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Vintage Signs
Low Cost Tips to Improve Your
Model Railroad
by Don Consolver
I have a tip for other modelers that you may want to
pass along. When I needed window signs for my corner
drugstore and movie theater, I searched the internet for
metal reproduction signs and movie posters. There are a
number of sites that deal in nostalgic signs and old
movie posters. These sites generally feature good, clean
photos of their goods. Although the images are small on
the web, when downloaded and reduced to N or HO scale,
they look great!
It usually helps to print them out using a
high-quality color laser printer. For most people, that
may mean taking a diskette or CD to the local quick copy
place, such as a Kinkos, to get the best reproduction. I
recommend placing as many images on the sheet as
possible, allowing space to trim them out. An 8½x11
sheet will give you dozens of signs, billboards and
movie posters. As for paper stock, coated paper (like
magazine stock) will keep the image sharper, but may not
run through some copiers. Work with the copy center
staff and they may be able to help on that.
To print on actual window glazing, I recommend
Highland 904 overhead transparency film for laser
printers. This film has a piece of paper attached to the
edge that keeps the transparency from fogging as it goes
through the machine. Regular transparency film will
work, but usually the plastic fogs from the heat.
Printing directly on the windows works well for things
that are “painted” on the glass, such as a tavern name,
but for posters hung in the window, the signs usually
look too transparent to be effective. I tried painting
the back of the transparency with white paint, but it
didn’t look very realistic.
The advantage to using a color laser copier for these
signs, whether printing on paper or plastic, is that the
image won’t smear or rub off like it can with an inkjet
printer.
One other suggestion … those nostalgia websites have
a wealth of information when it comes to painting old
Coke machines, gas pumps, and other antique items when
you can’t quite remember how they looked. And if you’re
into building your own scale vehicles, any Google search
for that model year of vehicle will bring up dozens of
websites with prototype photos of your vehicle. It’s an
excellent way to see those stock paint jobs from the
40s, 50s and 60s.
Signs and building
interiors to download and print from the Gateway NMRA
website.
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