View new posts | View your posts Ectomobile Graphics How-To: no chins or eyebrows allowed!

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CLICK HERE FOR NO-GHOST VECTOR FILE!
OR CONTINUE READING BELOW TO LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO DO A KICKASS JOB OF PUTTING VINYL ON YOUR CAR

So you've decided to make an Ecto, eh?

This thread probably should have been made long ago to go along with the other "This Question Gets Asked So Much Why Don't We Just Have A Thread Stickied So We Have Something To Snarkily Post When The Question Inevitably Continues to Be Asked? threads.

Threads like this viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3968 and this viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18468

Anyway, back to the part about you making an Ecto. Odds are, the first thing on your to-do list after finding the car is either lightbars or door logos. This thread will help you with the latter.

What Is Door Logo?
The first thing you need to know is that door logos come in two varieties: paint and vinyl. If you want to paint your door logos on, this is not the thread for you. If you want to use vinyl, continue reading. Vinyl will come in several varieties as well, the ones that matter to you are straight up vinyl and vinyl applied to shaped magnets.

If you want vinyl applied to magnets, stop reading this thread. Also, go outside an apologize to your car's paint for what you are about to do to it. Oh and make sure to order spares for when the original magnets are stolen while you're getting a sub at Jimmy Johns. That's what you get for not eating at Quizno's.

As for straight-up vinyl, you're reading the right thread. Vinyl is essentially thin plastic with an adhesive agent applied to one side. The letters on the side of your local electrician's truck are vinyl. The livery of police cars is vinyl. The wraps on race cars are vinyl. Even the supposed matte-black "paint" on this Lambo is vinyl. Holy shit, right?

Large sheets of colored vinyl are run through a plotter and cut into shapes. For multi-colored logos like the No-Ghost, this usually involves layering red vinyl on top of black vinyl. Typically this is what your average no-ghost door logo is composed of:


If a vinyl wrap is more complex and has blended colors, it will most likely be printed instead of cut, but since we're just making no-ghosts and caution striping, it will probably be cut. Your typical vinyl is made by 3M (yep, the tape guys) and is meant to last up to 3-7 years. It 's usually very resistant to moisture and UV sunlight, my vinyl peeled loooong before it ever started to fade.

But... My Car?
Quit crying, baby. Vinyl usually has zero impact to the paint it is applied to. It goes on and comes off real easy-like. Your car's paint won't fade unevenly due to vinyl, unless you leave the vinyl on there for like a decade. The 1K spent several years decked out as an Ecto


And when the time came to take the vinyl off, well.... let's just say someone out there is driving around a Subaru and has no idea what it used to be.


Where I Get And How Make?
There are lots of sources out there for No-Ghost logos. I typically default to this website: BrandsoftheWorld.com, it's a great resource for finding vector art for logos. If you search "Ghostbusters" you'll find the regular no-ghost, the GBII logo, and a Filmation GB logo, I believe. You can also find Aliens and Jurassic Park and, well, lots of other logos on there.

Let's take a step back, actually. I mentioned "vector art" a moment ago and we should talk about that. Vector graphics are images stored as lines and mathematical formulas, instead of pixels. This means that they are infinitely-scalable -- you can take a vector image and make it as big as you want without it getting grainy. Here is more info on that.

Vector art is typically made in Illustrator or a similar program, and will usually have a file type of .ai or .eps or something like that. The benefit of sites that provide these vectors is that you won't have to pay extra for your sign guy to make one from scratch - you'll just hand them the flash stick with the file on it and say "please print one of these that is X-inches wide" and bam!

There are also several "styles" of no-ghost out there that you should conscious of before diving in.

There is the default, accurate logo.


There is this POS, chunky logo that everyone hates.
Oh look it's missing a chin! We'll come back to that.


And there is the logo missing the black background behind the ghost. This logo is never seen on any Ecto in the films and, personally, I hate the shit out of it.


I opted for a version of the first logo with a black outline around the red that I think looks snazzy. My point is, it's up to you what you actually do with it. Byran Fear and Sean Bishop actually hand-drew their logos to be more representative of how a body actually works, with the chest in front of the armpit instead of the arm just sticking out of the chest.

