This is a very simple problem but has me losing my mind.
I have crudely converted my Toyota Hiace van into a darkroom to use for wet plate work, after a fumingly expensive disaster with an inferior eskimo quickfish3 tent.
Anyway, I don't want anything fancy. A blacked-out light-proof space is all I want. I don't really care much for benches/sinks/shelves... just lightproofing. This has been the biggest obstacle in this entire process, never mind mixing the chemicals etc.
The van, with the darkroom, is partitioned in three sections.
1.Front; the drivers cab.
2.Middle: The part where the sliding door opens up and the middle section of the rear cargo cab, where my chemicals/whatever other odds and ends are stored.
3.The rear third of the van is what I want to partition off into the darkroom, with access through the sliding door and a double-flap of black plastic and a third black fabric curtain.
At the moment, I have used black builders plastic sheeting, the kind that is used in concrete foundations. It's thick, pretty heavy, and totally light-proof. Great stuff. I am just having trouble finding ways to make it stick to the walls and ceiling/floor of my van. I feel my want for simplicity is what's causing the problems. I was hoping that enough black gaffer's tape (that supposedly sticks to anything) would work, but no. It holds for most of the day then starts to lose it's adhesiveness as the day goes on, eventually not working at all. It was a cheap 'chinese' option, I soon realised.
I am using a "double curtain" kind of system, where there is just a flap of the plastic sheeting and then another flap of the plastic sheeting going the other way, at the side-door of my van. I've gaffer-taped the plastic that isn't mean to open/close and then used adhesive velcro for the parts that are meant to open/close. This system works Great... for a couple of hours... then the velcro comes away and the lightproofing fails.
The rear section is fine, as it's not being opened/closed/put under any stress or tension it's great (the pic with the red flag).. no problems at that end.
Anyway, to save a long winded rant... does anyone have any suggestions as to how to make this black plastic sheeting stick to the walls, ceiling and floor of my van for this
purpose? Staples? Super glue? Sicaflex? Is there any particular brand or product that would make this stuff work?
As I said, I don't want anything special... just a light-proof van!
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