This option may not be right for all companies.

The design of this wrap has purpose.  The Do It Right Lawn  Care section was placed high and bold on the truck side.  When parked in a parking lot with cars next to the truck the wrap will still be clearly seen.  After all the main purpose of this vehicle wrap is to Advertise Do It Right Lawn Care.  The Do It Right banner covers the entire side panel of the truck to make it very easy to read from a long distance.

UPDATE:

The wrap was installed yesterday.  Over all the project turned out great.  We are going to print a wrap for the front part of the box on the truck.  In the beginning the owner did not want to wrap it to keep the project cost a little lower.  After the installation was completed the owner decided to move forward.

We will be printing the advertisements for the side of the truck over the next couple of weeks.  Three ads will be placed on each side of the truck.  I will update the post once the ads are installed.

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Below is a video taken with my iPhone using a free service from QIK.com.  Qik allows you to stream video live direct from many different cell phones to the web. It is a lot like having a mobile web camera in your pocket at all times.  Check them out.  It is free to use.  Click HERE for a link to my upload page.

If you need a wrap designed for your business feel free to call or email.  We can work up a custom design using your company logo along with any pictures you may want to use to highlight your products or services.

Categories : Wraps
Comments (4)

Hudson for SGA 2nd Grade Senate Poster

Sunday, November 8th, 2009
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Heard Magnet School SGA Poster

My son Hudson is running for school Senate in the 2nd grade at Heard Magnet School in Dothan, Alabama.  Hudson and I sat at the computer this afternoon to put together an election poster to be posted in his class. I want to point out that my 2nd grade son helped with this layout.  We have a couple hours in the design with him, and we are both happy with it. It is crazy to think someone so young can work on a computer.  It was a great afternoon working this together.

If this were an actual election campaign poster I would have done things a lot differently.   The layout for this poster is only 8.5″ wide x 11″ tall.  The rules stated we had to be the size of “copy paper”.  Heard Magnet School is a higher learning school in Dothan, AL.  If you are in the Dothan area be sure to visit their website for more information on the school.

The poster is going to be printed on some scrap 3M cv3 I have loaded in the printer.  The vinyl I am printing this on is actually the same material used for vehicle wraps.  We are going to use the scrap materials to stay under his five dollars budget.  LOL I would not charge him anyway.

We also printed out  a smaller extra one to wrap his water bottle he takes to school.  I think I may have to wrap a couple 509 Media bottles to keep around.  They turned out really nice.  Just in case some other parents might be thinking we spent over 5 bones on this project.  The water bottle was one I kept at the shop to drink from everyday during my Blue Torch Fab days.  So… the bottle was not an added expense.  Just making use of things we already had.

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If you happen to be in the 2nd Grade at Heard… Hudson says, “Please vote for me”.

Thanks for reading the post.  If you would like to have help with your child’s SGA election feel free to CONTACT 509 Media.  We can discuss the project and cost.

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Heard Magnet School SGA Poster

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Water Bottle Wrap

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Stickers for SGA Heard Magnet School

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Stickers for SGA Heard Magnet School

Categories : Graphic Design
Comments (0)

Mercer Motorsports Comp Rock Crawler (vid)

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Mercer Motorsports from the Atlanta, Georgia area is headed up by Ken Mercer.  You can read all about the team on their team website.  This car has seen action in WE Rock rock crawling events, Rock Racing events, various stadium events, and the now world famous King Of The Hammers.

Ken Mercer is a long time friend of mine.  He asked me to wrap the car for the WE Rock series.  He made the drive to Dothan on a Saturday morning  where we spent a long day and night designing, printing, and installing the wrap.  Each panel on the rock crawler had to be removed in order to make a template.  Once the templates were made the Photoshop work could come to life.  Over all there is not a lot of print on this car.  Taking the car apart, putting it back together, and designing took longer than actually printing.  The vinyl used on this vehicle was Avery 1005 EZ RS.  It was laminated after print to protect the ink. On a comp crawler like this the life of the wrap is short lived so waiting for the print to gas out was not an issue.  The gas out deal is more for other print people to know who may be reading this.

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Categories : Wraps
Comments (3)

King of the Hammers (Video Inside)

Friday, November 6th, 2009
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King of the Hammers

King of the Hammers (KOH) is the big show in rock sports these days.  What is King of the Hammers?  KOH is the most extreme rock crawling, rock racing, desert racing event rolled up into one event in the world.  For more information on KOH be sure to visit the official King of the Hammers website.

Jeff Knoll asked if we could design and print these decals for the “Right Coast Qualifier” held May, 15, 2009 at Rausch Creek, PA.  The event was a qualifier for the big show held early next year on the lake bed in southern California.

King Of The Hammers 2009 / Official Trailer

Categories : Wraps
Comments (0)

509 Online Shopping COMING SOON

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

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509 Media will be adding an online shopping section very soon.  The online shopping area of the site will feature many different items. If you have an idea for a new sticker, banner, graphic set be sure to post up in the comment section at the bottom of this page.  If we choose to add your idea to our line up of products we will send you a free one.  Make sure to use a valid email when posting or we will not be able to contact you.  So get your creative juices flowing and post up some ideas.  The offer to send one out for free only applies to people in the USA.  We will work with others outside of the USA if they are willing to pay for shipping.

Pre Printed Sticker Designs

509 Media fitted hats and shirts

Skins for cell phones, laptops, and more

Tail light and head light black out kits.

Pre-designed shop banners to add some attitude to your garage.

Custom Fill Patterns for vehicle wrap design

and much more.

Check back in for updates to this post.

Categories : News
Comments (2)
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