Signs, posters and adverts

Here's a selection of the signs, posters and adverts that I've used on "The bay" to help enhance the ambience.



The station sign for Farthing, summarizing the fictional geography of the old N&SR line. The sign is printed, a temporary measure that may become permanent now that the RMweb competition is tempting me to move on quickly to the next layout in the series. I intended to use Smiths 4mm and 2mm etched letters for the job, although testing suggested that it would be very time consuming as there is so much text here. The sign was printed using fonts stored in the files section of the always excellent GWR e-list.





The Smiths etched letters
are good though, and for a simpler station sign the job would quickly have been done. These are 4mm and 2mm scale respectively. This type of letters appears to have been introduced on the GWR around 1906, replacing an earlier more elaborate style.






The screen for the Gentlemen's lavatory. The posterboard is a modified card item from Tiny Signs. I built up a frame from thin strips of Plastikard to bring out the relief. The posters are reduced and printed from examples found on the web. I've since noticed that many GWR posterboards from the period had a darkish frame. I assume it is the brown colour discussed in this thread? In that case I'll need to send in the painters.






The posterboards from Tiny Signs as they come. An alternative set is available from Smiths.





Enamel adverts, mostly from Tiny Signs. I tone them down slightly with satin varnish and weather them with eg a little rust at the edges. I've also made a few adverts myself, based on real prototypes that I've reproduced on the PC. Unfortunately my printer can't match the sharply printed commercial offerings. Recent research on GWR liveries indicates that when the painters are done with the posterboards, they can move on to the window frames and apply the same brown colour.





A sheet of adverts from Tiny Signs. It can be quite hard to tell what period the different adverts are from, as appearances can be deceitful and a check of old photos doesn't always help. I seem to remember there was a series of articles about enamel ads in Model Rail some years ago. Does anyone remember what issues they were?





Etched station signs from Scalelink. These were painted all-over black while still on the etch, after which the paint was wiped off the raised letters. The letters were then painted white by carefully dragging a broad flat brush across them.