VACUFORM PANELING:
A Cost Effective Scenic Design Solution!
What is vacuform paneling? Vacuform paneling is hard ABS plastic sheeting that is molded to look like real-world surfaces. It is available in a wide variety of style options. A few examples that are accessible for haunters are: brick, river rock, smoothed stone, shingles, wood paneling and castle stone. Most of these styles can be found in 4’ x 8’ pieces, ranging in cost from $59.00 to $100.00 per panel. The panels are generally purchased in white and require painting by the buyer. Vacuform paneling helps bring depth, texture and a sense of realism to haunted attractions. It is a great scenic design solution that is easy to install, very realistic looking and more cost effective than you might think. The authenticity of this form of scenic design will amaze your guests and helps to create an immersive environment that will make your attraction a powerful quality statement! [Insert Images A]
Choosing Your Vacuform Paneling
The first step in choosing your panels is to decide what mil thickness you are going to purchase. This decision should be primarily based on two factors: your budget and how close your guests will be to the panels. 60 mil thickness is a heavier duty panel that is great for applications where guests will be able to touch it, 30 mil panels are not as durable but will work great in areas where guests can “look but can’t touch..” 60 mil panels are generally 40% higher in cost than 30 mil panels.
Once you have decided on your mil thickness you will need to decide what style of vacuform is going to work best for your attraction. Obviously much of this decision hinges on your theme. At Oak Island there are a handful of vacuform paneling styles that we prefer to use in haunted attraction applications. These styles are brick, cinder block, river rock, castle stone and tree bark. We like these selections primarily for their versatility. In fact, there are very few themes that one can’t accomplish with one of these five styles. We feel they are “must have” items when haunt decorating!
Brick: We typically use an old brick style we call “Chicago Brick.” Brick can be used in just about any scene; a fireplace, the furnace room in a crematorium, or an alleyway.
Cinder Block: This is similar to brick in that it can be used almost anywhere. It can fit perfectly into a jail, an asylum, a modern schoolhouse, or any other modern institutional building theme.
Castle Stone: This paneling just “looks like a haunted house.” It is perfect for dungeons, castles, torture chambers and cellars!
River Rock: This paneling is great for any “natural scene” such as a mine shaft or tunnel. It is also great to use for fireplaces and colonial period walls.
Tree ark: This is perhaps the most versatile panel of them all. It looks great as the walls of a cave, dirt, the surface of the moon and of course, tree bark! [Insert Images B, C, D, E, & F.]
Installing Vacuform Paneling
Now that you have picked the style that is right for your attraction, the next step is installation. Once you have located your bare wall surface (either an existing wall or temporary wall) you are ready to begin installing your panels:
- Lay your paneling on the wall either vertically or horizontally. Screw the panels to the wall using either tapcons (if screwing into brick or concrete) or drywall screws (if screwing into wood) with fender washers. Pneumatic staples may be used as well, but are not preferred. If you are using a natural pattern such as tree bark, remember that you will not want these panels lying flat on your walls. Stuff some old chunks of foam or cardboard behind them and wrap the paneling around the irregularity to achieve the natural variations of depth that one would always find in nature.
Note: If you will not be taking your vacuform paneling down, use expanding foam (GREAT STUFF) behind the paneling to add an extra layer of adhesion that makes the panels really firm!
- Matching Patterns: Depending on what style you are using, it may or may not be important to match the pattern of your paneling. If you are working with a pattern that requires this (such as brick or cinder block) make sure you hang the panels so that your grout lines match as exact as possible. Also remember that vacuform can be heated with a heat gun to bend around virtually any corner or odd shape. This comes in very handy when needing to make brick lay in its natural form.
- Once your panels are hung and your patterns match, you will want to hide the seams and fasteners. Typically we cover all of our seams with drywall mud or caulk. You can also get creative with hiding your seams by using vines, cobwebs, or whatever else you can think of!
- Get Creative: More often than not the Oak Island Team does not use full sheets of vacuform paneling for scenic design. Great scenic detail can be achieved without the cost of using a full sheet in every 4’ x 8’ section of your haunt. For example, when using brick, you can just cut out small sections of brick and staple these to the walls (sections approximately 2’ x 2’) and then coat drywall mud all around the cutouts and surrounding areas. This gives you the look of stucco that has broken exposing brick underneath. This technique can also be used with river rock for a cave scene- using small sections of river rock surrounded by drywall mud makes a very effective cave or mine shaft! [Insert Image G.]
Painting and Flame Retarding Your Vacuform
The paint process is the last step in installing your vacuform. Painting techniques will vary depending on what style you have chosen. Generally, the Oak Island Team sprays all of the installed panels with a base coat of latex paint and then revisits the panels with brushes for highlighting. For example, with a brick pattern spray your room with a brick red latex paint and then come back and fill your grout with a black latex paint. For river rock spray a brown base coat then highlight your rocks with a gray color, lowlight them with black shading and add some mold green where you see fit. If your guests will be touching panels don’t forget you can always add texture by mixing a bit of sand with your paint…
Flame retarding your vacuform can be accomplished in several ways. First, vacuform paneling can actually be purchased in flame retardant PVC. If you have not purchased it in PVC there are products on the market that will completely coat the plastic with a hard flame retardant shield. In addition, latex paint additive flame retardant can be used during the painting process for flame retardant protection. (Inset Image H.)
The flame retarding of vacuform paneling is an issue that should be presented to your local Fire Marshal to make sure that he/she is comfortable with the options that are available.
In Closing
Vacufom paneling is a great source material for scenic design that can make the average artist look great! Implementing vacuform paneling into your next haunt will give your attraction huge scenic impact without huge expense!
Image A.
Drywall mud was used to disguise the seams of the tree bark
panels in this mine shaft; the drywall mud was then painted gold
to create the look of veins of gold
Image B.
Brick Vacuform Paneling
Image C.
Cinder Block Vacuform Paneling
Image D.
Castle Stone Vacuform Paneling
Image E.
River Rock Vacuform Paneling
Image F.
Tree Bark Vacuform Paneling
Image G.
Notice the depth and texture that these clusters of river rock
vacuform bring to this cellar
Image H.
ABS 300 is a product often used to flame retard vacuform paneling.
This product creates a hard coat flame barrier over the paneling
By: John Hawkins and Alex DeRito
Oak Island Productions
Oak Island Productions is a haunted attraction design, fabrication and scare products company based in Tampa , Florida . Oak Island can be reached at 800-761-5636 or www.oakislandproductions.com
