Building Signage on the Argentine Industrial District Railway

The signage on the buildings of Chuck Hitchcock’s Argentine Industrial District railway are especially interesting on the west bottom to the east bottom of Kansas City. One of the most common signs is the Dolkos Bag Company which consists of white letters on a black background. To create this, Chuck paints the entire structure white, then masks off the border area, adds transfer letters and then dry paints it with black spray paint. He then pulls the masking off, waits overnight and pulls the transfers off with masking tape. A few days later Chuck goes back in with some chalk dust to give an aging effect.

Another structure on the west bottom is the configuration of the Lange Supply and Hardware Company which is done in the same way as the Dolkos sign. The Southwest Grease and Oil Company is simply painted in black letters. In this case, Chuck used transfer letters directly on the brick. The Barrow – Holt sign is a less common sign on the west bottom, but it is usually on top of buildings. Chuck’s was fabricated from a brass wire painted black, and the letters themselves are made of transfer letters with styrene and mounted on with contact cement.

Another structure on the west bottom is the Helmers Manufacturing Company with a large sign. The beauty of transfer is that they come in any sign or configuration, so was still easy for Chuck to accomplish. Watch the full video to hear Allen Keller and Chuck talk about the weathering on the layout. For more Allen Keller videos or to learn how to add model railroad signs to buildings, visit our Model Railroad Academy archives.