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April 19, 2011 New Billboard . . . . . . . a moment in history

While I'm waiting on parts I decided to make a Billboard to go next to Doug's Cafe on my Mountain Hwy.

It's a rather large billboard, 12' high and 30' wide in HO scale.  It's a 1955 Coke Cola billboard.  I copied a BMP off the Internet resized it, printed it and mounted it on a wooden billboard.




The Billboard is made from Midwest, 1/32" x 3" x 24" Planked Basswood Flooring #4434.  The planked side is toward the rear of the billboard and on the top of the walkway in front.  

I purchased the stain I used on it from Micheals' many years ago and it's no longer available.  It is LiquiTex Acrylic English Oak Wood Stain.  All the wood on my layout is stained with it, all the woodwork on my buildings, power polls, my bridge and my trestle.  The stain is very thick and needs to be thinned with water.  In the 15 to 20 years that I've been using it the 4 oz bottle is still ¾ full so it will last a lifetime.




The Billboard faces the up hill traffic on my Mountain HWY.



I drilled four 3/16" holes in the ground scenery for the for the 12" x 12" posts that support the billboard.  It is not glued in for easy removal.  I plan to make two more billboards with other advertisements to swap out with this one.  


I remember the 10 oz "King Size" bottles when they were announced in the 50s, now the old 6 ounce would be ridiculously small.  I also remember that the cost of the 6 oz was a nickle.  The 10 oz was a real "Biggy" back then.  

I was working as a Two-Way Radio Installer in El Paso in the late 50s and we had to get a new soda pop machine that would dispense the Huge Bottles. 



      Old 6 oz Machine                            New slide Machine

When we got the new machine we decided to add Pepsi to our selection.  With the new machine came a higher cost, 10¢.  A case (24) of 6 oz Cokes cost $1.25 and a case of 10 oz cost $1.75 in 1958.

Back in those days my favorite drink was Cream Soda and that's the reason for switching over to the Pepsi Machine, Coke wouldn't let us put anything but coke products in their machine. Pepsi didn't care as long as we bought a minimum of 5 cases of Pepsi Products per week.  We didn't have a problem with that, they distributed Cream Soda too.
 
A true moment in history!

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1 comment:

Steven M. said...

The actual billboard ad only filled 80% of the rectangular space and the rest was a white border.Seen JL Innovations done as yours but it looks wrong. Since they are glued on I'll just make my own with a white border!