What About Billboards?

   Made my own 1960's STANDARD model ....................

                               I cant find one. "Well Son, you'll just have to make it"

Ain’t they grand!

Arnold, Neat topic!!

SIRT, That is super looking!!  But what did I expect??  

John, Now I don't know if any of us can come up with anything better than you Grand billboards!!

John H posted:

Ain’t they grand!

They sure are grand!

Let's keep the ball rolling with this pretty blonde:

Here's a couple for those of you who root for Navy. These go nicely next to the Rocket Launcher and Control Tower:

Guys, thanks for the comments. Mark, that's your engine comin' round the bend.

SouthernMike posted:

That's so cool, Mike.

In keeping with the season . . . .

Bill

And for a different season . . . . . . .

The 4th of July is also my wife's birthday.

Bill

Athearn truck with side billboard

Old Hungarian saying, "Easier to make billboard around sign than find a sign to fit your billboard."

Crazy Crystals sign is the left portion of a reefer's cardstock side.

John in Lansing, ILL

WftTrains posted:

And for a different season . . . . . . .

The 4th of July is also my wife's birthday.

Bill

Aren't homemade billboards a great opportunity to be creative?

If you're gonna have a baseball field or other sports field, don't forget the billboards to get more advertising dollars for the home team:

BTW, that peppermint billboard was cut out from a box of Peppermint Bigelow Tea, which I inserted into a billboard frame. Bigelow Tea advertises with the Yankees.

3 of my favorite, and era of my layout.

rattler21 posted:

Old Hungarian saying, "Easier to make billboard around sign than find a sign to fit your billboard."

Crazy Crystals sign is the left portion of a reefer's cardstock side.

John in Lansing, ILL

Very cool billboards!

Now here's the biggest money maker for the home team shown below.

Did you know that Ty Cobb, the worst SOB who ever played the game and who happens to have the all-time highest lifetime batting average, made a fortune investing in a start up company from Atlanta, Georgia that no one heard of at the time, by the name of Coca Cola. 

 

josef posted:

3 of my favorite, and era of my layout.

I love these IKE billboards for a number of reasons. Besides being a great general, President and great man, seeing these billboards made me think of a Twilight Zone episode: we are really going back in time to the 1950s. Can you hear that spooky Twilight Zone  music at the beginning of the show when you also see that eyeball floating in space? Yes folks, we are going back in time to the steam and diesel transition period, and entering  The Twilight Zone! LOL

josef posted:

3 of my favorite, and era of my layout.

What are Hallicrafters? Some product from the 1950s?

John H posted:

Guys, thanks for the comments. Mark, that's your engine comin' round the bend.

I noticed that when I got the email that you liked my comment.  I hope it is giving you good service!

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

josef posted:

3 of my favorite, and era of my layout.

What are Hallicrafters? Some product from the 1950s?

Hallicrafter's was a company that manufactured Radios, phonographs, Ham Radio, and TV sets. They had some of the best state of the art receivers and equipment. They were based in Chicago.

Thanks for the info, Josef. Great idea to have billboards for the time period being modeled.

Nice thread topic!  Here are some of my billboards .... some with a little humor! 

trumptrain posted:

Nice thread topic!  Here are some of my billboards .... some with a little humor! 

Great billboards, Pat, funny and enjoyable.

My wife's purchase at York

 

rpmcobra posted:

My wife's purchase at York

 

Nice flashing billboard, haven't seen that in O Gauge before.

From Michigan on M-59, Northside at Milford Rd.

Gary

trainroomgary posted:

From Michigan on M-59, Northside at Milford Rd.

Gary

Good one, Gary. Without getting too political, I prefer this one: I Like Ike!

 

 

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

 

Good one, Gary. Without getting too political, I prefer this one: I Like Ike!

Hi Arnold:

I also Like Ike. Been to Ike’s home in Abilene, Kansas over twenty times.

Gary

trainroomgary posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

 

Good one, Gary. Without getting too political, I prefer this one: I Like Ike!

Hi Arnold:

I also Like Ike. Been to Ike’s home in Abilene, Kansas over twenty times.

Gary

Gary, I Just glanced at the Ike billboard above in this thread. It said: I'm pulling for Ike. I was a very young child when he was President, but I know his famous political slogan was: I Like Ike.

One similarity between Ike and Trump, they both loved golf and played a lot of golf when President.

 

Hi Arnold

I have been to Abilene, Kansas many times to do WWII research at the Eisenhower Library. We always made an appointment so we could read his papers.  We had to wear white gloves and everything we looked at he had in his hands.

My father and my father-in-law served with honor with General Eisenhower.  They were in both theaters as airmen. 

Below I found this postcard in my files. First Day Issue for his stamp.

Gary

trainroomgary posted:

Hi Arnold

I have been to Abilene, Kansas many times to do WWII research at the Eisenhower Library. We always made an appointment so we could read his papers.  We had to wear white gloves and everything we looked at he had in his hands.

My father and my father-in-law served with honor with General Eisenhower.  They were in both theaters as airmen. 

Below I found this postcard in my files. First Day Issue for his stamp.

