This is an alternative to the neon sign artical on the main sight. I use any form of clear plastic, scrapbooking letters, and model paint (not water or latex base). 1) Decide the size of your sign and draw it out on the back of your clear plastic. 2) Affix the scrapbooking letters on the FRONT of the sign and make sure they are stuck all the way down. Any gaps under the letters will allow paint in. 3) Paint the front of the sign the desired color ie. the same color as your structure. 4) After the paint completely dries peel off the letters, and if desired use a sharpie to color the back of the letters for color. I came up with this while designing my next scratch build I want the letters on the front of the building to light up. However I didn't want to carve letters into the structure and I wanted the areas arount the letters to exactly match my structure and not be glossy. I will post "how to" pictures later.

Sounds good Wes. Looking forward to a "how to" on this.

For this quick example I used card stock as my building facade. This wasn't a good choice because the paint warped it. I used clear styrene from evergreen.

1) Cut an opeening in the facade the size of your sign. Use that opening as a template to cut the clear material to the same dimensions.


2) Stick scrapbooking letters to the front of the plastic.

3) Place your sign into the back of the opening in your facade and secure with scrap material. Try to make the front of the two surfaces match. This didn't work out in the example because the card stock warped when I painted it.


4) Paint the front of the facade and sign together. This helps to ensure the colors match. They don't match very well in this example because I rushed.

5) After the paint dries peel off the letters


6) Color the back of the letters with sharpies.

7) The end result.


Had I taken my time it would all be one even color, and you wouln't see the seem where the sign is.

Wes thanks for sharing these tips I , I am looking for ways to make lighted signs thanks again !!!!

I'm working on a complete build of a mall sign (not a typo mall not small). I plan to have a lighted portion that says mall, and an LCD screen with ad's. If it comes out good enough I may try to submit an artical to the main site on the build. I don't know if it would get accepted, but who knows.

I completed an experimental build of my mall sign. See it under the scenery topic

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1193

This is a really neat approach Wes! There's a couple of places where I could have used this! I've been perplexed with the challenge having nice clean 'corporate logos' and the like back-lit on some of my buildings and haven't found the right solution yet, these seems like it might be on answer.

Do these scrap-booking letters come in different fonts/sizes? I guess I could just get my buns down to ye olde craft palace and check myself.....

Oh yeah...the Mall sign looks great!

Thank you, and yes they do come in different fonts, and sizes.

Great topic Wes, you have given me some ideas for building a 1950s modern sign that uses large squares of differing colors with contrasting color block letters. Hope this topic stays alive.

As an alternative to the markers. Use Tamiya clear tints, you could use an airbrush with them for a nice even color. Or try glass paint from the craft stores. Both come in a variety of colors.

I have used the glass paint instead of MicroClear in some industrial windows to mimic the blue and purple painted windows I used to see in some factories.