James River Branch: O'Malley's Triangle Bar

O'Malley's Triangle Bar

O'Malley's Triangle Bar oddly began with a sign, as opposed to a building. In order to carry the big, bulky Light Works USA animated sign believably, a three-story building was needed at minimum, one with sufficient mass and presence to balance an object measuring six feet wide by eighteen feet tall in Z scale. The Micro Structures Triangle Hotel & Bar had what it took. As a bonus, it also had a ground floor surrounded by large, open windows—a great opportunity for bright, colorful interior detailing.

Light Works signs are impressively thin; however, mounting the two signs directly back-to-back would have made it impossible to attach the electrical connectors. Also, the signs are made of clear plastic sandwiches, which pretty much defeats the illusion of free-standing letters the manufacturer was attempting, and the backs of the signs are a bit unsightly.

To address all of these problems, I assembled the signs into a single, solid structure made to look like a boxy, internally-lighted sign, in keeping with many such signs in real life. After painting the backs of the signs with black acrylic paint, I laminated them together with a chunk of 1/16-inch thick double-sided foam tape.

Cautionary note: As I learned first-hand, these signs are extremely easy to damage with sharp tools like knives, as well as with chemicals like CA and solvent-based paints. Every effort must be made to handle them with great care and avoid exposure to harmful objects or substances. If it wasn't for Chris Miller's kind generosity, this project would have been a costly lesson for me to learn.

The sign fits into a slot created by joining the two upper window openings on the narrow end of the building. After soldering the main building joint together, I used a Dremel tool with a diamond disc to remove the web of brass between the windows, and needle files to clean up the finished opening, frequently test-fitting the sign as I went.

Meanwhile, as the town around the bar experienced an endless barrage of revisions, the bar remained untouched—not surprisingly, since there was no other space it could occupy owing to its unique shape. But it was still impacted by some changes, the most notable being the addition of a stand of trees directly in front of it, which blocked the view of most of the building.

Consequently, plans for giving the building a fully-detailed first floor interior were put on hold. The sign, too, became a question mark; its somewhat illogical placement, coupled with newly-created visibility issues, cast its future in doubt.

Eventually these issues were resolved to some satisfaction: the building was shifted up the street, away from the intersection enough to improve the view of the bar area, although it was still partially obscured, unfortunately. Also, the sign got to stay—mostly because I thought it would be interesting to see its light filtered through the trees.

This project was last updated on 22 September 2009. More as it happens.

This is the original Miller Engineering Triangle Hotel & Bar kit.

The structure's walls are clamped with two clamps and tack-soldered.

The soldering is finished after the clamps are removed.

The two end windows are joined to make a single opening for the sign.

The clear plastic is obvious and requires a different approach.

The backs of the signs are painted black and then laminated together.

The sign's edges will be covered with a trim strip later.

The signs are tested after being laminated together.

The assembled sign is test-fit in the enlarged opening.