Menards O-Scale Backlit Billboard

I remember that billboard (or ones like it) in south Florida when I lived there. There was another one in the same vein but I do not recall the text anymore.

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

I have the first release that came out a couple years ago. For the price, a terrific accessory for the layout. Lionel or MTH would be charging a lot more than $20 for this billboard.

Interesting product, good review!

I can understand the point about why cardboard would not work due to thickness.  I'm a bit curious if the backing is also too thick to transmit light well.

While it would make the sign tooling a bit more complicated, one path might be to make a slot on one end of the frame that the ads could be slid in and out of to let them be more easily changeable.

Of course for the reasonable price point, the point of the multiple stickers is probably not to be changing them often (though it didn't look too hard to peel the one off), just to make it flexible so the user can pick what sign they want one time during install rather than offering a whole bunch of different billboards.

-Dave

Hey Eric,

There are actually two versions of this billboard that Menards sells. They billboard itself is the same but the other version has 26 different stickers. I picked it up today based on your review. I noticed it included a few more Railroad name stickers.

Very cool Eric !  

I hope to pick one or two up this week !  Plus the power packs 

riki posted:

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

 

That is what I did. I glued channels on each side and slide in different ads.

Thanks Eric 

I picked up one billboard & one power supply today ! 

Excellent review, good ideas here too. Not to steal the thread but I would guess it is ok to post pictures of these installed.

riki posted:

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

 

How about saran wrap or even wax paper

jini5 posted:

riki posted:

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

 

How about saran wrap or even wax paper

It is obvious that you have never been in a kitchen or anywhere near a roll of saran wrap or tried to look through wax paper.

Big Jim posted:

jini5 posted:

riki posted:

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

 

How about saran wrap or even wax paper

It is obvious that you have never been in a kitchen or anywhere near a roll of saran wrap or tried to look through wax paper.

I might just try pieces of clear binder plastic and a tiny dab of rubber cement on each corner. 

How about view graph slide material.  It’s made for printers ink jet and the like.  So you can create and print your artwork at home.   I wonder if any of those spray adhesives would work?

I haven’t bought anything in a while....Iam getting one of these ....and thanks for the review.

I used gloss photo paper and that worked well - translucent to let light through it, much like the stickers. I cut the printed photo so it's very slightly oversized in height. The pressure of the photo against the inset of the billboard holds it in place.  

Decal sheets might also work.  It's translucent, you can print it at home, it sticks and is removable.

I'm considering buying one of these billboards but I'm thinking it's large in scale next to other buildings, in my case the York Hotel.   I could create artwork to advertise the hotel as a stay destination for the TCA meets.  I have a small space in the front of the hotel for a taxi/arrival scene and maybe some ad space.  The screen must be around 7 inches wide ?  My York Hotel is located next to Fenway Park so it doesn't look out-of-place scale wise.   So I have a geographical issue but it makes a short trip to the ballgame after the train show.  Besides, it's the only place on the layout that the hotel would fit.

In my part of the country, we have some digital billboards. The ad changes to something completely different every so often. Someone needs to make something like that in O gauge. That would be a neat accessory too. 

Actually, we see the digital billboards all over the place now, I see them on every major highway lately. 

That would be a really cool accessory, a small LCD screen with changing pictures.  Perhaps find one of the many digital picture frames that don't have a large bezel, they'd be perfect!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, we see the digital billboards all over the place now, I see them on every major highway lately. 

That would be a really cool accessory, a small LCD screen with changing pictures.  Perhaps find one of the many digital picture frames that don't have a large bezel, they'd be perfect!

I've seen this done already using outdated cell phones.  The one I saw was for a drive in theater but it could be a billboard too.

How about one of these?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, we see the digital billboards all over the place now, I see them on every major highway lately. 

That would be a really cool accessory, a small LCD screen with changing pictures.  Perhaps find one of the many digital picture frames that don't have a large bezel, they'd be perfect!

I was thinking about doing something like this to be used in a boxcar. Picked up a couple of those key chain photo viewers and cut a square hole in the side of the box and glue them in place. Controls, memory card, and power would be the hurdles to overcome.

breezinup posted:

Big Jim posted:

jini5 posted:

riki posted:

Why not just get thin plexiglass and stick them on that. Make a clip to hold them next to frame.

 

How about saran wrap or even wax paper

It is obvious that you have never been in a kitchen or anywhere near a roll of saran wrap or tried to look through wax paper.

I might just try pieces of clear binder plastic and a tiny dab of rubber cement on each corner. 

Evergreen makes .005" .010" and .015" clear Styrene.

Rusty

BlBillboards posted:

How about one of these?

Who's product is that?

This week only MENARDS has a 15% OFF, “Everything you can fit inside this bag!” ( Jan 12 - Jan 18, 2020)

These bags are available at the entry door area. Great for model train stuff.

Gary

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, we see the digital billboards all over the place now, I see them on every major highway lately. 

That would be a really cool accessory, a small LCD screen with changing pictures.  Perhaps find one of the many digital picture frames that don't have a large bezel, they'd be perfect!

Lionel has made a very similar accessory, GRJ. There was a Visionline 0-27 flat car in 2009 with a removable operating lcd digital billboard. The billboard could either stay on the flat car or removed for placement anywhere on a layout. It's always a conversation piece with visitors. It uses a micro so card to either play video or a slideshow with a variety of transitional effects. I bought two of them for either $80 or $90 each when Nicholas Smith had them on clearance a few years ago. Haven't seen them often in the secondary market but if it's something you really want, hopefully persistance will pay off for you.

Here's a picture of it. I'll try in a while to post a link with a complete description.

Given the price of the digital picture frames nowadays, I was thinking more along the lines of $25-$30.

The digital billboard I have pictured is by TAO...  But if I were adding one, I would use this HP photo frame...  I works great, powered by 5 volts, and automatically starts running when powered up...  I have used in the past, good size.

These are old product, but still available on ebay and amazon.

ogaugeguy posted:

There was a Visionline 0-27 flat car in 2009 with a removable operating lcd digital billboard. The billboard could either stay on the flat car and be track powered or removed for placement anywhere on a layout.

Checking the manual for this car, I couldn't find any reference to an ability to charge the battery off track power. The only thing I saw was discussion about recharging either from a wall wart or else from a computer USB port.

It would be nice if it could run using just track power, but I saw no mention of that.

trainroomgary posted:

This week only MENARDS has a 15% OFF, “Everything you can fit inside this bag!” ( Jan 12 - Jan 18, 2020)

These bags are available at the entry door area. Great for model train stuff.

Gary

That's how I got mine!!