I am looking for some direction....I want to make a small lighted sign to hang over a doorway on an HO Scale building.
Has anyone made their own lighted signs? If so, how did you do it? What materials did you use?
Thanks, in advance, for any help you can give me.
Ed
I do not suffer from insanity...I enjoy every minute of it!!! Over 60 and still playing with toys!
Miller Engineering makes a series of lighted and animated signs.
http://www.microstru.com/
The "Multi-Graphic" tab on their web site gets you to a product where you can attach your own sign. Once upon a time, I swapped e-mails with them about this, and they assured me it would work. I have several of these signs, both static and animated, and I'm really happy with them.
You could also just make a sign and then provide external lighting to make it stand out.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Specifically look at their experimenter kits http://www.microstru.com/Experimenter-Kits.html
Once you have the background lighting down, printing on transparency material would get you the sign. Or printing on very thin paper might also work.
Their animated signs are really neat especially if you like to have nighttime lighting.
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Lighted Signs.
If I model these properly, I'll not even nave to model the buildings.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
BroadwayLionIf I model these properly, I'll not even nave to model the buildings.
Got a good chuckle out of this.
Could you give a more detailed description of the size and type of sign? If you want one that is flat against the wall or one that protrudes out 90 degrees from the wall?
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
I model a period early enough that I don't need to worry about back lit plastic sheet signs.
I do model signs with a crook conduit and an incandescent bulb and shade. I get the lights from Miniatronics in a five pack with the shades already on them and run on 12 volts.
I super glue the wire pair together and then form it to the crook shape as desired. They do really well at staying put.
On a sign standing off of a building the wires become the iron work that holds the sign out there. Really easy.
see ya
Bob
Think about making a small box where one or two sides have the sign face. In the box, put a small light bulb or LED. Maybe more than one if a large sign. The sign face can be printed on paper using a computer graphics program. You might have to diffuse the light as much as possible by using a clear frosted piece of window material behind the paper sign face.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
The building is "John's Place" by Rix. I am looking to make a small lighted sign that would stand out away from the building. It would be placed over the doorway on the side of the building and would direct people to the business that is on the 2nd floor of the building. johnsplace.htm
There is only about 1/4" between the fancy brick work over the top of the door so I don't have a lot of room to work with.
Hope this helps.
I use an old school approach, which I learned about from a John Allen article.
I illuminate my city at night with a "black light" and then make my sign. I find that some papers and inks just natually light up when so illuminated, and if not, one can make a sign either by printing it with regular ink from a computer printer on fluorescent paper or (to be really old school ) you can print out the sign on an old fashioned DYMO label maker that embosses the plastic tape and then paint the raised letters with fluorescent paint.
You can also use the fluorescent paint to "illuminate" the head lights and tail lights of autos and trucks and, also to "illuminate" distant street lights and windows on background flats, or even on the background. It is a nice effect and, combined with Miller engineering signs, and a mixture of led and grain of rice and grain of wheat illuminated structures and lamp posts, makes one's city scene come alive,
Little Tommy
skippygp123
I have a suggestion which may give you the sign you want. I have never done this but if faced with the challenge this what I would try:
- Start with a piece of plexiglass the size that you want the sign to be plus a half inch or so on the end that will be next to the building. The extra half inch will be cut into the wall to hold the sign and hide the light source.
- Sand the surface of the sign lightly so it will refract light from inside. Mount an LED or grain of rice bulb in the end that will be inside the wall. A warm white LED would simulate an older sign with incandescent bulbs. A bright white LED would imitate flourescent bulbs. The best way to get the light into the sign would be to drill a hole in the end, again if space is available. If not, you can use clear epoxy to mount the LED. It will give pretty good light transfer. CA will damage the plexiglass I believe so I don't recommend using it.
- Paint the edges of the sign with white or silver paint to reflect the light from those surfaces. Paint the portion of the sign that will be inside the wall silver to stop unwanted light inside the building and to reflect the light towards the visible portion of the sign. You could deliberately leave the bottom of the inside portion clear to provide light inside the doorway and use a painted view block to give the appearance of a hallway or stairs.
- You will have to come up with a printed sign that will let the light shine through. You can print a sign on white paper and then carefully sand the back until it is very thin and translucent. You could also print a decal.
Again, this is pure speculation on my part. It may or may not provide the desired results.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Dave has the same train of thought that I had on this. I would definately try a sample to see what results you get and then adjust from there. You do have to sand the surfaces of plexiglas to make the light come through the faces of the sign. Paint all other surfaces with white and then black paint.
These signs aren't illuminated themselves, but the wall-mounted lamps to either side let the shoppers see them pretty weil.
The lamps are Walthers Cornerstone in that picture. For a different option, I put a shoe repair shop in the basement of this building.
Looking more closely, you can see the detail of the Miniatronics sign.
Miniatronics makes a number of these. They're about an inch wide and an inch and a quarter tall. The sign unit is clear plastic, so I printed an interior for the shop and glued it to the back wall. There's enough light coming from the sign that I didn't need any interior light in the shop.
Hey Bob!
Great minds think alike!
Now that I have spouted off about my theory I had better give it a try myself. Rather than buy a whole sheet of 1/4" plexiglass, there is a plastics wholesaler in Newmarket who might be able to give me some scraps. I am always sending business his way from my big orange box store job so he owes me!
I will keep you posted.
Dave,
How true! I also thought of a way to make simulated neon signs by laser etching a design into the surface of a transparent colored plexiglas (FYI: Plexiglas is the trade name for acrylic made by Rhom & Haas) and illuminating it from the edge. In this case you would keep the surface polished and the laser etching would transmit the light. Just a thought.