About SBC Billboards

 

For model railroaders and diorama builders, authentic highway billboards advertising popular products of an era are a simple way to tell viewers exactly what era is being modeled.

Billboards displaying products that are readily identified with a particular time in American life authenticate the time period you have established on your railroad scene. Billboards advertising automobiles are particularly effective in identifying a specific year.

Some modelers like to create whimsical billboards, such as a sign that honors the cooking skill of a favorite aunt. Family members will undoubtedly get a chuckle out of the billboard about Aunt Hazel’s pies, but the sign will have little meaning for non-family visitors.

Prototype billboards were placed where they would be seen by the largest possible number of people, but in model scenes, the signs are more often positioned where they can be seen by visitors.     

The most common image size of outdoor billboard signs in America from the early 1920s through the 1960s was 22-feet wide by 10-feet high. When reduced to HO scale the dimension becomes 3” x 1-3/8 inches (3.0 x  1.375) which is the image size of all SBC billboards. It is also the size of Walthers HO Billboard kit o. 933-3133.

Each SBC item consists of a printable file containing eight billboards of a specific era. For best results set printer for high-quality color and print on a premium matte finish photo paper. You may print as many images as you need for your own use. It is unethical to print SBC signs for sale to a third party.