HOW TO MAKE A BUS BLIND DESTINATION DISPLAY | TightwadDad Vlog

How to build a frame for a bus destination blind... for as little money as possible! (Click the picture)
Sadly, it's not one of those winder displays where you can change the route or destination (there's a great link below) but it is illuminated and looks great in our house.
Mine's for my Route 46 London bus destination blind.

All you need is a picture frame (mine was from IKEA called Olunda, but it seems unavailable),
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- some plexiglass or perspex clear plastic sheet, something like this. (Amazon US) https://amzn.to/2yzTcEo
(Amazon UK) https://amzn.to/3bBrea0
- Black gloss spray (Amazon US https://amzn.to/2XZEpNM )
(Amazon UK) https://amzn.to/2XXH9LN
- LED strip light. I used a 1m strip, but 2-5m would be better (Amazon US) https://amzn.to/2yDOh53
(Amazon UK) https://amzn.to/3azeAXn

HOW TO MAKE A BUS BLIND DESTINATION DISPLAY | TightwadDad Vlog




TRANSCRIPT: (click play on video above)
Hello - I don’t know which way to hold this - maybe that way around?
Hello I’m Neil, welcome back to the Happy Hut.
Usually this is the Tightwad Dad vlog where we are happy - we're trying to be happy with what we've already got - but at the moment we're in the the great shutdown of 2020 and so I'm trying to do something everyday that I've not done before

And today... I'm going to explain how I made this!
A display for a bus blind - a bus destination board - and I actually built this four years ago
I don't know why I've not shared the footage

Now I know if you found this by searching how to build a display for a bus blind, I KNOW the one that you want - it's the display that I want - which has a handle that would crank up the blind and change the destination
I just couldn't afford that and I'll tell you why in a moment how I got these bits together
But I'll put a link in the description if I ever find a video about how to build one of those
That'd be awesome - but this is something slightly different

I went onto eBay and I found a destination that I wanted, it's something--
it's a place that's very dear to my heart: Camden Road in London
It cost me about fifteen quid but what people are doing is they're taking the big strips and they're cutting them into single destinations, so this was about fifteen quid and I loved it and I really wanted to work out a way of mounting it and putting it up on the wall in a way that wasn't gonna break the bank
I spent ages trying to find the right frame.

I finally found it in of all places IKEA
I'll show you the footage now: it's it's actually a frame that comes already with a print in it - Picasso - it's the Picasso print... but it's the exact dimensions that would be right for displaying my bus destination blind
So I had a frame, but what I really wanted to do is to put a light behind this - so I got an LED light strip and I needed to work out a way of putting this blind at the front of the frame... so then I thought well if I've got some perspex - and I got this perspex from Wickes or B&Q... and I cut the perspex to the size of the frame

Then I could put the blind onto the perspex and have the lights behind it - illuminating this from behind
But that meant there was a gap at the top and the bottom... so then I got this black spray from Poundland - it's a-- I think it's a gloss car spray

It might not even be the right paint for for perspex.
Leave a comment below if you've got any other tips, but it worked for me
All I needed to do is to mask off the bit in the middle that is the right width or rather the white... or rather the right height for this blind.
So then I put the masking tape on.

I sprayed it.
Removed the masking tape and put it all together and that's what this video is about
It's pretty much in real time so you can follow along with me I hope--
I hope this helps someone somewhere to find a way to display their beautiful bus blind
So this is what I've used for the background - it's an Ikea Picasso picture
Is that a copyright?
Probably

Mass-produced by IKEA but inside I sort of drilled a hole, and from Lidl I've got these LED strip lights
That'll be the back of the frame - so the idea is if I have that in front... it'll be lit up
Now I need to get a bit of plexiglass, spray paint it black with masking tape, rip it off and then hopefully the light will shine through behind the sign

This is what I've used: it's black glass car paint from Poundland and I measured the middle of this plastic that I got from B&Q, and then I'm masking taped it out for the middle section and then sprayed it
That's me reconstructing how I spray-painted it - sound effects and everything - so hopefully this is the big moment of truth

This is this will hopefully reveal a clear section in the middle
I'm going to do it on camera so it could be really embarrassing if it's gone wrong
Let's give it a go. Try and take it off.
There might be a way to get that off - the back of the masking tape's left a mark on the, on the glass where some of the glue's been left behind from the masking tape
But I think it will come off with surgical spirit