Like so:


And that's fine. It's your Ecto. My advice when it comes to Ecto building is making sure that everything on your car is a conscious decision - instead of just hastily slapping on whatever you find and then realizing later that it's not what you intended....

Make sure your logo has eyebrows and a chin. This is a frequent problem.

Also, this
I have some more advice for you, first-time builder. This may not jive with what you want, but in my experience this is what looks best. Also, this is my thread so stuff it. Let's assume that the car you are converting is white. Maybe it's a hearse that's been painted, or maybe this is just the factory color. There is almost no possibility that the white of your car is going match any white vinyl perfectly. So if you print the white part of the ghost, you run the risk of having two whites that "clash". Leaving the white part of the ghost "empty" will allow the actually paint of your car to show through, and will ensure that everything matches.

Here are some pictures to illustrate my point.

The top image shows how a logo with white printed on it appears, the bottom image has been photoshopped to make the ghost and the paint match.

And another


Now, including the white of the ghost isn't wrong or bad. My second car was actually fairly off-white and if I hadn't left the ghost empty, the color difference would probably drive me f****g insane. That's why I include this tidbit.

ANYWAY, ONCE YOU HAVE THE FILES
The first thing I recommend is to photoshop a picture of your car with all the logos and lettering you want on it. This will help you plan everything to a T, and will show the vinyl guy exactly what you want done. Whether or not your Ecto "succeeds" as a finished project depends heavily upon the aesthetic of your design. Caution stripe EVERYWHERE or having your lettering upstage your door logos can be avoided easily if you plan everything out with conceptual rendering. I was pretty lucky with mine, I think.


You can get vinyl done pretty much anywhere. Look for businesses with names similar to "Action Signs" or "Signs Now" or "Something Something Graphics" or "Hurfadurfadurf Signs" and you will find a company that will be able to produce and sell exactly what you need for the graphics on your Ecto.

It's probably a pretty good idea to go into several places and ask them straight-up, "How much would it cost to print a pair of 15" two-color vinyl logos and install them on my doors?" They will probably give you a price in square-footage, but have them calculate it out. The cheapest I ever got my logos for was $15 each. If the sign guy quotes anything higher than $30 apiece, you tell him to go kick rocks.

If your sign guy asks what you're doing, just be honest. "I'm building a replica of the car from Ghostbusters." You don't need to say anything about the kind of car, or that the logo is copyrighted or anything like that. Addressing that right off the bat is pretty bad - guilty people make the first move. If your sign guy says he doesn't want to print the logo because it's probably copyrighted, you can tell him to go kick rocks. Your goal should be to find a sign shop with people working there who are between the ages of 20 and 35 - maybe some recently-graduated graphic design students. If you hold out for a sign shop with the right people, you'll find that they will be just as excited about building a Ghostbusters car as you are, and will thank you for providing a break from mundane delivery vehicle wrap designs. I've almost always walked away with spare logos and graphics because I find cool people to do business with.

Personally, I recommend having the sign guy do your installation. Photoshop together a picture of your car with the logos exactly where you want them, and give them to your sign guy. He will do the rest as far as getting the vinyl on without any bubbles or off-set gaps ( LIKE ON THE SONY CAR IN THE FIRST PICTURE). I applied my lettering myself, but I do recall it being a pain in the ass to get them level the first time around.

Yipes! Stripes!
REAL IMPORTANT NOTE: CAUTION STRIPES DO NOT AN ECTOMOBILE MAKE. There was a time when builders went absolutely bat-shit nuts with stripes, but it appears that trend is fading. This is a good thing. Use stripes sparingly to prevent a garish Ecto.
When it comes to the caution tape, you can go whatever route you like. Hardware stores sell caution tape in both yellow/black and red/white varieties, make sure to pick the right one. I usually have my stripes printed so they are the exact height I want. I strongly recommend against just grabbing the regular reflective stuff off the shelf. You won't notice the difference at first, but as soon as someone takes a picture of your car at night, the reason for this preference will be painfully obvious.


You're Done!
You have vinyl on your car! Now go enjoy it! Hope you like manual car washes because automatics might tear off some lettering here and there, or at the very least start the peeling process!

The End End
All done being a Ghostbuster? Grab a heat gun and shoot your logos, it will peel off like extremely-malleable electrical tape. Then remove the adhesive with some goo-gone. All done!