Gary

Very impressive!

As I get older, I become more and more moved emotionally by people who serve our country. Doesn't matter to me which war or how they serve, I regard them all as heroic first responders.

You will want one of these when you go to a ball game in the Spring:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

trainroomgary posted:

Hi Arnold

I have been to Abilene, Kansas many times to do WWII research at the Eisenhower Library. We always made an appointment so we could read his papers.  We had to wear white gloves and everything we looked at he had in his hands.

My father and my father-in-law served with honor with General Eisenhower.  They were in both theaters as airmen. 

Below I found this postcard in my files. First Day Issue for his stamp.

Gary

Very impressive!

As I get older, I become more and more moved emotionally by people who serve our country. Doesn't matter to me which war or how they serve, I regard them all as heroic first responders.

Ditto on that Arnold!  I’ve always respected military personnel, police, firemen...   Now I appreciate them enough to thank them for their service wherever I can.  I read about the more famous ones more now.  All have flaws, but mostly good point!  General Eisenhower was one to learn from.

not that a majority opinion means much these days, but...

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

josef posted:

3 of my favorite, and era of my layout.

What are Hallicrafters? Some product from the 1950s?

Hallicrafters and Heathkit were the first introduction to electronics for a couple of generations of young folks.  I built an ocilloscope, a great tabletop radio, and a couple of lesser projects.

Zeke posted:

Nice Bilboard Sean, makes me thirsty for some iced tea to have with the dinner I'm eating.

This one is for you folks that love the west coast railroads like the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, etc.:

Got this one with a Road Champs 1/43 scale  55 Chevy in an old fading diorama type box with yellowing  plastic bubble sitting on the shelf last month at Berkeley Ace Hardware for a couple of dollars. I could not believe my luck. I had not been in there since they moved a few years ago.  They do not have as much  of the hobby stuff as they did back in the turn of the century (been wanting to use that term for a while) when they were on university ave but it is still worth a visit. 

Noah posted:

Got this one with a Road Champs 1/43 scale  55 Chevy in an old fading diorama type box with yellowing  plastic bubble sitting on the shelf last month at Berkeley Ace Hardware for a couple of dollars. I could not believe my luck. I had not been in there since they moved a few years ago.  They do not have as much  of the hobby stuff as they did back in the turn of the century (been wanting to use that term for a while) when they were on university ave but it is still worth a visit. 

Very nice!

Old layout 15-ish years ago....hard to beat the PostWars billboards!

Peter

 

Recent/current.......

Peter

Putnam Division posted:

Old layout 15-ish years ago....hard to beat the PostWars billboards!

Peter

 

Looks like you got em all, Peter.

Putnam Division posted:

Recent/current.......

Peter

I think I'm going to buy stock in Max Treats, correction: Max Foods!

Putnam Division posted:

hard to beat the PostWars billboards!

Peter

 

Agree!  I still have the ones that came with my original 1957 set!

Here are a few more post war billboards. I was thrilled to get about 20 to 25 post war billboards about 10 years ago from a local train store as a throw in for buying something else. In other words, I paid nothing for them, which warms the heart of a scrounger like me:

The little people on top are sitting in the top row of my right field bleachers for my baseball field. Train tracks are in the foreground.😊

SouthernMike posted:

That billboard would go great with the MTH Chick-fil-a boxcar!

I did an informal billboard survey around our office here in Wisconsin. Now, remember the slogan on all our license plates is "America's Dairyland".

Anyhow, the cows won out, hands down. It's our office favorite - enjoy!

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

ok now to ask the silly question, has anyone made a video billboard yet?

I built this one using craft and chop sticks a few years ago.  It holds the Lionel postwar billboard signs and the best part is that the sign can be easily changed by just sliding the sign out of the top.

 

 

Paul

That looks great Paul!

Check out the site below for printable images of Lionel and other billboards.

Model Railroad Billboards

My contribution. If people really understood how dangerous this stuff really is.

Sponsored by the friends of hydrogen hydroxide, the safer alternative..

I have posted these before but I enjoy creating my own and adding my own warped sense of humor to my layout.  

Billboards are great, i like to match them up with other things on my layout.

 

                                      in this issue... pages 70 & 71

Looks like you, Brian, enjoy making your own billboards promoting products you like, which I also believe can be a lot of fun.

Also, it's fun to change billboards from time to time, like changing art work you may display on the walls of your home.

Haven't done the Christmas layout in a while, should put that billboard to use on the permanent layout.

L & N posted:

My contribution. If people really understood how dangerous this stuff really is.

Sponsored by the friends of hydrogen hydroxide, the safer alternative..

Yeah it kills ya alright.... screw it im drinking some now...  HAHA i got  the joke right away ... 

 

I live in Pittsburgh.  At one time Pittsburgh brewery was based in the city.  It made it's flagship brew along with off-named ones like Old German, American, IC Lite and others.

I constructed these such that trains can run underneath them between the supports.  The "signs" are actual labels from either the can or the carton.

- walt

Here's another in the Iron City set.  For those familiar with the area, there was a pole billboard of this ilk on either Penn or Liberty at, I think, the intersection with the Washington crossing bridge.

