Lockdown not a slowdown…

lockdown air-cooled social distancing

Headliner back on track No chance of going too stir crazy in lockdown. A VW camper often presents lots of potential work projects to keep you busy. Fortunately for me, I have the headliner to finish off. Living in the ‘new normal’ of a Covid-19 pandemic, where social distancing is the norm, it’s good to … Read more

Making the rear roof headliner

back to refining the test piece for a perfect fit

Heading to the back With the front two flexible ply pieces for the cab headliner all cut to size and fitting nicely, time to make a start on the rear sections of the bus. In theory, some of these should be a bit easier. Let’s see how that theory works out! When making headliner pieces … Read more

Cab ply headliner test fitting

test fitting the cab ply headliner panels

Headliner transformation Having spent a while getting all the sizes and dimensions sorted, and the flexible ply cut, I finally had both pieces of the cab section of the headliner ready. These potentially were the most difficult pieces to make. Hopefully, the other sections for the rest of the bus should be a bit easier … Read more

The first cut is the neatest

enjoying the golden hour sunlight

Headliner project gets real Lots of measuring, drawing and making templates. Now it’s all about to get very real. Time to transfer the refined dimensions over to the flexible ply. Final amends made to my design drawings, The moment of truth It was a good fit last time, but I knew with a couple of … Read more

Ply headliner gets real

headliner test space location with a view

On to the next stage… Template testing time is just about over. Having checked and then double-checked with full-size templates to ensure all the shapes, curves and corners fit nicely, it’s time for the real thing. The flexible plywood that the headliner is going to be made from. Ordered enough to do the job, but … Read more

Camper headliner template testing

making the most of the winter sun to check the headliner templates

Headliner template v2 to the test Having commandeered the kitchen floor to cut the first version of the templates out, it was time to see how the supplied dimensions matched up to the reality of my actual 1964 bus. I’m sure dimensions might vary due to the more hand made nature of vehicle production back … Read more

project interior headliner begins

a mobile design studio with a view

Time for a change of headliner finish This is a job I’ve been thinking of doing for a while. Trouble is, I had kind of grown fond of the silver space-age insulation acting as the interior headliner for the bus. It’s a pretty funky finish! Apart from keeping us warm, it also helped keep the … Read more