Itinerant Air-Cooled

For those of you who own Westys . . . you may see worn through "wood paneling". Well, it is wood. Question is, what is the surface really made of? Is it a paint? The grain does not appear to match the actual wood underneath. Shall I try to paint the worn sections and then brush in some grain? Is that crazy?
Colin

I'm very interested in this, too. The state of my cabinetry is cheesy, and what to do with it is taking up space in my head.

Cabinets or wall and ceiling panels?

Everything. I have already made a new panel for the side sliding door and rear door, out of thin baltic birch plywood, and it looks very good. I want to make a new piece for the ceiling above the driver and passenger in my Westy, but I can't find the plywood as thin as that piece. My cabinets are delaminating, and the black vinyl trim pieces are warped and split. I guess I could have a cabinet shop reface the surfaces with new laminate, but want to consider all the options. I don't see anywhere on the Samba classified for any company that does cabinets for Westys. Any recommendations from anyone? Also, I'd like to see alternate interiors that other Westy owners have come up with. Anyone know some sites with pictures of interesting interiors? I did find some on Pinterest by searching "VW bus camper interiors".

Amskeptic wrote:For those of you who own Westys . . . you may see worn through "wood paneling". Well, it is wood. Question is, what is the surface really made of? Is it a paint? The grain does not appear to match the actual wood underneath. Shall I try to paint the worn sections and then brush in some grain? Is that crazy?
Colin

Are you referring to the slider panel and panel over the icebox? I determined that it was some kind of very thin screened on faux print that was worn off in spots particularly around the handle. I stained the worn spot with as close a color as I could find. Looks acceptable but as you said doesn't match the "grain" on the screen print.

I'm going to direct you to my build thread on TheSamba. The panels used along the sides and rear hatch are all made from thin birch plywood with a printed film bonded to them. This film is printed with the same woodgrain pattern as the laminate used on the cabinets. The panels and laminate can be had from an outfit in the UK, called NLA VW. Go here (don't miss the first link inside, too), read through a few pages, and you'll learn all about it. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 84#7274484

Wow-that is an excellent post. My cabinets look like those (at the beginning). Thank you for the great reference.

phaedrus76 wrote:I'm going to direct you to my build thread on TheSamba. The panels used along the sides and rear hatch are all made from thin birch plywood with a printed film bonded to them. This film is printed with the same woodgrain pattern as the laminate used on the cabinets. The panels and laminate can be had from an outfit in the UK, called NLA VW. Go here (don't miss the first link inside, too), read through a few pages, and you'll learn all about it. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 84#7274484

Stupid printed film . . .

You are a gold mine of information, phaedrus76. I shall pester you mercilessly.

Did you actually reuse all the black plastic trim for cubby hole surrounds and cabinet edges, or did you source new plastic?

I have a broad white plastic trim strip at the bottom of the upper bunk that has warped into a facsimile of ocean waves. I was thinkin' hey! hittit with hair dryer or sumpin' but I would rather defer to a professional Ford-trained Somehow Master Cabinet-maker.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

phaedrus76 wrote:I'm going to direct you to my build thread on TheSamba. The panels used along the sides and rear hatch are all made from thin birch plywood with a printed film bonded to them. This film is printed with the same woodgrain pattern as the laminate used on the cabinets. The panels and laminate can be had from an outfit in the UK, called NLA VW. Go here (don't miss the first link inside, too), read through a few pages, and you'll learn all about it. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 84#7274484

Stupid printed film . . .

You are a gold mine of information, phaedrus76. I shall pester you mercilessly.

Did you actually reuse all the black plastic trim for cubby hole surrounds and cabinet edges, or did you source new plastic?

I have a broad white plastic trim strip at the bottom of the upper bunk that has warped into a facsimile of ocean waves. I was thinkin' hey! hittit with hair dryer or sumpin' but I would rather defer to a professional Ford-trained Somehow Master Cabinet-maker.
Colin

The black plastic trim is available but the white piece isn't that I can find. I was thinking of hitting it with a heat gun to try to flatten it.

As per his post and others supposedly you can boil the plastic trim stuff and it will become pliable again so you can reshape it. I haven't tried it myself.

I have used the heat gun method and I think it works great. Amazing how nice and rubbery that old stuff feels with some heat on it.

Placing it in boiling water and stretching it back straight and to original length as it cools, with a blow dryer to heat enough to make adjustments can turn a wavy, wiggly piece of "junk" trim into a good straight, usable piece. You use the blow dryer to heat it enough to make it flexible enough to bend around corners.

Acetone works incredibly well to restore the original finish. You'd think it'd dissolve the stuff like it does a lot of plastics, but washing with soap then wiping with acetone (fairly wet cloth) then finishing with plastic polish will literally render this stuff like new.

Don't bother with any of the repro stuff unless you absolutely have to. It's not the same dimensionally, nor does it have the same finish. Unless your OG stuff is broken, it can be returned to new.

Here's a link to my rear seat cabinet restoration.: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 62#7018962
Refrigerator: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 81#7178881
Headbanger: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 26#7190626
Closet (with cubby holes): http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... 99#7264099

Oh, and thank you. Glad to help!

I think the white trim strip near the top bed is made from other stuff, possibly the same as the white strip that runs along the top near the sliding door curtain rod. I haven't yet tried heating the bed strip, but had somewhat mediocre results flattening the sliding door piece.

http://www.busdepot.com/camper-parts-ac ... =price&p=1

My camper needs all the cabinets re-done. There's a company in Europe re-popping all the trim in white and maybe the black. BD is selling some of it. I can't recall the company but I'm sure I'll run into their ads again.

The bad part is that it's expensive!

wcfvw69 wrote: The bad part is that it's expensive!

That it is available thirty to forty years after our cars were built, that it is not easy for us to just fabricate, I recommend that we just suck it in and remind ourselves that the people who do make this stuff have to make their living too. This is one of those rare investments that improves the value of your vehicle enough to actually pay for itself.
Colin