Engraved Signage

Take whatever you need engraved to a jewelry store and let them do it.  Shouldn't cost much at all.

Paul, what is the sign or tombstone made of? (Material) I made a tombstone a while back (can't find the pic right now), but I made this from plaster. I then used dry transfer letters to spell out and then used a sharp knife to engrave the letters. It obviously wore off the dry transfer as I scraped the area. I then used a wash of india ink to stain the stone and then sanded lightly. This left the engraved lettering a little darker. just a thought. You could probably do this with wood, foam or other materials.

Thanks guys, I'm using 1/16" basswood. I am trying to replicate the word WAUSAU on the front of my model depot. It looks like it was done in either stone or concrete.

Basswood leaves out the jewelry store idea.  You could use a piece of brass stock.

I work for a company that makes laser engravers.  Many go to schools for use in art or architecture classes.  You could check your local college and see if they have one.

 Good suggestion. 

We did something similar for the 'Union Station' engraved on our main terminal.  We have a friend who owns an awards retail store...you know, trophies, etc.?  They do a lot of engraving.  It turned out, IMHO, exceptionally well...

Understand that this was done on a block of MDF that is the header across the four columns. 

FWIW, always....

KD

I solved my problem! I cut out WAUSAU out of .020 plastic sheet and glued it on the area over the bay window on my depot. I then painted it concrete. That gave it the engraved look that I wanted. 

Well, lets see it Paul!

Here are some shots of the reverse Wausau and the engraved Wausau. Bear in mind that we're talking amateur status at the best! You may need to zoom in on these.

Great stuff Paul, great layout and sure you can't see the sign too well, but from here it looks great. For shots like that, I just put a wood clamp on my cell phone and set the timer to 10 secs and move it into position where I wouldn't be able to do it with a regular camera. 

Thanks Joey, photography is not my strong point. I have zoom on my computer where all the photos are stored. Obviously you can get a better idea on how it looks when you can zoom in. I'm going to call our local trophy engraving shop and see what they would charge to do it like the UNION STATION a few posts up from this one. I don't know though, there is something about being able to say I did it all by myself that is very self-satisfying even if it isn't perfect. What's your view on that?

Great looking layout for sure!!!!! If you run across this again try to get your sign laser engraved. Any font or graphic any size or depth. A few small signs could be done reasonable.

Paul, I agree with you about the satisfying feeling you get from doing it yourself. The only drawback is that there are things that we just can't do without special tools or equipment like an engraver has... If it doesn't have the look and feel that you are going for, then I would say that  it is a great idea to take it to an engraver and have it done. That or buy an engraving kit and try it. I know I would try to do it like you did first, or even use other methods, but it would have to look like I wanted it to or no dice - off to the engraver.

I'm a scratch builder and fabricator type by nature and I try to make all that I can myself, but obviously there are many things I can't do for lack of knowledge, equipment or even the time spent being a consideration. I made some figures from wax a while back  and they came out decent enough, but I didn't feel it was worth the time I put into it, so I buy my figures.....as an example.

Joey, thanks for your words of wisdom. I totally agree with you. I found a trophy engraving store here in town that should have it done by Friday. I will post the new pictures then. I know eventually I would have ended up doing this because the "get it done right" in me would have made me do it the right way. I've got a very good piece of work here, no sense cheapening it at the last moment.

Hi everyone, I've enclosed my Wausau depot reverse sign and my Wausau etched sign. The etched sign looks much better than the one I did by hand. I wish that the engraver made it a little deeper, but it still looks great! Thanks again to all who were very helpful with my signage needs.

That's a great looking station. Is it a kit or scratch built?

Just great.  Don't you just love it when you get what YOU want?   That station took a

lot more effort than some out of the box me-too, but the satisfaction I bet you have

now exceeded the effort.

Thanks everyone! It is a scratch built model of the Milwaukee Road depot in Wausau, Wi. I grew up there and rode trains from that station in the 50's and 60's.