The trick is to do it slowly - agh! except for there.
Let me go close so you can see how the edge is going to come up
Right, the trick is to do it super slow - look, can you see it has a straight edge coming off now
[MUSIC]

You can see that the masking tape has protected the Plexiglas on this side
it's giving a straight line so far
This is a very long video and it is a metre wide or 1 metre, 6 centimeters wide
But the lifting up slowly really helped because it doesn't leave so many bits of masking tape bits behind

Probably should have done that other bit a lot slower
I worried that the tape would lift up the paint but it seems to be okay
[MUSIC]

I'm also hoping that because the bus blind is going to be behind this, and it's black, that it won't look-- if there are any jaggedy edge problems that it won't look too bad because the blind will be up against it
When I put the masking tape down, I really rubbed it down hard with my fingernail
That seems to have paid off

I'm a bit frustrated by-- can you see those-- the bit of masking tape
It's just all over the place.
[MUSIC]

Ah, right the trouble with taking it too far away now is that there's a tear here
That's not so good.
So if I can bring it around and then come back from the other side
[MUSIC]

So that's good, let's try and go from the other end
I'll probably put the whole thing on one really big video, live along with the tearing with me!
Tell you what might be easier to move the middle one first, let's try that
Do it really super slowly, to make sure that pull is close to where it's coming off the plastic sheet - the acrylic

That seems to be a much cleaner way of getting it off
Now I'll do the next section, and also I left the - on the acrylic sheet - I left the protective-- there's like a protective sheet on both sides

I took it off this side obviously to lay down the masking tape but I left it on the other side just in case there any- there was any spray paint or you know spillages - just hopefully protected on the other side
Alright here goes for the clean edge!
Split... I've got to do... kind of join it up and then move it really slowly
The spray paint was-- was dry in about half an hour

If you do it in quick layers but I had to do lots of layers, so I've got through a couple of cans
You don't get that much paint in-- in the can, and even now there are sort of spits and spots which I'll try to show you later

I might-- I might just cover those with marker pen
I think using the spray paint has helped because it flexes with the glass
If I did it with gloss paint, I think I'd be worried that it would crack and fall off or come off with the tape
And I laid down the two strips first, to get my edges - and I ran a pencil line with a metal ruler, full length, just to make sure that it was that straight

And then I filled the middle with two extra bits of masking tape
Still not sure that's the best way to mount the bus blind, but see how it looks in a minute.
And this should be completely clean so I'm trying not to touch it too much but getting my greasy mitts all over it. See a bit has come off there - agh, put more on.

Try and find a way to lift that off in a sec
Gonna time jump this, so I'll do that off-camera but I'll just finish this section off here
Here comes the final section!

I'm gonna separate it from that so I can do it two bits
Take this one off first, and then I've gotta lift up one way or the other there's - these sections
Let's do this one first, yeah, and then this one. There we go, perfect line.
See if I can get this off.
I'm gonna try and lift that off
[MUSIC]

And here is the the final final bit
[MUSIC]

And there we go. There you go so that's complete.
Blackout blind for the bus blind, that sort of works something like this
That's doesn't look too bad, does it

If it will fit inside - oh it's really good - there you go - okay
Protective film coming off.
[MUSIC]

So that's how my display for my bus blind, or my bus destination board, finished up
Looks beautiful doesn't it?
This is what it looks like today - you'll notice a slight change in destination?

I absolutely love Camden Road and I really liked the yellow colour, but I wanted something that would change colour, and also this destination meant a bit more to me
It's a bus that I went on to get to school in the morning when I was a kid
But the problem I had was that this destination was much thinner - it had a much lower height - so I had to put masking tape on and spray even more paint on to make the black borders work for this blind

And this is what it looks like after
It would be lovely to know if somebody reached the end of the video
If you've hit this point, why not click on the thumbs up just let me know that somebody watched all the way through - it'd be lovely to see that

If you've got any questions or any tips for making this even better or easier or more cost effective, why not leave a comment below it'd be fantastic to hear from you
And if you're feeling even kinder why not hit the subscribe button
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Can you please help my daddy get 1,000 subscribers just click on his face,
Thanks, bye!
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