In the modern world it seems a foregone circumstance that pretty much everywhere you look there seems to be some sort of sign of commercialism. From the simple advertisement pasted on the side of a warehouse to the sprawling expanse of neon that light our downtowns from the humble strip to Times Square NYC, signs are everywhere. There’s been a really good thread here on the forums about signs for layouts (“Yes, MORE Signs for Your Layout”, tomkat-13) that’s had over 45,000 views, and that’s just the current incarnation. There have been several similar threads prior to that which have also received similar acclaim! So obviously this is a strong topic with a wide appeal. However, those threads seem mostly focused on supplying signs and period materials (not that I’m complaining, they’re great!) But I’m interested in their applications.
So My Questions For Today Are:
– Do you have signs, commercial graphics, billboards, or other indications of commerce and commercialism on your layout?
– If so, is it appropriate for the period? And where did you get the signs? Did you download them somewhere? Make them yourself? Get them from one of the aforementioned threads? Or were they just the decals that came with the kit when you got it?
– How have you distributed or concentrated your commercial districts and associated signage? Have you set up your commercial areas with forethought or did it just “happen that way”?
These first are on my old now-dismantled layout. Lumberjack Cookhouse, a logging area “theme restaurant” in a forest-products town, had LOTS of signage. On the roof, in the parking lot (“don’t even AXE to park here”). at the far edge of layout (“only one-half mile more…”), on the corner (“one block right”), and a block past the eating place (“Go back! You missed it!)
I created these in Photoshop: calling up fonts, shading them, putting on borders and shadows, etc. On the same file, I made new signs for my Dixie Darlin Peanut Butter factory, a brand name I invented whose spokeschild was a darling girl I know who was 3 years old a long, long time ago. The sign scaled 15 feet tall, mounted on the roof. While I was at it, I reduced the art to made sides for the delivery trucks.
I have a few commercial signs on my layout - the Stave Brothers Cooperage and Spock’s Wingnuts:
I made the signs myself - printed on an ink-jet printer.
I don’t have a commercial district, as such.
I do think that a barrel factory and a wing nut plant are correct for the early 20th century, but I didn’t actually research them. I also have a few businesses that are yet to be named.
I’ve never heard of product placement on a model railroad, but I can imagine it on layouts like the big one at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (perhaps paying tribute to sponsors).
If a sponsor offered to pay me to do a little ad on my layout, I’d hear them out but I would not compromise the integrity of my layout for it.
I’ve got commercial institutions on my layout, including two Sears, Roebuck stores, several Walgreen’s drug stores, a Radio Shack, and several Starbucks Coffee shops.
The Walgreen’s and Starbucks Coffee signs are digital images I took with a digital camera. The Radio Shack sign came from a Radio Shack package.
The Sears, Roebuck stores are based on the designs that Sears used in the 1930’s for its city stores.
I’ve also got blue directional signs (churches) and brown directional signs (cultural institutions). These reference real places and give the correct direction to the site.
A part of my layout represents downtown Chicago. I’ve included some of the distinct features that say “Chicago”, like blue and white bus stop signs, identifiable locations, and the omnipresent “Richard M. Daley, Mayor” signs.
Dad and I made a lot of signs for the club layout, with some aims for matching the era mixed with “I don’t know period signs”. I’ll post up the one he and I made together, and see if I can’t grab one of the Powerplant later.
We catch UP 3985 in helper service behind the sign in question
That sign he made by taping a paper print out to a piece of thin balsa and routering the letters out with a dremel bit. Then I took my dremel and sanded back the edges of the sign to the thin edgethat’s there now. It’s glue between two skewers, varnished, and the letters painted by hand.
The club uses the signs to mark industries for operators to know where to send things. As a result, they may infact appear larger or more colorful, and in the wrong positions for accuracy, but are there and that way so they can be seen.
Do I have signs, billboards and era appropriate commercial ads on my layout? You bet I do.
The many signs found around town in my City of Jacksboro come from a multitude of sources, some common, some obscure. They include commercial laser-cut kit examples, computer generated signage, miniatures of actual period signs/posters found on the internet and even illustrations from vintage refrigerator magnets!
Where ever possible, these reflect the period setting of my layout, which is the autumn of 1941. In particular, the billboard and water tank graphics atop the Pepsi bottling plant reflect the advertising graphics used by Pepsi in the late 1930’s. The Otis plant has both commercial and homemade signs. Note also the wall ad for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair. It was created from an illustration of the fair’s most famous poster, which I reproduced on tissue paper. When set in place and over-coated with highly diluted white glue, it essentially became part of the building’s brick wall with the texture of the brickwork showing through, as if the advertisement were actually painted on to the structure. In addition, a number of buildings have window signage.
And yes, all my commercial buildings and their associated billbords and wall ads were preplanned/laid out on paper as to location and logical placement before any were set down on the layout.
My new layout is currently dismantled, awaiting a move before being reassembled (it’s essentially modular) but my previous layout was complete, including scenery. I had plenty of commercial signs to reflect the time (1939) and place (northern Idaho). Many of the businesses depicted were named after family members and one was actually a model of an auto garage my grandfather owned, and another was a model of the theater where my mother worked as a teenager. I used signs to reinforce the feeling of the era, including the theater marquee…John Wayne in “Stagecoach”, which was released in 1939.
My new layout will be set in 1947 in Texas, and I expect to use the same approach and most of the same structures, though that theater marquee will have to be “updated”!
Along with the automobiles, I think that the signs which dot the American landscape are much more evocative of the era than the trains are. So, I particularly like to find companies that no longer exist, or that have changed their logos. Since I model an urban area, I like to have signs “painted” on the sides of the buildings, as I remember them from my own childhood.
This is a City Classics kit. I shortened it by cutting an inch off the side walls, but it’s still plenty large enough for this relic. I downloaded the sign, and printed it on decal paper. When applied to a textured brick surface, the decal takes on that “painted on” look.
Again, my childhood provided the inspiration for the shop in the basement of the same building. You can see the railing around the stairwell in the picture above. Downstairs, there’s a shoe repair shop.
This is a sign from Miniatronics. It’s self-illuminated, and lights up the inside of the shop a bit, too. The bright sign down in the dark stairwell draws the eye into the scene. The next picture is dominated by another sign, from Miller Engineering. Unfortunately, they don’t make these anymore. I got a pair, left and right, on closeout and used them here. I made a lot of printed and decal signs for the windows, naming the establishments for my daughter’s friends.
Sometimes, a picture doesn’t do a scene justice. This last one shows the Heartbreak Hotel. Again, I’ve used a Miller Engineering sign. This one sequences the letters H-O-T-E-L, and they even programmed an option to make the E flicker.
