Anyone make a foundation yet for the tall Miller Engineering Signs?

Pat,

 

I have a bunch of the Miller signs and they are great. But  I didn't want to cut slits in the tops of structures for the ribbon cable so I made a box just large enough to hold the circuit board with a hole where the button is to change patterns.  The sign strutts attached to the top of that.   I made the connection using mini plugs because I wanted the ability to be able to easily swap out signs every now and again and it only requires a small hole for the power supply.

 

I will try to take a photo tomorrow and post it.   

 

I am always on the lookout for plastic boxes just the right size to hold the circuit board rather than making boxes myself.  I sent an email to Miller a few years ago to ask if they knew of a box that could hold the circuit board but they did not.

 

Thanks,

Ed

 

 

 

 

I made a bunch of custom made bases for my Miller Engineering signs a few years ago.I made the bases out of strips of styrene from Evergreen and Plastruct.The signs from Miller  look so awesome I made a shelf of them to display.

Dan

Great looking display Dan. Thanks for posting.

I could never settle on a good base. The plastic base Miller sells is sort of ok and I was thinking of maybe painting them dark grey, etc.

But early on, I bought some of that green Styrofoam at Michael's hobby store and just set the Sunoco sign on it. I was intending to slit the foam and channel the cord thru it, but haven't yet.

Under the subject of Scenery as a Necessary Evil, my Cracker Jack sign on a mound construction is shown here.  
http://www.slsprr.net/features/wiringIntermsign.htm
Landscaping the mound is pending.

 

Hi Pat,

Visitors to my layout always notice my Miller signs. I agree with Dan986 that these signs are worthy of creating a display just for them.

Most of my signs are mounted on distant downtown buildings but I have a few in the foreground, similar to Susan's example, two of which are pictured here.
TJ

I have done exactly the same thing as Dan986 above, although I have to admit, his bases are really nice.  I, too, did not want to make slots in my buildings, although I wanted to mount the four signs I had  atop  buildings for better visibility on my layout.  I constructed balsa wood bases with a top and three sides.  The back was left open to conceal the battery pack and controls.  I spray-painted the bases with a texturized gray spray paint that made the wood look more like concrete from the texture provided by the spray paint.  Of course, if you don't want concrete, pick another color or simply use flat paint.  All cutting can be done with an exacto knife or box cutter.  An example is the Pennsylvania Railroad flashing sign atop of the building in the attached photo

Here is one on my layout made using Stone facing from Scenic Express.

Made use of 2 old Lionel 450 signal bridges, the control board is in the little grey building nearby.

 

 

 

Excellent signs and display. I recognize that Carrera 1:43 Cat #31 slot car! well done sir!

Nicely done Alan.

 

This is the best installation of the Pabst sign I have ever seen. I copied Paul's idea.

 

 

I never really gave it any though before and I'm glad Pat posted this. I am planning on picking up two Miller signs on this trip to York. Thanks for all the ideas I now have an idea on what I need to do and being able to see what the members came up with is such a great help!

Thanks to all for their input and thanks to the forum!

Alan,

 

Would you take a look at these Scenic Express listings for wall products and tell me which you used for your sign base?

 

Cut Block System

 

Or

 

Wall Systems

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

Hi Pat:

Scenic Express Item #4150 Multicut Block Wall.

Alan,

 

I bought the Scenic Express Block Wall you suggested and plan to copy your approach for my Sunoco sign in a refinery area. (The materials showed up yesterday in the mail.)

 

Would you give us the step-by-step approach you used to create your sign's foundation? 

 

Thank you!