Hope this help some of you guys. And here, in case you missed it the first two times...
CLICK HERE FOR NO-GHOST VECTOR FILE!

And if you want a guy who will do your logos super-cheap and just the way you want them, check out this fella.
http://www.myvinylworks.com/

Here are some pretty good ways to not do your logos.

Don't forget my shitty ones with the white boarder around them.. thanks for this Boomer.

Thanks for posting this- Ironic since my magnets were ripped off by shithead 2 weeks ago. I'm going with Vinyl this has been very instructive. I appreciate it!

Excellent topic Boomer.

I admit I like the look of the reflective hazard tape... as it gives it a bit more zing (and I believe the stuff on Ecto-1A was reflective to a certain degree)... but wow, that photo... does make a competitve argument for using the static stuff.

This was an amusing read, Boomer. Great advice, though; hopefully we'll see less of those awful logos...

That's awesome. I might have to make a ecto.

Superb! All I need now is a Caddy...

Dude, they have Hurfadurfadurf Signs in Colorado, too? I thought that was just a New England chain.

I wasn't too happy with how my son' s power wheels no ghost logo's turned out.

i don't know if it was because of how small they were, or because they were being applied to plastic? The shop that did them for me put them on, and its like they are sort of "stretched' and there were a few bubbles. I'm skittish to let them do my car logos, due to that. We paid 6.00 a piece for his "mini" logos.

Boomer, what are the sizes for your door logos? I may have someone fairly local who can cut me a good deal on vinyl graphics.

theyre vector files. they can be made any size you want and still retain their crisp clean lines. it all depends on what size you need them, how big is the area on your door? provide the printer with that information and also the vector file, they take it from there.

I have a newly purchased 2006 Magnum, thus the question directed squarely at Boomer.

thx for posting this. i am currently working on my car and this was a big help.

There actually another method which I think you didn't mention above.
Printing on white vinyl and then die cutting. This gives the same look as a screen printed vinyl sticker.

Die-cut is the same as mentioned above with the plotter.

Having your vinyl actually printed on white vinyl is technically a solution, but up-close you can typically see the results of what is essentially a giant ink jet printer.

The door logos for my Jeep were initially printed, and I was deeply dissatisfied by the fact that the red was sometimes pinkish, and that the black look mottled up close. Compared to cut-vinyl where the colors are completely solid, it's not the best option.

Not sure about you, but in my experience printing on vinyl is also more expensive.

I wouldn't know about the price. I'm cutting my own vinyl logos so it doesn't cost me more than the price of the vinyl
But you're right that using colored vinyl gives the best results and is also more durable (think car wash) than printed vinyl.

Wanted to say thanks. Now I can't see an Outback without seeing it as an Ecto. LOL Passed 3 of them on my way to work last night. All 3 were white and all I could think was "where's the logo?"

What are the dimensions of the screen used Logos on the Ecto 1?

That's a good question, actually.

I love the info in this thread. Nice Job Boomer.

Just to illustrate what Boomer was talking about I wanted to show some pictures of myself installing a No Ghost logo on a fellow So Cal GB's HHR.

Here is the black outline of the ghost going on:

By joeluna33 at 2012-01-10

Outline ONLY installed:

By joeluna33 at 2012-01-10

2nd layer. Red circle and cross going on:

By joeluna33 at 2012-01-10

The finished product:

By joeluna33 at 2012-01-10

That looks insanely good.

That looks insanely creepy.

Strangely enough, though it does look funny it also appears to be screen accurate:

These are very helpful...can't wait to get my Mercury Sable wagon on the road to begin the fun part of converting to an Ecto!

Sent from my DROID2 using Ghostbusters Fans on Android

Here's the right hand door logo of the Sony E1. Naturally the logo has been reapplied and the paint redone since the movies, but here's the real thing up close as it currently looks for reference anyhow.

That's pretty cool, which why it was the first image put in the original post of this thread.

You're welcome.

man this thread really helps!! gonna save this so i can use the vector file when i get my vinyl logos

I too know the pain of shitheads ripping off your magnets. I'm going vinyl very soon, especially since NOW after all this time, I finally am aware of the fact that vinyl does NOT damage the car's paint job.

Thanks Boomer!