My headlining is missing and was going to go for something a bit out of the ordinary. As my (tintop) bus was from Sweden, thought about doing it in tongue and groove and varnishing it in pine, sort of a swedish sauna theme? Anyone done anything like this, or anything else out of the ordinary they could post a piccie of to give more some ideas? thanks
Could you make it out of pine ply and router the grooves into it to make it look like tongue and groove? If thats possible it would save a fair bit of weight in the bus
How easy do them panels fit in Zed - think they do sheet designed to look like tongue and groove but only in 48 inch width.
I did mine with 3mm birch faced ply, I think you my struggle to fit panels much thicker than that if you use j strips.
The front went in easily, this is how you get them in... But the sheet construction is the opposite of the stuff Westfalia used so next one... And the next, so I adapted and put a spine down the centre made from an old drapers cupboard parts. Then I thought as I was being "different" I'd make the rear one so that it went from curved at the front to flat at the back. The actual pukka J strips for the sides seem to cost an arm and a leg so I made some oak ones. Same for the panel joints.
The j strips are expensive for what they are, I had half still intact in my van and managed to source the other half from friendly tlbers
Going t I do mine when the weather warms up a bit (so no time soon) but it's useful to see what someone else has done and what the problems are. Thanks Zed.
About thin ply Thin ply is 3 ply. 2 outer thin vaneers and a thicker bulking layer between. It's normally made with the outer layer grain running end to end. Because of the construction it bends one way, but it's pretty rigid in the other. Because it comes in 8ft x 4ft sheets and a van roof is more like 5ft you must bend it the "wrong" way - the way it doesn't like which is why mine snapped. Also the standard thinnest stuff is 3.6mm thick. The ply westfalia used is far thinner maybe 2mm and almost floppy in one direction It has 2 good chunky vaneers and a very thin layer between. And it came in 10ft x 5ft sheets. You can buy 5ft x 5ft sheets of birch ply and indeed 10ft x 5ft sheets, which if you like a challenge and have a headbanger cupboard means you can ply the roof in one single piece which looks very cool indeed. The ply I used was £6 a sheet stuff - very cheap! The birch 5ft stuff is more expensive obviously. So much so that I baulked at paying for it, but it's worth it really, I'm just tight!
