UO "Motel-Sign"

I am a huge fan of signs especially the old Motelsigns in America - i like everything about them- the shapes, fonts, lights, materials, rust, colors...all of it.
When I built the "Spacelord Motherfucker Sign" a while ago i knew I had to do more stuff like this...and now I finally found an opportunity to do so.
I have to mention that i built the entire thing out of recycled materials i had lying around in the workshop. The only thing i needed to buy was a sheet of 0,5 mm steel. it was around 30 euros. the rest was "free".
That is why the proportions are slightly off. If i´ve had enough budget to buy everything i needed, i would have build a bigger "outfitters-lightbox" to match the Urban better...but i think it´s fine as is. 
"every little defect get´s respect"

 

This is the finished sign...

 

I started with this ugly green sheet of MDF I never used because I hate the color.

In this case it doesn´t matter because it will be covered with a sheet of steel. 

 

I used lots of Sprayglue.

 

Here I roughly scetched out the type.

    I never worry too much about being super exact it´s more important to get a feel for the size and the proportion.

 

If your steel is not too thick you can simply jigsaw it by hand. I used 0,5 mm steel - it worked fine.

I started with cutting one side of each letter and used this jig to make sure all letters have the same width. that was a huge help!

 It is really important to make the letters look old, as if they were hanging outside for 30 years. That way the Sign will look authentic. I left all the sawdust on the steel and spraypainted over it. when the paint is dry you can sand over it and it will get a really nice distressed finish. It´s cheap and easy.

I also used acid to get a bit of rust.

And that´s it.

Next I started building the lightbox for "Outfitters"

This is the same technique i use to build the "thank you for the music lamp" (i posted a making of video a while ago. so if you´re interessed in how it´s done please check out the video)

After that i cut out and painted the lightningbolt...the same way I build the Urban.

And that´s it.

I cut some 2x2s to build a frame where all the elements can sit on and wired up the lightbox.

i´m really happy with it.

And I got some new ideas for the next sign during the build.