Again, the "signs" are either labels from cans or cutouts from the carton.

- walt

 

I took old photos of my sister, my 2 brothers and me to use as billboard material the year that my sister passed away.  I created an entire scene in her memory - the house here is a model that I made of her house.

- walt

Don't know if this qualifies as a billboard but it sorta is one.  I had a dino-park scene on the layout that year

- walt

walt rapp posted:

I live in Pittsburgh.  At one time Pittsburgh brewery was based in the city.  It made it's flagship brew along with off-named ones like Old German, American, IC Lite and others.

...and don't forget "Sam Adams Boston Lager", which was originally produced at Pittsburgh Brewing!

The frames for these 2 billboards were originally for Lionel trains.  The small blinking style one was made by one of my nephews many years ago - I called my layout 'Waltburg', thus the sign's name.

The bigger one was a couple of years later and was a combined effort of 2 of my nephews.  That explains the "Rebuilt and...." lettering.

- walt

This would be a neat one to re-create in a layout taking place in the VA/TN/NC area after the late 50s:

I have a DVD of 1943-dated movie film from the 3-foot gauge ET&WNC, showing billboards placed along the right of way. I was very surprised to see this as there is a two-lane road paralleling the line in that spot, but the billboards are way too 'city slicker' looking for that place and time. Just watch this at 9:00-

Had I not seen the film myself, I would doubt anyone telling me they'd seen this in person as I wouldn't have expected it at all.

I thought it might be fun to post some more billboards:

As you can see, billboards work very nicely around a ball park:

If you are so inclined, please share your billboards. Arnold

Here is one that was a recent gift.And one I made.

Billboard built from a Blair Line kit atop an Ameritowne building.

MELGAR

Here are the Skyline Tin Billboards

Here are a few New Marx Billboards:

Dean

 

one of my favorite oldies... glucose by any other name would taste as sweet!

walt rapp posted:

The frames for these 2 billboards were originally for Lionel trains.  The small blinking style one was made by one of my nephews many years ago - I called my layout 'Waltburg', thus the sign's name.

The bigger one was a couple of years later and was a combined effort of 2 of my nephews.  That explains the "Rebuilt and...." lettering.

- walt

 

 

Looks like they love Uncle Walt!  

walt rapp posted:

Don't know if this qualifies as a billboard but it sorta is one.  I had a dino-park scene on the layout that year

- walt

Did they eat any guests Walt?

These are all great, Bryan's are are hoot. But Menard's Mark is bound to walk off with one ...Dairy Air

SPEED TRAP!!

A few around the layout,

 

Tyco whistling billboard↑↑   ↓↓Back of a box 

Front and back of a retro box.

A future billboard. (magnet)

And this one is kinda special. I was retrieved from Grandpas jewelry box. Significant because my Grandmother worked for various big name tourist destinations in Fl. every winter, and very much resembled this lady.

  He had many pristine billboard sets, but this one was special somehow.   Maybe she sent it in one of the letters? I have every letter between them since highschool courting began, right through to his return from WW2, including one while riding the Super Chief to get home to her and my father, whom he had never even seen yet. ( On the west coast preparing for his first Pacific theater jump, 8 total already when the war ended, he got someone to pull strings so he could ride the Chief part way home ....on Uncle Sams dime )

Hello friends,

I've always liked billboards and have enjoyed this topic very much.  The recent posts by WBG Pete and Adriatic combined to strike a particularly nostalgic chord with me.  I have had the "Wow! Ford V-8" billboard among my toy train accessories since I was a kid, and the old billboard Adriatic found in Grandpa's jewelry box brought memories of my father.

My Dad also served in WWII, which makes my writing this on Veterans Day particularly appropriate.  He returned from the war, married his sweetheart, my Mom, in 1946, and I was born 9 months and 2 days later.  About that time Dad went to work for the Seattle District Office of Ford Motor Company.  His name being Harry Bennett raised more than a few eyebrows at the time, but that is another story, as is the fact that "I" also got "my" first American Flyer train set for Christmas of 1947.

Dad rose to District Auto Sales Manager before he left the Company to become a partner in a Ford dealership in 1960.  In 1963, he sold his interest to his partner, and purchased the sole interest in another Ford dealership which he ran until his retirement in 1984.

Somewhere along the way, someone gave him the display card out of toy train billboard advertising the 1947 Ford.  Fast forward to 1997, the year of my 50th birthday, and he gave me the Christmas gift shown below after having it framed and engraved along with the note now attached to the back.

Thanks again, Dad, for your service and for igniting a lifetime of enjoyment of trains, both real and toy, as well as cool cars!

And thanks, friends, for the memories.

Cheers!

Alan

 

 

 

My addition to the buildup of billboards.  A scratch build I completed a few years ago that I was able to retrieve a few photos of off of an old hard drive.

Here's one I built for a 5x7 photo I had.  It will go on my standard gauge floor layout.  It was an easy build one day at my shop, I used some scrap radiator screen to add some interest to it.  The photo is held in place with four window push points so I can change it when I find a different photo to use.  Or make another one.